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Issues with monox database - Inconsistent Data  (Mono Support )

Viewed 14101 time(s), 8 post(s) 8/1/2013 3:27:10 PMby super
super

super

8/1/2013 3:28:35 PM
I have noticed a few things in regard to monox database which I think is not a correct approach.

PROBLEM 1

1) Country - The userprofile is the table in which user's information is being saved but information like country is being saved as is (whetever value is being provided by user). I don't think this is a good practice to save information like country in database.

The probability of users to save a country in different way is higher. Let's say a few users live in USA. They might save information as:
User 1: USA
User 2: US
User 3: United States
User 4: United States of America

There are so many ways that a country name cane be saved as full name or short form which is creating inconsistent data in the database.

Issue: Let us say if site admin wants to see the statistics Like a graph of users vs countries. Now it will be so difficult for a admin to get information because just for USA, it will show as 4 different countries in statistics as "users in USA", "users in US", and so on... 

Solution: I think the best approach is to have a separate table for countries and link user profile table with country id and give a drop down menu to user on profile page to select country.

This way the data in database will be consistent.







PROBLEM 2

2) Date of Birth: Right now there is no calender linked to profile text box in profile.

This creates problem for site admin as in different countries the format of date is different which might create inconsistent data in database. Users with DOB Jan 30, 1970 might enter

User 1: 1/30/1970
User 2: 30/1/1970
User 3: 01/30/1970
User 4: 01/30/70
User 5: 30/1/70

Issue: As you can see save date can be entered in different formats.

Solution: There should be a calender linked to the DOB text box so that user is forced to select date from calender. In the admin section there should be an option for admin to select default format for DOB calender based on his requirement or country so that that calender saved the date in required format only to keep the data consistent in database.
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mzilic

mzilic

8/1/2013 4:09:00 PM
Hello,

PROBLEM 1
This depends on the project requirements and can easily be implemented on your end if you extend the MonoX's profile. Please refer the following blog post on the subject: http://www.mono-software.com/Blog/post/Mono/98/How-to-Extend-MonoX-and-ASP-NET-Profile/

PROBLEM 2
Date of birth in MonoX is not a free text field. However the date formatting depends on the culture you have set for your project configuration.

Regards,
Mario
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khorvat

khorvat

8/1/2013 4:26:02 PM
Just to add more information to understanding of the Problem 1, as MonoX is a CMS which is used in many countries we would have to ship database that contains all Countries (not an issue) and all Cities & Zip Codes. Including cities & zip codes is a major problem as there are to much data for default MonoX installation (around 3-4GB GEO locations included).

Regards
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super

super

8/1/2013 4:38:39 PM
Khorvat,

Problem 1, as MonoX is a CMS which is used in many countries we would have to ship database that contains all Countries (not an issue) and all Cities & Zip Codes. Including cities & zip codes is a major problem as there are to much data for default MonoX installation (around 3-4GB GEO locations included).
I don't think there is any need to include cities and zip code. The country is the primary important thing which can be added easily since there are only number of countries in the world. The user can enter their city, address and zip etc which is same in majority of website.

Many site admin these days do like to keep a track of users vs country (demo graphics of users) also, it is a good practice in database to keep data consistent as current monox lets user enter country manually which I think is not a good idea. Forcing users to select country from drop down is a better idea I think.

Just a suggestion.
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super

super

8/1/2013 4:52:24 PM
Hello Mario,


Problem 1

I understand that monox can be extended and I can add a table for country and it is not difficult to link via countryID as FK in userprofile table. 

I just want to make a suggestion for monox cms project as a whole so that it offers better database integration with consistent data. (just like users report bugs here, I am suggestion something that will keep the data consistent to help in making monox a better solution).


Problem 2

I don't see any calender linked to DOB field and it is a plain text box, please see the screenshot below.

I am not sure what you mean by culture of project configuration. From day to day situations as a site admin, if a user registers on my website, he/she don't know what date format everyone is following on the site or that user is not going to check other user's profile how others are entering their DOB. 

Adding a simple calender to DOB textbox will solve this problem of inconsistency of different formats for DOB like I showed above in my very first post.

Again, yes I can add calender on my end which is a very simple task but I am not asking help in this topic, this is also a suggestion from my side as a monox user that monox project should include this to make it a better CMS project.


P.S. I created this topic in regard to addressing a few issues that I think exists in monox and just adding simple things can improve the quality of the monox product as a whole.

I understand that it is not possible to fulfill all the requirements of all types of store admins or users but atleast from development side an effort can be made to minimize the issues and the above issues do not require any complex development or customization.
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mzilic

mzilic

8/1/2013 5:24:01 PM
Hello super,

Problem 1
Thank you for your feedback we will consider it. Please also note that we have a dedicated forum for feature suggestions: http://www.mono-software.com/Mono/Pages/Discussion/dboard/oPCcyo0aUUue0qC-ANa6fg/MonoX-Roadmap/

Problem 2
As I previously mentioned that in out of the box MonoX installation Date of Birth is not a free text field, it allows users to select a date using a calendar control. By looking at your screenshot I believe that due to an error it is not showing in your profile section. Please open a new topic for this issue with error logs. I'm attaching an example of the expected behavior in a default MonoX installation.

I am not sure what you mean by culture of project configuration.
Following links will provide more information:
- http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bz9tc508(v=vs.71).aspx
- http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bz9tc508%28v=vs.100%29.aspx

Regards,
Mario
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super

super

8/1/2013 5:32:38 PM
Mario,

I have posted problem 1 as feature request HERE 

Seems like DOB calender is a bug as it is not showing in IE 7 and IE 8, I have created a topic HERE

Thank you
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khorvat

khorvat

8/6/2013 7:51:22 AM
Thanks for the feedback we will track this in other topics.
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