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Posted to user@ofbiz.apache.org by Christopher Snow <sn...@coralms.com> on 2007/04/11 07:42:53 UTC
leaving ofbiz for a while
For the past few months, I have been trying to put together some
technical documentation on ofbiz. I wanted the book to be detailed
and accurate, but I have found it difficult to get answers to a lot
of my questions on the mailing lists. I have found the whole process
very tiring, and wasteful of time as I am having to spend a lot of
effort working things out by looking through code. Maybe my emails
are too rude? Maybe the mailing lists aren't working (what about
lists for tech-user, functional-user, dev, docs)?
Eclipse BIRT have got it right. They have provided an excellent
users manual (field guide) and an excellent developers guide
(integrating and extending BIRT). That really ramps up your
knowledge of BIRT before looking at the code. With ofbiz, I've had
to pretty much dive straight into the code (and spend time weaving my
way through classpath loaders, container loaders, etc, before getting
to find what I needed).
Anyway, I've uploaded my scribbles if anyone finds it useful but an
awful lot of work is needed to finish it off.
> http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/ofbiz_tech.pdf
See you in a few months ...
--
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.
Re: leaving ofbiz for a while
Posted by Shi Jinghai <sh...@langhua.cn>.
Sailing, wiki or blog. I think this is the most effective way at current
period.
Good luck,
Shi Jinghai/Beijing Langhua Ltd.
在 2007-04-11三的 06:42 +0100，Christopher Snow写道：
> For the past few months, I have been trying to put together some
> technical documentation on ofbiz. I wanted the book to be detailed
> and accurate, but I have found it difficult to get answers to a lot
> of my questions on the mailing lists. I have found the whole process
> very tiring, and wasteful of time as I am having to spend a lot of
> effort working things out by looking through code. Maybe my emails
> are too rude? Maybe the mailing lists aren't working (what about
> lists for tech-user, functional-user, dev, docs)?
>
> Eclipse BIRT have got it right. They have provided an excellent
> users manual (field guide) and an excellent developers guide
> (integrating and extending BIRT). That really ramps up your
> knowledge of BIRT before looking at the code. With ofbiz, I've had
> to pretty much dive straight into the code (and spend time weaving my
> way through classpath loaders, container loaders, etc, before getting
> to find what I needed).
>
> Anyway, I've uploaded my scribbles if anyone finds it useful but an
> awful lot of work is needed to finish it off.
>
> > http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/ofbiz_tech.pdf
>
> See you in a few months ...
>
Re: leaving ofbiz for a while
Posted by "David E. Jones" <jo...@hotwaxmedia.com>.
This is more of an Undersun specific issue (ie not much to do with
OFBiz), so sorry for everyone seeing this on the mailing list.
We announced the new packaged on the OFBiz mailing lists in early
August 2006, and it looks like I sent you an email personally Chris
(to snowch@coralms.com) on 7 Aug 2006, 4:01:33 PM MDT.
It sounds like you didn't get that, and it has a promo code for a
discount (basically a full credit for the previous version), so I'll
forward that message to you again.
Sorry about the confusion!
-David
On Apr 11, 2007, at 2:08 PM, Christopher Snow wrote:
> Undersun,
>
> Is it worth a mailshot to all the other customers who bought the old
> videos to let them know there is much better training material
> available? Is there an upgrade path?
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Chris
Re: leaving ofbiz for a while
Posted by Tim Ruppert <ti...@hotwaxmedia.com>.
David has let everyone know that there are updated documents, etc
that are available on the undersun site (soon to be HotWax Media!).
As for upgrade path, those who bought them in the past get a very
substantial savings on the new videos.
Chris, I hope that helps.
Cheers,
Tim
--
Tim Ruppert
HotWax Media
http://www.hotwaxmedia.com
o:801.649.6594
f:801.649.6595
On Apr 11, 2007, at 2:08 PM, Christopher Snow wrote:
> Jacques,
>
> I tried learning ofbiz from the *old* advanced framework training
> videos
> from undersun. Thanks for pointing out that the old videos have been
> superceeded and much improved with the new ones available from
> undersun.
> That explains a lot of my frustration...
