A day in the life...

public class GeekEarth : Earth { }
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SandShell components for WPF

I was looking for an outlook bar style control for WPF.  I knew a guy named Divil from IRC had written some stuff so I decided to take a look.  The first thing I looked at was Wunderbar, looked like what I wanted so I downloaded the trial.

I opened up the demo solution to see how it all works, but the problem is that the single window shows how it ALL works.  It doesn’t demonstrate different concepts in different windows, it shows you how someone who already knows how to use the controls would create a complex user interface with them; that was no help.

So, I decided to click on the “User guide” link in the start menu to read what each of these controls do.  There was only help for one of the controls, so how am I supposed to know what the other controls are for, or how they relate to each other etc?

Seeing as I knew the developer’s IRC nickname I decided to ask him if he had help files for those controls.  He replied that they are so ridiculously easy to use that they don’t need any help; reminded me of “my code is so simple it doesn’t need tests”.  I asked how I can find out what each control does and he told me “Don’t use them, they might format your hard drive”.

I think at this point I had seen enough.  A demo app that isn’t focused, no content in the help files, and with an attitude like that before I part with any money what is the help going to be like once I’ve handed my cash over?

Time to look elsewhere…

Print | posted on Thursday, July 09, 2009 2:14 PM |

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# re: SandShell components for WPF

"I knew a guy named Divil from IRC" <-- there is your failing right there. Why would you expect to get personal support for a product on IRC? Product forums and support are offered through the company website.

Try using the appropriate channel. IRC is for chat, not for your personal assistance.
7/9/2009 2:21 PM | Name
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# re: SandShell components for WPF

The problem isn't that I didn't get support from IRC. The problem is that there is no help for those components in the Help link, there is no brief overview of what each control is for either so that I can decide "This is the one I want to try next".

The problem is that the person who wrote the controls didn't give a damn that the doc's were lacking, and had a "Don't use them, they might format your hard disk" attitude.

I wasn't after personal assistance. I first tried to ascertain whether the website link was broken and that there should in fact be more info there (notification of a fault on website), and if not to point out that he might be losing conversions from trial to sale due to a lack of information. Neither of those is a request for information, both I think were me offering something, and *most* companies (any company I have *ever* dealt with) has had the decency to act professionally - even ones I have notified via IRC.

7/9/2009 2:50 PM | mrpmorris
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# re: SandShell components for WPF

You weren't notifying a company on IRC. You were talking to an individual who happens to work for a company. Stick to the official channels. IRC is never one of them.
7/9/2009 3:24 PM | Name
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# re: SandShell components for WPF

"I wasn't after personal assistance."

Yes you were, and you're too needy. Learn to be a real developer and stop copy and pasting from the back of a cheerio box.
7/9/2009 3:24 PM | .
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# re: SandShell components for WPF

Let's get this clear.

1: I was talking to THE individual who owns the company, wrote the components, and didn't write enough help file.

2: I am a real coder. As such I write sufficient instructions for the products I write, even if that only needs to be "This is what this is" because it is so simple that it "doesn't need help".

The same individual was in a position to ask if I had any contracting hours free to write the help. Let's not pussy foot around, "It's IRC" isn't a valid excuse. If anything the reply could have been "Please direct your enquiry through the proper channels" - and then the same person could have put on his "Mr Professional" hat and answered in an email instead.

Attitude is attitude, no matter where you are, and this is not the attitude I expect from a company selling products.
7/9/2009 5:37 PM | mrpmorris
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# re: SandShell components for WPF

The really funny thing is that everyone else that comes on irc and speaks of those components positively RAVE about them.
I have never once seen anyone complain about the lack of documentation. So perhaps the real issue here is that you're not all that bright, and you think it's ok to blame that on someone that works for the company that wrote the components you're too dense to figure out how to use.
7/9/2009 6:10 PM | Chuckie
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# re: SandShell components for WPF

I mentioned that help for all but 1 control was missing from the website. I mentioned this just in case the link was obsolete, if that was the case then the link could have been updated and I would have helped to identify a small problem - you know, how you sometimes write to the web master to let them know of a 404 error or something.

The link wasn't broken, there was only 1 control in the help file. I merely suggested that there should at least be an overview of what each control does. I fail to see how that makes me too dense. I hadn't even looked at those other controls, I was just mentioning a potential mistake; which turns out not to be a mistake.

I'll take the vendor's advice and not use his control suite, no skin off my nose.

7/9/2009 6:54 PM | mrpmorris
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# re: SandShell components for WPF

I agree with you mrpmorris, there should be valid documentation for component library. I hate to guess/google foorums how to use components in proper way. Some part of functionlity will surely be self explaining, but that part (if any) may be dropped out from the documentation.

And why I'm writing this, because I wan't to say to you mrpmorris, that there are also other developers that doesn't want to use their time by playing and praying with undocumented functionality.
7/27/2010 1:36 PM | Kari Surakka

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