Triggers (was: Re: Defect trackers and Perforce)

[HerbMaedermaeder at corp.webtv.net]

Brad, thanks for the great run down on theory and concept on triggers.
It brought up a lot of different issues, some of which I had considered,
some which I hadn't.

> > Where can I find out more about triggers?
> 
> One of the earlier uses of the concept is in database systems.
> You might try looking there.

Perhaps I should rephrase the question a little bit...  Where can I find
out more about Perforce's implementation of triggers in p4?

> As for the specific answers to each of these questions for Perforce
> triggers and the interface provided for them, I'll have to let someone
> from Perforce speak to that.

This is really the heart of the matter.  What you'll be able to do with
triggers in p4 is entirely dependent on how perforce will implement them
and what hooks will be provided to the user.  The answers to your list of
questions (and many more) need to be addressed before you can really know
what triggers will be able to do for you in p4.

But it seems to me, that even with a very robust implementation, the
trigger mechanism will always have some inherent limitations.  But the
extent of the limitations will be dependent on the implementation.

So, from the sounds of it, details on the perforce implementation are not
known yet.  So planning to implementing stuff with triggers is still a
little premature at this point.  Wrapper scripts to add/replace p4
commands are probably still the way to go for now, although in the future
perhaps some things may be done more effectively with trigger.  Does this
sound about right?

Herb.