The Ensemble Production configuration screen fails to visually indicate to users, its running stale code.
The following situation always catches out new Ensemble users, and is likely to continue doing this until it is addressed..
A business operation, service or other host that is configured with a dedicated # of actors, (ie, not using the actor pool) runs with the version of compiled code that existed when the host was started. This code is loaded in memory.
Whilst they are running and developers edit and compile lines of code for a business operation, they expect immediate effect, but this does not occur for the aforementioned items, and the only clue that given is an Information event log error saying the host is running a previous (now stale) version of the code.
More problematic is that some changes (like editing a business host to send its message to a new target) are immediately reflected in the UI, and for this case, the lines connecting the business hosts in the configuration screen are drawn as per the latest update when in fact - the message path taken, is not as the user interface describes it because... the business host has not been restarted. I know why this happens, and that's because the lines are drawn at run time by evaluating the last compiled version of the code.
I would like to see either the current event log remain, and there be no misleading and incorrect representations of the host connections in the configuration screen - or - better still - a stronger indication on the configuration screen that a change has been introduced in the the underlying code and that the code is stale. Often there are so many Info messages in the event log (especially in development where this occurs most), that this will be missed, and hours are spent wondering why the new code is not working, causing frustration.
We already know a business host needs re-starting (because we create an event log). How hard could it be to add a flag to the run-time properties of the host, at the same time, to record it needs restarting.
I propose having some visual indication for hosts that are known to be running outdated code. For example, either italicise the host name, introduce a new color, or have a border around the circle next to the host name to indicate visually, the stale state. The connection lines would probably still need to be redrawn from the most recently compiled code, so perhaps, these should be in whatever new color is introduced, or, drawn as a dashed line.
I think something similar should be added to the Production Monitor screen too.
I believe this is an enhancement which would save a lot of angst and win favor among new users (and old ones!).
Can this be implemented ?
Steve