>
> Undersun,
>
> Is it worth a mailshot to all the other customers who bought the old
> videos to let them know there is much better training material
> available? Is there an upgrade path?
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Chris
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, 2007-04-11 at 12:11 +0200, Jacques Le Roux wrote:
>> Chris,
>>
>> The ML for documentation sounds like a good idea IMHO but if the
>> user ML
>> did not succeed for you why this new ML would ?
>>
>> Did you try (ie buy) the Advanced Framework Training Videos from
>> David ?
>> For me they are of great value. And I understand that David does not
>> want to give for free all the work he did on them. Though I remember
>> that he explained, when he first spoke about it, that perhaps in a
>> future he will open these videos. I guess he wait to earn enough
>> money
>> from them before opening them. Remember, it's "open source" not "work
>> for free" ;o)
>>
>> Btw I hope I will find some time to work on your
>> http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/ofbiz-forms.odt
>>
>> I began also to work on FAQ/Cookbook
>> http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBIZ/FAQ+-+Cookbook+%28work+in
>> +progress%29
>> inspirated http://ofbizwiki.go-integral.com/Wiki.jsp?page=FAQ from
>> and
>> http://www.opensourcestrategies.com/ofbiz/tutorials.php (OFBiz
>> Cookbooks
>> part)
>> My hope is to compile these works in one only place. But I'm not sure
>> Open Source Strategy agrees on this. They did not reply on my
>> previous
>> demand, so I stopped this work for now. I will put at least links
>> though
>> !
>>
>> You http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/Book_TOC.png is
>> interesting too, thanks !
>>
>> Jacques
>>
>> ----- Message d'origine -----
>> De : "Christopher Snow" <sn...@coralms.com>
>> À : <us...@ofbiz.apache.org>
>> Envoyé : mercredi 11 avril 2007 10:10
>> Objet : Re: leaving ofbiz for a while
>>
>>
>>> David,
>>>
>>> I was trying to improve the documentation incrementally...
>>>
>>> In effect, I was taking the existing documentation and improving
>>> it by
>>> digesting and understanding the material, filling the holes and
>>> presenting it in a flow suitable for learning. The problem I had
>>> was
>>> getting the answers to fill the holes!
>>>
>>> With the framework intro videos, you have provided a path to guide
>> new
>>> users through learning ofbiz. Paths are very important to new
>>> users.
>>> With the book, I was trying to provide a path also, but with more
>> detail
>>> and it could also have been used as a reference. The videos aren't
>> very
>>> useful as a reference, and the existing documentation is too
>>> scattered
>>
>>> (especially without the path).
>>>
>>> Maybe there should be a mailing list dedicated to the documentation
>>> effort. That way people like me could compile the documentation by
>>> asking questions, and people who know the answers could pop in to
>> answer
>>> them?
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> Chris
>>>
>>> On Wed, 2007-04-11 at 00:38 -0600, David E. Jones wrote:
>>>> Christopher,
>>>>
>>>> It's really great to see people interested in working on
>>>> documentation, especially interested enough to actually put
>> something
>>>> together like this.
>>>>
>>>> I'd like to make a small suggestion, for you and for anyone else
>>>> interested in a documentation effort: just as with source code, the
>>>> most effective way to work on documentation is to start with what
>>>> exists and work on improving it incrementally. There is a lot of
>>>> documentation on the docs.ofbiz.org site, and room for many
>> thousands
>>>> of hours of work to improve and flesh out that documentation.
>>>>
>>>> The great thing about helping with incremental improvements on
>>>> existing documents (even if the incremental improvement means a
>>>> reorganization or refacturing or the like; though that is obviously
>>>> dangerous when just starting out) is that your efforts become part
>> of
>>>> something bigger, and with enough people doing this eventually the
>>>> combined effort will result in something great.
>>>>
>>>> -David
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Apr 10, 2007, at 11:42 PM, Christopher Snow wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> For the past few months, I have been trying to put together some
>>>>> technical documentation on ofbiz. I wanted the book to be
>> detailed
>>>>> and accurate, but I have found it difficult to get answers to a
>> lot
>>>>> of my questions on the mailing lists. I have found the whole
>>>>> process very tiring, and wasteful of time as I am having to spend
>> a
>>>>> lot of effort working things out by looking through code. Maybe
>>>>> my emails are too rude? Maybe the mailing lists aren't working
>>>>> (what about lists for tech-user, functional-user, dev, docs)?
