[sugar] Journal integration design for Measure Activity

[Albert Cahalan]

Arjun Sarwal writes:

> 1) Since many logs are going to be associated with one logging
> session, what is the best way to pack these log files and
> associate with the journal? Should one make a .zip file of
> all the log files ?

That's OK, but don't waste effort on compression.
Standards say you use the pax format, or at least
something like tar or cpio.

> 2) There are other details associated with each logging session -
> like what is the time interval of logging selected while the log
> was made etc. which I have been writing down within each log file
> itself in the first few lines, should I follow the same practice ?

You can put sample rate info in the header of a *.wav file.
This is really the perfect format for your data.

Use FLAC if you want to get fancy.

> 3) It may also be possible that within a session of Measure,
> no logs be made. However the user have selected some settings
> with which he/she was making some measurements. For example
> DC/AC mode, gain setting and a time base setting etc. The user
> may want to resume such a session from the journal. How should
> such details be handled ? Do I need to write them down into a
> text file ? The settings comprise of states of 3 toggle buttons
> and 2 sliders.

Whatever you do, don't spam the journal.

I just finished deleting a huge pile of spam from my journal.
Well, not counting the two things that refused to be deleted.
This was not an enjoyable task. As with an email inbox, I run
a risk of deleting something I want to keep as I wipe things
out. This stupid busy-work chore should never be needed.

A few buttons is nothing. If it gets to be dozens of buttons
or more, then you might add a "save settings" button. Hopefully
you can save this with the activity itself, rather than putting
more junk onto the desktop^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hjournal.