database

Strange goings on . . .

/ Tony / 3 Comments

I’m having an issue with the WordPress Block Editor currently. It’s to do with adding ‘tags’ to the post. I use ‘tags’ quite a lot as I feel they can draw people’s attention to the post’s ideas. Recently, however, a problem has arisen.

I usually add ‘tags’ at the end of writing the post as it gives me a reason to re-read the post and check for any typos or other errors. I occasionally add the ‘tag’ whilst composing the paragraph. This has served me well over the years, and there are a great many ‘tags’ in my Tag Database on this blog

Tag Database

The problem I have is (bear with me as it is not as complicated as it seems) that if the word I wish to use as a ‘tag’ is not in the ‘Tag Database’ then typing in the Add New Tag box in the editor, the new ‘tag’ is not saved if I use the ‘Enter’ key. I can use the comma key and the ‘tag’ is saved, but not if I use the Enter key.

I have raised a support call, but I don’t think they really understand the problem. The solutions (all of which have failed) have ranged from “using too many tags” and “clearing the browser cache” to “logging on to a different network” and “rebooting the router“. It was even suggested that it may be the theme that was the problem. I have tried three different browsers on my laptop all with the same result. The only browser that I didn’t have the issue with is the Safari browser on my iPad. However, that is not a practical solution.

As it has only just started to happen (in the past two/three weeks) I suggested that the problem may have been caused by the latest update. That didn’t go down too well with the “Happiness Engineers.”

It is very baffling and a little bit of a bind to use the comma when I’m used to just typing and pressing enter.

<><><><><><><>

Update:
I think I have found the root of the issue. From my many times of entering data into various spreadsheets, I came to the conclusion that the Enter key on the numeric keypad was the fastest key to use. This has led to me always using this key as opposed to the main keyboard Enter key. I discovered quite by chance that the tag will be saved if used the main Enter key. I have reported back to WordPress and am awaiting their next response.

From then to now … getting the hang of it

/ Tony / 2 Comments

For the first few weeks, I felt a little out of place. All the team I was with, bar one had been office workers since leaving school and most of them had been with a Local Authority, so I was a bit of an oddity. Most of them couldn’t seem to get their heads around why, with the qualifications I had, would I want to work in an office. This was something that had been explained to us on the course and so I was expecting it. They soon got over it within a couple of weeks, and I settled down to become an “Officer of The Council” as we were called.

The briefcase was the first thing to be ditched, quickly followed by the fountain pen and dictionary. I had also bought a Rucksacksuit and I soldiered on with that for a couple of months. We shared our office floor with a couple of other sections of the Council and I soon discovered that literally nobody carried a briefcase. Most of the women had some form of shopping/tote bag to supplement their handbag , but the men didn’t seem to have bags at all. I still had my lunch and calculator to carry, so I needed something. I eventually dug out my old school bag, which was one of those thick canvas army types that we used to be able to get from the Army and Navy stores. Now what ever happened to them?

It had been noted at my interview, that I had an interest in computers and technology. This of course led to me being given a ‘very important job’. Everyday, at 4pm I was to  perform the database back-up. Because IBM Computerthere was two types of parking ticket (on-street and car parks) we had two computer systems. The reason for this was that back in 1986 the on-street parking service (parking meters) merged with the off-street car parks service. Each brought their own systems which were not compatible. So the off-street system (car parks) used Microsoft Windows 2.1 and a software package called DataEase, dBase 2 screenwhereas the on-street part of the team had an old IBM machine that ran a program called dBase. It also ran Wordstar and Supercalc, but we never used them. It was dBase 2 that we had, but it was not like the other system which had it’s own built in back-up routine. No with this one, you first had to ‘drop out’ of the database and jump to a ‘DOS prompt’ Then you had to ‘Setpath’ which basically told the computer where to look and then type the back-up command. This had to be exact and had the location of the file to be backed-up, and the location where it was to be backed-up to. You then had to verify the back-up by following a similar routine.

It took me a couple of months before I realised that I could write a batch file to do all the leg work. When it worked first IT Experttime, I was a hero. I had shaved a good 10 minutes of the time and it was far more accurate.. The only downside to this was that I was now the Parking Departments IT expert! Everything from changing the computer plug filing the back-up discs to replacing the printer toner was now my job. I even got asked to ‘have a quick look’ at the photocopier. Other staff started to come to me with their IT related problems and I came to the attention of the IT Department. I was now the unofficial IT support (more on that later) for Parking. If IT wanted any small work doing, then I got the call and was talked through the problem and solutions. I was loving it.

Mind numbing …..

/ Tony / Leave a comment

Here I am blogging from work. It’s a very quiet day, with no senior managers in the office. I am taking the opportunity to configure a report on our system. The main case database progresses cases through the system. Each stage of this case progression has to have 1 of 6 flags set for the report to work. There are over 4500 of these stages, and it is that which I am doing at the present ….. and as I mentioned, mind numbing !!!

As usual, there are some who are asking the question “What time can we go home ??” They have been asking the same question since December 23rd. Why did you not ask for the time off ? We do not need you this week. We go through this every year, with the same people.

Youngest has now gone four days, without any medication, which is a record. He is accompanying his brother to the dentist today, so that may be the straw etc etc.