>>>>>
>>>>> Eclipse BIRT have got it right. They have provided an excellent
>>>>> users manual (field guide) and an excellent developers guide
>>>>> (integrating and extending BIRT). That really ramps up your
>>>>> knowledge of BIRT before looking at the code. With ofbiz, I've
>> had
>>>>> to pretty much dive straight into the code (and spend time weaving
>>>>> my way through classpath loaders, container loaders, etc, before
>>>>> getting to find what I needed).
>>>>>
>>>>> Anyway, I've uploaded my scribbles if anyone finds it useful but
>> an
>>>>> awful lot of work is needed to finish it off.
>>>>>
>>>>>> http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/ofbiz_tech.pdf
>>>>>
>>>>> See you in a few months ...
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> This message has been scanned for viruses and
>>>>> dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
>>>>> believed to be clean.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>
>>
>
Re: leaving ofbiz for a while
Posted by Christopher Snow <sn...@coralms.com>.
Jacques,
I tried learning ofbiz from the *old* advanced framework training videos
from undersun. Thanks for pointing out that the old videos have been
superceeded and much improved with the new ones available from undersun.
That explains a lot of my frustration...
Undersun,
Is it worth a mailshot to all the other customers who bought the old
videos to let them know there is much better training material
available? Is there an upgrade path?
Many thanks,
Chris
On Wed, 2007-04-11 at 12:11 +0200, Jacques Le Roux wrote:
> Chris,
>
> The ML for documentation sounds like a good idea IMHO but if the user ML
> did not succeed for you why this new ML would ?
>
> Did you try (ie buy) the Advanced Framework Training Videos from David ?
> For me they are of great value. And I understand that David does not
> want to give for free all the work he did on them. Though I remember
> that he explained, when he first spoke about it, that perhaps in a
> future he will open these videos. I guess he wait to earn enough money
> from them before opening them. Remember, it's "open source" not "work
> for free" ;o)
>
> Btw I hope I will find some time to work on your
> http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/ofbiz-forms.odt
>
> I began also to work on FAQ/Cookbook
> http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBIZ/FAQ+-+Cookbook+%28work+in+progress%29
> inspirated http://ofbizwiki.go-integral.com/Wiki.jsp?page=FAQ from and
> http://www.opensourcestrategies.com/ofbiz/tutorials.php (OFBiz Cookbooks
> part)
> My hope is to compile these works in one only place. But I'm not sure
> Open Source Strategy agrees on this. They did not reply on my previous
> demand, so I stopped this work for now. I will put at least links though
> !
>
> You http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/Book_TOC.png is
> interesting too, thanks !
>
> Jacques
>
> ----- Message d'origine -----
> De : "Christopher Snow" <sn...@coralms.com>
> À : <us...@ofbiz.apache.org>
> Envoyé : mercredi 11 avril 2007 10:10
> Objet : Re: leaving ofbiz for a while
>
>
> > David,
> >
> > I was trying to improve the documentation incrementally...
> >
> > In effect, I was taking the existing documentation and improving it by
> > digesting and understanding the material, filling the holes and
> > presenting it in a flow suitable for learning. The problem I had was
> > getting the answers to fill the holes!
> >
> > With the framework intro videos, you have provided a path to guide
> new
> > users through learning ofbiz. Paths are very important to new users.
> > With the book, I was trying to provide a path also, but with more
> detail
> > and it could also have been used as a reference. The videos aren't
> very
> > useful as a reference, and the existing documentation is too scattered
>
> > (especially without the path).
> >
> > Maybe there should be a mailing list dedicated to the documentation
> > effort. That way people like me could compile the documentation by
> > asking questions, and people who know the answers could pop in to
> answer
> > them?
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > On Wed, 2007-04-11 at 00:38 -0600, David E. Jones wrote:
> > > Christopher,
> > >
> > > It's really great to see people interested in working on
> > > documentation, especially interested enough to actually put
> something
> > > together like this.
