Plain Black, makers of WebGUI

JT

Date: 4/20/2007 12:31 pm · Subject: Volunteers? · Rating: 1

We've been talking on IRC a little bit about some of the assets and subsystems of WebGUI that could use a little refactoring. To understand what I'm talking about by refactoring, compare the old events calendar to the new calendar asset. In some cases we just need to add a few new features and clean up some old code. In other cases, like the calendar, we're better off creating a whole new application. We're looking to improve performance, usability, code quality, and functionality.

There's a lot that needs to be done, and I'm only one person, so it's hard for me to cover everyone's needs. Several people have offered to do some of this work if I draft specs documents for them:

perlDreamer has volunteered to refactor the SQL Report.

ckotil has volunteered to refactor something small (but we don't know what yet).

And perlmonkey2 has volunteered to refactor the Survey.

I'll be drafting specifications for all three of these things this weekend.

There are lots of other things that could use some refinements. Just in the area of assets the following could use some help: web services client, event management system, project management and time tracking, and wiki. And if you're looking for a bigger project, there is a new asset called webdb that needs to be developed to replace the data form and sql form. There are lots of small things that could use some love too.

If you're interested in volunteering to work on the core, reply to this message and let me know what you'd like to work on. If you're shy, and don't want to post out here, please send me an email directly to jt at plain black dot com.

What you'll get to do the project:

a specifications document telling you what needs to be done, and that provides screen shots of how it should look
access to our graphics designer to build you icons, graphics, and templates
my ear to listen to new ideas that you'd like to bring to the project
commit access to subversion

What you'll get as a reward for your hard work:

the features you want added to webgui a lot faster
respect in the community
your name in the credits file
your name in the hat for a people behind webgui interview
your name in the hat for webgui contributor of the year
a boatload of gratitude from me
probably some karma and schwag

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mlamar

Date: 4/20/2007 4:15 pm · Subject: Re: Volunteers? · Rating: -7

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> Oooo -- refactoring fun!

I've been doing a lot of work on our sites with DataForms. We use them to gather data from various campuses and build searchable info repositories. For that purpose I have written a DataFormReport wobject that I was planning to contribute back to the community real soon now. :)

That said, I have a strong investment in making sure that anything that replaces DataForm will meet our needs and I would be happy to contribute to refactoring it. You describe this as a big project however -- one that combines SQLReport and DataForm. Hmmm. I guess I'd need to know more, but I doubt I'll have enough time for something large on my own. Anyone else want to help??

-Michelle

jt@plainblack.com wrote:

JT wrote:

We've been talking on IRC a little bit about some of the assets and subsystems of WebGUI that could use a little refactoring. To understand what I'm talking about by refactoring, compare the old events calendar to the new calendar asset. In some cases we just need to add a few new features and clean up some old code. In other cases, like the calendar, we're better off creating a whole new application. We're looking to improve performance, usability, code quality, and functionality.

There's a lot that needs to be done, and I'm only one person, so it's hard for me to cover everyone's needs. Several people have offered to do some of this work if I draft specs documents for them:

perlDreamer has volunteered to refactor the SQL Report.

ckotil has volunteered to refactor something small (but we don't know what yet).

And perlmonkey2 has volunteered to refactor the Survey.

I'll be drafting specifications for ! all three of these things this weekend.

There are lots of other things that could use some refinements. Just in the area of assets the following could use some help: web services client, event management system, project management and time tracking, and wiki. And if you're looking for a bigger project, there is a new asset called webdb that needs to be developed to replace the data form and sql form. There are lots of small things that could use some love too.

If you're interested in volunteering to work on the core, reply to this message and let me know what you'd like to work on. If you're shy, and don't want to post out here, please send me an email directly to jt at plain black dot com.

