Consequences of errors

[martindusinberre]

I've just made an error. I spotted it in the log and have corrected it (I hope!). But in the meantime, PlantationLives became unplayable. It didn't affect me but I worry about what would have happened if people were playing at the same time that I was making an (unsuccessful) import. Will the validator eventually mean this doesn't happen any more, i.e. that the error will be caught before it crashes the importer?

[martindusinberre]

So I clearly haven't solved the problem. But what the log says (Saving: /content/.testenvironment_update/chapter4/2.4.4.2/pageTransition1.json
Unexpected token RIGHT SQUARE(]) at position 426.
) just doesn't make sense as I didn't change that page tonight. What I did is 'undo' the changes I made to other files in 2.4.4.2 tonight, but I don't know if that will work. Would the validator be able to suggest what to do in such a problem, or is it simply a problem identifier?

[interrogator]

The aim of the validator is to provide a guarantee that a given JSON dataset will import successfully. Therefore, in an ideal world, any data that passed successfully through validation should not break the public website. If a dataset passes validation but fails import, this indicates a bug that is not for you to fix.

Regarding the possibility of messing up the system for others, as the project matures, I imagine what will happen is that there will be a 'production' version and a development version available online. The production will only be updated with stable releases, while the development version (like you're using now) will be at a more obscure address, can be modified more frequently. Once the development version is working perfectly, the production version is updated to use the same code and data. Then repeat.

[interrogator]

An update on the nonsensical 2.4.4.2 error. This was occurring due to an importer/deployment issue, which is not on you to fix.

The nice thing the validator will do is tell you quite clearly if the problem is for you to fix (i.e. a syntax or content error in the JSON). Any other kinds of error should be reported, because they are for a developer to fix.