> > >
> > > I'd like to make a small suggestion, for you and for anyone else
> > > interested in a documentation effort: just as with source code, the
> > > most effective way to work on documentation is to start with what
> > > exists and work on improving it incrementally. There is a lot of
> > > documentation on the docs.ofbiz.org site, and room for many
> thousands
> > > of hours of work to improve and flesh out that documentation.
> > >
> > > The great thing about helping with incremental improvements on
> > > existing documents (even if the incremental improvement means a
> > > reorganization or refacturing or the like; though that is obviously
> > > dangerous when just starting out) is that your efforts become part
> of
> > > something bigger, and with enough people doing this eventually the
> > > combined effort will result in something great.
> > >
> > > -David
> > >
> > >
> > > On Apr 10, 2007, at 11:42 PM, Christopher Snow wrote:
> > >
> > > > For the past few months, I have been trying to put together some
> > > > technical documentation on ofbiz. I wanted the book to be
> detailed
> > > > and accurate, but I have found it difficult to get answers to a
> lot
> > > > of my questions on the mailing lists. I have found the whole
> > > > process very tiring, and wasteful of time as I am having to spend
> a
> > > > lot of effort working things out by looking through code. Maybe
> > > > my emails are too rude? Maybe the mailing lists aren't working
> > > > (what about lists for tech-user, functional-user, dev, docs)?
> > > >
> > > > Eclipse BIRT have got it right. They have provided an excellent
> > > > users manual (field guide) and an excellent developers guide
> > > > (integrating and extending BIRT). That really ramps up your
> > > > knowledge of BIRT before looking at the code. With ofbiz, I've
> had
> > > > to pretty much dive straight into the code (and spend time weaving
> > > > my way through classpath loaders, container loaders, etc, before
> > > > getting to find what I needed).
> > > >
> > > > Anyway, I've uploaded my scribbles if anyone finds it useful but
> an
> > > > awful lot of work is needed to finish it off.
> > > >
> > > > > http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/ofbiz_tech.pdf
> > > >
> > > > See you in a few months ...
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > This message has been scanned for viruses and
> > > > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
> > > > believed to be clean.
> > > >
> > >
>
>
Re: leaving ofbiz for a while
Posted by Jacques Le Roux <ja...@les7arts.com>.
Chris,
The ML for documentation sounds like a good idea IMHO but if the user ML
did not succeed for you why this new ML would ?
Did you try (ie buy) the Advanced Framework Training Videos from David ?
For me they are of great value. And I understand that David does not
want to give for free all the work he did on them. Though I remember
that he explained, when he first spoke about it, that perhaps in a
future he will open these videos. I guess he wait to earn enough money
from them before opening them. Remember, it's "open source" not "work
for free" ;o)
Btw I hope I will find some time to work on your
http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/ofbiz-forms.odt
I began also to work on FAQ/Cookbook
http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBIZ/FAQ+-+Cookbook+%28work+in+progress%29
inspirated http://ofbizwiki.go-integral.com/Wiki.jsp?page=FAQ from and
http://www.opensourcestrategies.com/ofbiz/tutorials.php (OFBiz Cookbooks
part)
My hope is to compile these works in one only place. But I'm not sure
Open Source Strategy agrees on this. They did not reply on my previous
demand, so I stopped this work for now. I will put at least links though
!
You http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/Book_TOC.png is
interesting too, thanks !
Jacques
----- Message d'origine -----
De : "Christopher Snow" <sn...@coralms.com>
À : <us...@ofbiz.apache.org>
Envoyé : mercredi 11 avril 2007 10:10
Objet : Re: leaving ofbiz for a while
> David,
>
> I was trying to improve the documentation incrementally...
>
> In effect, I was taking the existing documentation and improving it by
> digesting and understanding the material, filling the holes and
> presenting it in a flow suitable for learning. The problem I had was
> getting the answers to fill the holes!
>
> With the framework intro videos, you have provided a path to guide
new
> users through learning ofbiz. Paths are very important to new users.
> With the book, I was trying to provide a path also, but with more
detail
> and it could also have been used as a reference. The videos aren't
very
> useful as a reference, and the existing documentation is too scattered
> (especially without the path).