What you'll get to do the project:

a specifications document telling you what needs to be done, and that provides screen shots of how it should look

access to our graphics designer to build you icons, graphics, and templates

my ear to listen to new ideas that you'd like to bring to the project

commit access to subversion

What you'll get as a reward for your hard work:

the features you want added to webgui a lot faster

respect in the community

your name in the credits file

your name in the hat for a people behind webgui interview

your name in the hat for webgui contributor of the year

a boatload of gratitude from me

probably some karma and schwag

http://www.plainblack.com/webgui/dev/discuss/volunteers
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-- 
==============================================
Michelle M. LaMar               (707) 664-4338
Senior Software Engineer           www.cdl.edu
California State University                   
Center for Distributed Learning

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patspam

Date: 4/23/2007 2:50 am · Subject: Re: Volunteers? · Rating: -3

If anyone working on the new projects would like helper test code to make refactoring more fun (for example code to create a new version tag for testing, instantiate your wobject, simulate a user logging in and interacting with your wobject via WWW::Mechanize, roll back the version tag after the tests etc..) I've got some code that I found useful in my last wG project that I'm happy to contribute back (probably most relevant for the test-driven development folks). I'm keen to get involved with the refactoring projects themselves too, although I'm away from my PC for the next 3 weeks (volunteering in a remote Aboriginal community in northern Australia) so I'll check back in with how things are going when I get back to civilisation. Cheers, Patrick On 4/21/07, michelle@cdl.edu <michelle@cdl.edu> wrote:

mlamar wrote:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> Oooo -- refactoring fun!

I've been doing a lot of work on our sites with DataForms. We use them to gather data from various campuses and build searchable info repositories. For that purpose I have written a DataFormReport wobject that I was planning to contribute back to the community real soon now. :)

That said, I have a strong investment in making sure that anything that replaces DataForm will meet our needs and I would be happy to contribute to refactoring it. You describe this as a big project however -- one that combines SQLReport and DataForm. Hmmm. I guess I'd need to know more, but I doubt I'll have enough time for something large on my own. Anyone else want to help??

-Michelle

jt@plainblack.com wrote:
JT wrote:

We've been talking on IRC a little bit about some of the assets and subsystems of WebGUI that could use a little refactoring. To understand what I'm talking about by refactoring, compare the old events calendar to the new calendar asset. In some cases we just need to add a few new features and clean up some old code. In other cases, like the calendar, we're better off creating a whole new application. We're looking to improve performance, usability, code quality, and functionality.

There's a lot that needs to be done, and I'm only one person, so it's hard for me to cover everyone's needs. Several people have offered to do some of this work if I draft specs documents for them:

perlDreamer has volunteered to refactor the SQL Report.

ckotil has volunteered to refactor something small (but we don't know what yet).

And perlmonkey2 has volunteered to refactor the Survey.

I'll be drafting specifications for ! all three of these things this weekend.

There are lots of other things that could use some refinements. Just in the area of assets the following could use some help: web services client, event management system, project management and time tracking, and wiki. And if you're looking for a bigger project, there is a new asset called webdb that needs to be developed to replace the data form and sql form. There are lots of small things that could use some love too.

If you're interested in volunteering to work on the core, reply to this message and let me know what you'd like to work on. If you're shy, and don't want to post out here, please send me an email directly to jt at plain black dot com.

What you'll get to do the project:

a specifications document telling you what needs to be done, and that provides screen shots of how it should look
access to our graphics designer to build you icons, graphics, and templates
my ear to listen to new ideas that you'd like to bring to the project
commit access to subversion

What you'll get as a reward for your hard work:

the features you want added to webgui a lot faster
respect in the community
your name in the credits file
your name in the hat for a people behind webgui interview
your name in the hat for webgui contributor of the year
a boatload of gratitude from me
probably some karma and schwag

http://www.plainblack.com/webgui/dev/discuss/volunteers
Unsubscribe
  
-- 
==============================================
Michelle M. LaMar               (707) 664-4338
Senior Software Engineer           www.cdl.edu
California State University                   
Center for Distributed Learning               
http://www.plainblack.com/webgui/dev/discuss/volunteers/1
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Plain Black, makers of WebGUI
http://plainblack.com

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JT

Date: 4/23/2007 9:46 am · Subject: Re: Volunteers? · Rating: -1

Well Michelle and Pat, how would you feel about working on this app together when Pat returns? It's going to take a week or so for me to draft the specifications document for it anyway since it's a big app. Also, perhaps some other volunteers will jump on the bandwagon for this project as you proceed.

