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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:blue'>Thanking you </span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Wingdings;
color:blue'>J</span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><b><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk
[mailto:xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Dave Burnett<br>
<b>Sent:</b> 14 May 2009 14:13<br>
<b>To:</b> Xerte list<br>
<b>Subject:</b> RE: [Xerte] Developer documentation<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:
12.0pt;margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>European
or African?<br>
<br>
> Subject: RE: [Xerte] Developer documentation<br>
> Date: Thu, 14 May 2009 13:55:58 +0100<br>
> From: Patrick.Lockley@nottingham.ac.uk<br>
> To: xerte@lists.nottingham.ac.uk<br>
> <br>
> Hello,<br>
> <br>
> First off<br>
> <br>
> There are two xertes. To filter some mud from the water.<br>
> <br>
> Desktop Xerte - A developer tool flash based application that can run on<br>
> a windows PC to develop flash and xml to be deployed on a web server.<br>
> This is the EXE Version. The exe version does not have a database. It is<br>
> completely separate and does not care about the Xerte Online Toolkits<br>
> version. Honestly, it never writes or anything. They can be used<br>
> completely separately.<br>
> <br>
> (Just in case cross wires by exe, I don't mean eXe, but executable.)<br>
> <br>
> Xerte Online Toolkits - A web based version of the Xerte wizards feature<br>
> available to people working directly on a web server. This is at present<br>
> its usage. The site is however almost completely modularized and could<br>
> support other versions of other templates if someone wants to. I think<br>
> only the export functions aren't modularized. <br>
> <br>
> Bringing together a few emails into one<br>
> <br>
> 1) The reason we don't have a full GPL license is (at the moment)<br>
> because I wanted to explicitly offer my personal thanks to the<br>
> developers of the three other PHP scripts that help the site work. To<br>
> many open source projects just bring together loads of other code and<br>
> pass it off without proper attribution. On the first page of the<br>
> installer it does thank these people. One of these pieces of code also<br>
> lacks a license (he just wants you to send him a copy of what you do),<br>
> so I am not sure legally if we can offer it as GPL anyways. We could<br>
> possibly remove this code from the install and offer a guaranteed GPL<br>
> version, but we'd lose some functions and have two installers to deal<br>
> with.<br>
> <br>
> 2) There are no instructions for any one downloading from the SVN as to<br>
> what the database script code is, where it is and how to apply this.<br>
> <br>
> Correct, but there is an installer and a set up folder containing a file<br>
> called basic.sql which does the vast majority of the database creation<br>
> (it could be run separately with some minor mods). There isn't a script<br>
> to do this generically (if you ignore the fact that the installer does<br>
> all of it) as some of the database settings are specific to each<br>
> install.<br>
> <br>
> If you want to install toolkits, I would suggest downloading the<br>
> installer from http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/xerte rather than using the<br>
> SVN. You can run a local version very easily if you're on a PC by<br>
> choosing the XAMPP installer. If you're not using a localhost install,<br>
> you can choose the full install option. There is someone at Loughborough<br>
> who has done this already and I am guessing you know who so he may be<br>
> able to demo?<br>
> <br>
> We have worked on the basis that to encourage the use of the project an<br>
> installer makes more sense than forcing people to work out which bits of<br>
> code to change here and there. So far we've had no really complaints<br>
> about the installer, and most people appear to have installed it without<br>
> any issues.<br>
> <br>
> 3) In addition have you any coding standards that are being followed. I<br>
> ask only because I have noted that you are using the abbreviated php tag<br>
> (<?) rather than the more commonly accepted tag (<?php).<br>
> <br>
> True, although in my defence and to counter any accusations of laziness,<br>
> I didn't realise this was a problem until I pretty much finished the<br>
> installer (I was working on the basis long tags are a bit obsolete). The<br>
> project has gone through a variety of phases, and a lot of the initial<br>
> work was done before it moved to become open source. So this is somewhat<br>
> of a legacy admittedly, but it is only a matter of doing a find and<br>
> replace on the files.<br>
> <br>
> As for standards......<br>
> <br>
> 4) I too am a fan of the phpdoc standard, built in a similar manor to<br>
> the Javadoc. As for Xerte from examining the code the use of this is<br>
> sporadic<br>
> <br>
> As for this, other than 1-2 pages where I know the commenting isn't<br>
> ideal, I spent two whole weekends commenting up the code to phpdoc<br>
> standard. I've even done the javascript to the same standard (even<br>
> though it was futile as JS DOC uses some XML format instead). If they<br>
> aren't at PHP doc standards, then I have no plans to change them as I<br>
> will be shooting myself to get over how stupid I'll feel.<br>
> <br>
> I don't have any code standards or preferences, other than to keep to<br>
> PHPdoc now I erm have done it, try to comment every If statement (give<br>
> or take a few where its obvious). I've spent too much time myself bogged<br>
> down in open source code that basically isn't as its written badly and<br>
> without comments. I've tended to use very basic code and simple<br>
> functional patterns so as to make the code as modifiable and<br>
> customisable as possible.<br>
> <br>
> I would be surprised if someone said the Xerte Online Toolkits code was<br>
> awkward. I've been pretty anally retentive in terms of file names,<br>
> naming conventions and folder structures. The website_code folder<br>
> contains all the website code, in side that are folders called php,<br>
> scripts, styles.... Admittedly it's not a guide per say, but I would say<br>
> its fairly obvious. As to finding out what calls what - I recommend<br>
> fiddler. It is amazing.<br>
> <br>
> I've attached a presentation I gave on the code workings. I think it<br>
> might cover some of the points you've raised.<br>
> <br>
> Is anyone still reading? Spot quiz time? What is the air speed velocity<br>
> of a swallow?<br>
> <br>
> In terms of contributions from other users, so far it's mostly been bug<br>
> fixes (we release a weekly list of fixed bugs and modifications - this<br>
> week is free of them so far), but we have received 4 or 5 changes from<br>
> organizations and colleges where the system is running.<br>
> <br>
> Every time I have fixed an individual bug, I have offered to that person<br>
> scope for the creation of a Xerte Online Toolkits developer's list / sys<br>
> admin list, or a desire for increased developer documentation. <br>
> <br>
> No one has ever replied.<br>
> <br>
> As a developer, I could go write the manuals, but in terms of sheer<br>
> pragmatism, do people think the time spent on that would be commensurate<br>
> with the resources returned?<br>
> <br>
> I would love to think people would be interested in doing so, but would<br>
> prefer to establish some sort of steering group before continuing to<br>
> create documentation. And also as the benevolent dictator (though I'd<br>
> see it more as anarchist) I find it hard to work out what people want as<br>
> often I fix things and hear nothing more. I wrote in a load of extra<br>
> code to make moodle integration possible, and then when we did moodle<br>
> integration we took it all out again. Nice.<br>
> <br>
> If you'd be interested (or anyone else still here) would be interested<br>
> in this then I would be keen to work towards something.<br>
> <br>
> Apologies for the essay, and it's far too large for me to proof read. So<br>
> I'll call this reply open source and people can correct my spelling at a<br>
> later date.<br>
> <br>
> Thanks for the interest though. I am grateful for all feedback.<br>
> <br>
> Pat<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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