>
> Maybe there should be a mailing list dedicated to the documentation
> effort. That way people like me could compile the documentation by
> asking questions, and people who know the answers could pop in to
answer
> them?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Chris
>
> On Wed, 2007-04-11 at 00:38 -0600, David E. Jones wrote:
> > Christopher,
> >
> > It's really great to see people interested in working on
> > documentation, especially interested enough to actually put
something
> > together like this.
> >
> > I'd like to make a small suggestion, for you and for anyone else
> > interested in a documentation effort: just as with source code, the
> > most effective way to work on documentation is to start with what
> > exists and work on improving it incrementally. There is a lot of
> > documentation on the docs.ofbiz.org site, and room for many
thousands
> > of hours of work to improve and flesh out that documentation.
> >
> > The great thing about helping with incremental improvements on
> > existing documents (even if the incremental improvement means a
> > reorganization or refacturing or the like; though that is obviously
> > dangerous when just starting out) is that your efforts become part
of
> > something bigger, and with enough people doing this eventually the
> > combined effort will result in something great.
> >
> > -David
> >
> >
> > On Apr 10, 2007, at 11:42 PM, Christopher Snow wrote:
> >
> > > For the past few months, I have been trying to put together some
> > > technical documentation on ofbiz. I wanted the book to be
detailed
> > > and accurate, but I have found it difficult to get answers to a
lot
> > > of my questions on the mailing lists. I have found the whole
> > > process very tiring, and wasteful of time as I am having to spend
a
> > > lot of effort working things out by looking through code. Maybe
> > > my emails are too rude? Maybe the mailing lists aren't working
> > > (what about lists for tech-user, functional-user, dev, docs)?
> > >
> > > Eclipse BIRT have got it right. They have provided an excellent
> > > users manual (field guide) and an excellent developers guide
> > > (integrating and extending BIRT). That really ramps up your
> > > knowledge of BIRT before looking at the code. With ofbiz, I've
had
> > > to pretty much dive straight into the code (and spend time weaving
> > > my way through classpath loaders, container loaders, etc, before
> > > getting to find what I needed).
> > >
> > > Anyway, I've uploaded my scribbles if anyone finds it useful but
an
> > > awful lot of work is needed to finish it off.
> > >
> > > > http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/ofbiz_tech.pdf
> > >
> > > See you in a few months ...
> > >
> > > --
> > > This message has been scanned for viruses and
> > > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
> > > believed to be clean.
> > >
> >
Re: leaving ofbiz for a while
Posted by Christopher Snow <sn...@coralms.com>.
David,
I was trying to improve the documentation incrementally...
In effect, I was taking the existing documentation and improving it by
digesting and understanding the material, filling the holes and
presenting it in a flow suitable for learning. The problem I had was
getting the answers to fill the holes!
With the framework intro videos, you have provided a path to guide new
users through learning ofbiz. Paths are very important to new users.
With the book, I was trying to provide a path also, but with more detail
and it could also have been used as a reference. The videos aren't very
useful as a reference, and the existing documentation is too scattered
(especially without the path).
Maybe there should be a mailing list dedicated to the documentation
effort. That way people like me could compile the documentation by
asking questions, and people who know the answers could pop in to answer
them?
Cheers,
Chris
On Wed, 2007-04-11 at 00:38 -0600, David E. Jones wrote:
> Christopher,
>
> It's really great to see people interested in working on
> documentation, especially interested enough to actually put something
> together like this.
>
> I'd like to make a small suggestion, for you and for anyone else
> interested in a documentation effort: just as with source code, the
> most effective way to work on documentation is to start with what
> exists and work on improving it incrementally. There is a lot of
> documentation on the docs.ofbiz.org site, and room for many thousands
> of hours of work to improve and flesh out that documentation.
>
> The great thing about helping with incremental improvements on
> existing documents (even if the incremental improvement means a
> reorganization or refacturing or the like; though that is obviously
> dangerous when just starting out) is that your efforts become part of
> something bigger, and with enough people doing this eventually the
> combined effort will result in something great.
