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Has this ever happened to you?


Virtual-Instructor

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:unsure: Now I'm sure that when we start learning this stuff, we all have hit brick walls. :bash: You know those minor little snippets of code that should produce one thing, but only seem to produce constant errors. :blink: So here is my little story and I would just like to know if anyone else has had a similar experiance.

 

So at this point I have been working on this stuff for over a month trying to wrap my brain around it. As with most things, the deeper I deelve into it, the easier it becomes; for the most part. I have been taking the stance that as I learn one skill I try to apply it to the project that I am working on. This worked for a little while, but eventually I found that it was slowing me down. So I stopped building for a bit and focused on learning and studing. This too was short lived. The reason for the short focus as it were was a meeting that I had with the community administrators that will eventually control my budget for next year. Obviously I want the money for my site and their responce to that was that they wanted to see some results within 72 hours on what I was creating. :blink:

 

For the last two days I have been struggling with dates and times. Within my applications, time plays a very big part so getting these things to work was a very big step. However what I found is that either most didn't understand what I was trying to do and thus giving suggestions that were either too confusing, or just had absolutely no bearing whatsoever on what I was doing. :raised: So I took it upon myself to struggle through it. If I couldn't find an expert, I would have to become the expert. Such is the story of my life (or so it would seem). Along the way I have gotten hints and suggestions from more than one source, but nothing that was ever really direct. For two days I did more tap dancing than Fred Astare, consistantly close but never quite right. :bash: After nearly 20 hours in front of the computer trying to figure this out, I (and my mind and body) finally gave up. I figured I would go get some sleep and come back at it in the morning with fresh eyes and a clear mind.

 

I don't know if I am the only one that this has ever happened to, but when I am studing something for long periods of time, it has a tendency to consume my mind; so much so that it follows me into my dreams. When I was in college I remember having nightmares about polynomial equations. As I said, I was exhausted and decided to get some sleep. I got into bed and started watching a few episodes of my favoriate show (Robotech; I know it's geeky and retro, but what can I say). As I finally drifted off to sleep my shows were ending and the timer on the TV had switched it off, the last thought that went through my mind was that frustrating code that I have been working on. I don't know how long I laid there, but I remember the next feeling that I had. Most people when they wake up do so slowly. This was instant. I sat bolt upright in my bed like I was responding to an explosion. :o "THAT'S IT!" It was so sudden and violent that it scared my poor wife out of a dead sleep. As I struggled to free myself from my blankets I actually tangled myself up in them worse; so much so that I wound up face down on the floor. :unsure: Undetered I made my way with all haste to my office where the monitor had gone to sleep (which is where I should have been). Tapped the spacebar and brought it back to life. There in front of me was the code that frustrated me so badly. The soloution was so simple I don't known how I missed it. I hastily tapped in the correction. To my delight, DW didn't squak any coding errors. I crossed my fingers and previewed the form on the explorer.

 

To my absolute delight it appeared. No errors, no missing items or code. Everything seemed to be working. I filled in the fields with meaningless data just to test a single input. After all the information was filled in I sat there staring at the cursor blinking on the monitor. It was like being hypnotized. I couldn't move. Felt more like sleep walking. I snapped out of it just long enought to click the submit button............ The form cleared as it was supposed to. I was stunned. :blink: Did it really work? Was it possible that I had solved in my sleep what I couldn't solve in 20 hours at the computer? I opened my dbase, navigated to the table that I was working with, positioned my mouse pointer over browse, closed my eyes and with a good deal of doubt and foreboading, gave it a click. I reluctantly gave a peak out of one of my eyes and was completely shocked with what I saw. The only responce that I could come up with was "YES!" :lol: as I jumped straight up right out of my chair throwing up my fists in triumph. It should be noted here that I don't exactly have the highest ceilings in world. As such I now have eight band aids on my knuckles two very sore hands and a pair of dents in the ceiling. Ah well. Such is the price of victory!

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Rested eyes can be as good as a fresh set of eyes for reviewing a piece of problematic code. Glad to hear you worked it out.Yes it's a good feeling to resolve something you've been working at into the small hours.

 

I also like to 'let the dust settle' (time permitting) for a day or so on a project or piece of work, then take a fresh look at it myself with rested eyes before anyone else.

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