This app will be no small feat. It is at the core of what WebGUI's future is all about. I plan to talk about how it fits into the master plan in detail during the State of WebGUI at the WUC this year. Anyone involved in this particular project will earn a great deal of respect and gratitude from me; and, I'm sure, from the community once they see what it does.

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mlamar

Date: 4/26/2007 5:40 pm · Subject: Re: Volunteers? · Rating: -1

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> I think that will work. I can give a more definite answer after seeing your spec.

-Michelle

jt@plainblack.com wrote:

JT wrote:

Well Michelle and Pat, how would you feel about working on this app together when Pat returns? It's going to take a week or so for me to draft the specifications document for it anyway since it's a big app. Also, perhaps some other volunteers will jump on the bandwagon for this project as you proceed.

This app will be no small feat. It is at the core of what WebGUI's future is all about. I plan to talk about how it fits into the master plan in detail during the State of WebGUI at the WUC this year. Anyone involved in this particular project will earn a great deal of respect and gratitude from me; and, I'm sure, from the community once they see what it does.

http://www.plainblack.com/webgui/dev/discuss/volunteers/3
Unsubscribe
  

-- 
==============================================
Michelle M. LaMar               (707) 664-4338
Senior Software Engineer           www.cdl.edu
California State University                   
Center for Distributed Learning

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JT

Date: 4/29/2007 7:56 pm · Subject: Re: Volunteers? · Rating: 8

Attached to this post is a PDF of the specification for the Thingy asset, which I was formerly calling WebDB. Read the PDF if you want to know about the name change.

I'm not attaching this here as a request for comment. This is the final spec document. If after the Thingy is released you want to see some improvements, then submit RFEs for it.

However, I am attaching this here in the hopes that it will attract more contributors. Michelle has stated that she doesn't have enough time to do this 100% by herself. Pat has volunteered to help her, but this is a big project, so they can both use some help. If you do volunteer to do some development, and only if you volunteer to do some development, I will be happy to hear and assimilate your ideas for how the Thingy could be improved. In this, our great open source society, only those who contribute to making the society greater shall have their voices heard.

You can volunteer to do development in one of two ways. You can either contribute your time or the time of some developer on your staff to assist Michelle and Pat. Or, you can contribute funds to Plain Black so that I put one of our staff developers on this project.

Attached Files

thingy_spec.pdf

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knowmad

Date: 4/29/2007 8:37 pm · Subject: Re: Volunteers? · Rating: -10

JT,

Although I prefer WebDB to Thingy, the spec looks promising. Here are a couple thoughts from my initial review:

It'd be nice to have a help_text field for rollover help in thingy_fields table. We recently created a form asset and added roll-over help like in many wG forms.

Is there no way to support sorting by more than 1 column? Could there be a custom sort string only available from an "Advanced" page or to a Guru user? If you wonder why I would want to sort by two columns, consider a search that contained a classification column (e.g., freshman, sophomore, etc) and a lastname.

I can't promise to volunteer but am keen on this idea and will be trying to follow development and offer feedback/support as best I can. Good luck to Michelle and Pat.

William

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fdillon

Date: 4/30/2007 7:54 am · Subject: Re: Volunteers? · Rating: 4

I'll need to digest and think about the design. One thing that I think should be added is the ability to export data as XML or server it up as RSS.

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JT

Date: 4/30/2007 9:11 am · Subject: Re: Volunteers? · Rating: 0

Let me repeat. This is not a request for comment. This is a request for volunteers.

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fdillon

Date: 4/30/2007 9:35 am · Subject: Re: Volunteers? · Rating: 0

Yeah, I didn't really read the post that had the attachment. I was
too antsy to open it.

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