there needs to be a better way to manage the database

[ixfd64]

It's my understanding that there is currently no efficient way to modify submitted results. George has mentioned that such changes require "hand crafted SQL statements applied to the database." Because manual database queries are very risky and generally a hassle, they are not usually done except to fix missing tests or remove fake results from the server.

However, I think it would be very useful if there was an interface for modifying results. This would allow project admins (and maybe trusted users) to easily perform maintenance, such as removing duplicate results or re-attributing "anonymous" assignments to users who forgot to log in. The feature only needs to be implemented once, after which it would no longer be necessary to manually edit the database. Thoughts?

[xilman]

One thought is that there should be a clone of the database on which one could practice long before anyone is allowed to touch the main one.

I would hope that such a clone already exists. It´s standard practice for non-trivial applications.

[Madpoo]

Originally Posted by xilman

One thought is that there should be a clone of the database on which one could practice long before anyone is allowed to touch the main one.

I would hope that such a clone already exists. It´s standard practice for non-trivial applications.

If needed, DB changes could be rolled back. However it would involve taking the Primenet server offline so we could restore from the previous full backup and all of the incrementals until we got whatever we needed.

It's just easier to be careful. For big things, there's a clone server we can use if we want, but testing is more difficult. So it's just a balance of things.

The ability for end users to change the results they've submitted is not likely to ever happen. The potential for abuse, or just people changing things they really shouldn't, isn't worth it.

Submit what the program generates and you should be fine.