As a Business and Systems Analyst, I find the following behaviour in inSych to be bad software design, where the underlying expected behavour should be to fail safely and not make any underlying changes to the folder structure without user approval…
WHAT OCCURRED…
a. I, had a sych service, mlittle@hadarach-consulting that contained both /001Hadarach Consulting/, and /002Dialog Group/.
b. I wanted to create a new synch path called mlittle@dialog for a new folder [ /002Dialog Group/ ] that was under under an older parent path, while re-mapping the old service just to mlittle@hadarach-consulting to /001Hadarach Consulting/.
c. mlittle@hadarach-consulting I choose the >Manage facility, and un-checked the /002Dialog Group/ path expecting that this sych service would just map to that folder on my drive; and I would then be able to create a new sych folder that would map to the /002Dialog Group/ folder path.
d. When I created the new synch service for mlittle@dialog I could not find the /002Dialog Group/…IT WAS GONE! I COULD NOT FIND IT IN THE MACOS TRASH CAN, BUT AFTER SHOWING HIDDEN FILE AND FOLDERS, IT WAS HIDDEN UNDER A HIDDEN FOLDER. This is not a bug, but just bad software design.
WHAT SHOULD HAVE OCCURRED:
A. My expected behaviour for the Manage folder facility was that it would remove the association between the folder and the synch service, BUT NOT TO BLOW AWAY THE FOLDER FROM FINDER AND THE MACOS FILE MANAGEMENT FACILITY! The folder /002Dialog Group/ should have remained in the >Manage facility so that a new association can be made, but not delete it so that if could be found by Finder, and not be some-one hacking via a terminal session to show hidden files of folders.
b. The application should not make any changes to the underlying operating system without first providing the user with a warNing Dialog warning the user of what may occur, and if the user accepts it, it should move the folder and it contents to where they can be recovered, such as what MaCOS does when you delete a file or folder, it is moved to the Trash Can. inSynch should not delete the folder leaving the user wondering “What da F…k happened?” Or worse thinking they are “F…ked”, because if they did not know how to search for hidden files of folders… this service should be designed for simpletons to easy use, not Werner Von Braun types… because ultimately that makes happy users, and that translates into more business for you…
c. Also, provide better user guidance with an online user manual, so that one does not by default have to raise usability issues on a forum …
IN SHORT…FIX IT!