How to "translate" interdependent object states in code?
- by Earl Grey
I have the following problem. My UI interace contains several buttons, labels, and other visual information. I am able to describe every possible workflow scenario that should be be allowed on that UI. That means I can describe it like this - when button A is pressed, the following should follow -
In the case of that A button, there are three independent factors that influence the possible result when pushing the A button. The state of the session (blank, single, multi, multi special), the actual work that is being done by the system at the moment of pressing the A button (nothing was happening, work was being done, work was paused) and a separate UI element that has two states (on , off)..This gives me a 3 dimensional cube with 24 possible outcomes.
I could write code for this using if cycles, switch cycles etc....but the problem is, I have another 7 buttons on that ui, I can enter this UI from different states..some buttons change the state, some change parameters...
To sum up, the combinations are mindbogling and I am not able come up with a methodology that scales and is systematically reliable.
I am able to describe EVERY workflow with words, I am sure my description is complete and without logical errors. But I am not able to translate that into code. I was trying to draw flowcharts but it soon became visually too complicated due to too many if "emafors".
Can you advice how to proceeed?
