Wish list and Doc Errors

Following quite a few days using pgAdmin III (1.6.2 or 1.6.3 not sure) in a location with no internet connection, I have a few remarks ... plus a couple of questions about pgAgent which I have experimented for the first time.
I know this is not really good timing considering you are busy with 1.8 but the first remark makes sense for that new release (the rest can wait).


    * Having the documentation for the latest PosgreSQL version will be nice.
I know why you've decided not to deploy the PG doc anymore (see http://www.pgadmin.org/archives/pgadmin-support/2007-08/msg00072.php), but when working not connected (e.g. on a laptop without internet connection) it's still nice to have some documentation ... even if it's not the version one should want.
As a trade off just having some documentation is nice. I understand from your post that getting the PG help file is time consuming : you could just have a pointer to the help web version of the latest PG version (installed locally)
May be we could have the choice of: a link to the web site for the documentation matching the version of PG where PGAdmin is actually connected to, or the latest PG installed locally ? ! ?


    * pgAgent questions ?

 - Is pgAgent suitable to use in a production environment or is it just a development tool ?


    * pgAgent : suggestions (feature requests)

 - A "run now" function will be interesting, e.g. an extra command in the right click menu.
 - Wizard to install the pgAgent (instead of running a script).
The wizard could create a set of "standard" jobs (disabled) to use as exmaples/templates, e.g. maintenance (VACUUM and REINDEX), backup (dump).
 - Defining a default database at the job level instead of the step level. Then to be able to copy/paste the job and just change the db name (to run the same thing on other db). Also defining a db_name macro to be able to reuse the name in the SQL produced (e.g. for REINDEX DATABASE db_name).
Even better than the copy/paste would be to define a list of databases (instead of one) so the very same jobs can be ran on different dbs (of course one after the other).
This would be very useful for maintenance jobs for instance.
 - check all and uncheck all buttons for the three lists of schedule Days tab.
 - when clicking on a step, one should see the code in the SQL pane (in particular when this is SQL ... but that would not hurt to display the script command as well).


    * Translation Errors

 - Sequence Start in French Version
When editing a SEQUENCE the START value is translated by "Valeur Actuelle" which roughly translated would be "Last value", I would think a better translation should be "Prochaine valeur" (i.e. "Next Value") or "Valeur de départ" (i.e. "Start Value").


    * Errors in pgAgent Documentation
A few mistakes in the documentation spotted, with corrections suggestions !

 - pgAgent Installation

   . Database setup
2nd paragraph:
<quote>Once created, connect to the new database, and open the SQL tool.</quote>
should be replaced by
<quote>Connect to the "postgres" database (once created if needed), and open the SQL tool.</quote>

   . Service installation on Windows
<quote>Usage:

  "C:\Program Files\pgAdmin III\pgAgent" REMOVE <serviceName>
  "C:\Program Files\pgAdmin III\pgAgent" INSTALL <serviceName> [options] <connect-string>
</quote>
should be replaced with:
<quote>Usage:

  %PG_AGENT_EXE% REMOVE <serviceName>
  %PG_AGENT_EXE% INSTALL <serviceName> [options] <connect-string>

Where %PG_AGENT_EXE% is the executable file of pgAgent. Depending on your installation, it could be:
SET PG_AGENT_EXE="C:\Program Files\pgAdmin III\pgAgent.exe"
for a pgAdmin III classic installation.
OR
SET PG_AGENT_EXE="C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\8.2\bin\pgAgent.exe"
for a PostgreSQL 8.x server classic installation.
</quote>

 - pgAgent Jobs

  . Second phrase
<quote>To configure jobs on your server, browse to the database in which the pgAgent database objects were created using pgAdmin.</quote>
Should be replaced with:
<quote>To configure jobs on your server, browse the server on which the pgAgent was installed (script run on postgres database).</quote>



Have fun,
L@u
The Computing Froggy