Hi Erik
Yes, I had considered this however I have concluded that for us there are many more advantages to having this feature than disadvantages - particularly if there is a timeout and notification capability built in to the Form.
As an example, in a production print operation (which is primarily where we are using VC), prompting an operator for a page count at the end of a print run serves two purposes:
1. Allows the ERP system to be updated via SQL with used stock and accounting information.
2. Allows the next step of the process to be instigated (e.g. Print a summary report, issue notifications to helpdesk and customers, and move the process to the mailing room)
Another example I have been working on, using AutoIT to build an executable form which is called by VC, is creating an FTP User Account if one doesn't exist (decided by a condition and a LIST task in VC). The form pops-up and allows the administrator to enter the customer name, customer abbreviation, email and reference, then generate a random user-id and password. These attributes are then returned to VC, written to a SQLite database, and an email sent from VC to the customer with their new account details.
Considering it is our intention to fully automate the entire end-to-end production process as much as possible, inevitably there are manual steps that will be required to be helped along in some way.
Yes, we are pushing the envelope with our use of VC, perhaps moving in to the realms of Business Process and Workflow, but hey, why not? VC is proving to be such a powerful and feature rich tool, IMHO it can be used for many business related purposes and most importantly, keeps our supported software stack to a minimum.
Just my thoughts.
Cheers
Andy