>
> -David
>
>
> On Apr 10, 2007, at 11:42 PM, Christopher Snow wrote:
>
> > For the past few months, I have been trying to put together some
> > technical documentation on ofbiz. I wanted the book to be detailed
> > and accurate, but I have found it difficult to get answers to a lot
> > of my questions on the mailing lists. I have found the whole
> > process very tiring, and wasteful of time as I am having to spend a
> > lot of effort working things out by looking through code. Maybe
> > my emails are too rude? Maybe the mailing lists aren't working
> > (what about lists for tech-user, functional-user, dev, docs)?
> >
> > Eclipse BIRT have got it right. They have provided an excellent
> > users manual (field guide) and an excellent developers guide
> > (integrating and extending BIRT). That really ramps up your
> > knowledge of BIRT before looking at the code. With ofbiz, I've had
> > to pretty much dive straight into the code (and spend time weaving
> > my way through classpath loaders, container loaders, etc, before
> > getting to find what I needed).
> >
> > Anyway, I've uploaded my scribbles if anyone finds it useful but an
> > awful lot of work is needed to finish it off.
> >
> > > http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/ofbiz_tech.pdf
> >
> > See you in a few months ...
> >
> > --
> > This message has been scanned for viruses and
> > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
> > believed to be clean.
> >
>
Re: leaving ofbiz for a while
Posted by Jonathon -- Improov <jo...@improov.com>.
Scott,
> I'm surprised at time being the factor behind you not contributing your code,
It seems like whenever somebody contributes code, he/she is about the only one interested in
reviewing it for commit.
The pace at which I add enhancements may be too difficult (for me) to handle. I'd have to neatly
itemize my enhancements, and that takes time. Easier if I just submit one big crude patch.
> I have always believed that you save time by getting your code into the
> trunk. Once it's in the trunk you no longer have to deal with conflicts and
> you are no longer the only one charged with improving the code,
True. But conflicts are easy to handle if you use test branches. Use the branch/explore/prune
strategy. Then you can boldly update wholesale from OFBiz SVN, and pick off new bugs over time.
All that time, you still have your clean stable branch deployed.
I update from OFBiz SVN stream once a week. Wholesale. Then I pick off any new bugs over time.
Also, "once it's in the trunk" doesn't mean you can really kick back. Somebody might break the
existing code!
I enhance/customize OFBiz in a very "insulated" manner. Minimal chance for conflicts upon updates.
> it also opens your code to review which may help improve the implementation
> itself.
Reviews seems to happen rarely in OFBiz, probably given the lack of resources here. I've fixed
some weird bugs in OFBiz that were probably several months old. This project has a spectator size
of 400+? Some open-source projects have 10s of 1000s, and that's when you can be sure reviews will
happen, fast.
> I think we have enough contribution reviewers, the shortage is in actual
> contributions. There are plenty of bug reports, wishlists and experiments
> in jira but not a great deal of contributions awaiting review.
Hmm. Ok, I'll just mention this again, just to be fair to Christopher Snow (the new member).
Anyway, I really don't mind getting roughed up by the core team all over again (yes, I'm thick, a
thick workaholic). No sticks nor stones, though, I do break. :)
Here are steps that a new member goes through:
1. Ask for help, get benefits gratuitously.
2. Realize he's gotten so much for free.
3. Become competent with OFBiz.
4. Feel like making the OFBiz world better in return, spread the good news.
By step 4, the new member is no longer new, and is competent enough to contribute back.
Seldom do you get new members who jump in at step 3. If they don't get past step 1, they won't go
to step 2.
I know David Jones has some theory about this formula: Offering more docs/help does not guarantee
more contributions.
Frankly, I'm no expert on human psychology (did I mention I'm thick?). But as a new member, I
don't find enough slack right now to be able to contribute back to OFBiz. Even writing answers and
responses to other new members was getting to me. To be honest, I didn't get much benefits from
the ML to begin with. Therefore, I have very little slack right now.
BUT.. BUT, nobody in the OFBiz community owes me anything. Help is easier in the form of
references. Most techies who are potential contributors will appreciate reading materials and
manuals more than the human touch.
And to top off the guilty verdict, I did gets things working, and even got to enhancing OFBiz at
its cores. I can't find the time to contribute back right now. So, I am guilty. David Jones once
said (to me, I think) that "many who even got it working in production don't contribute back".
Guilty guilty guilty. Sigh. Maybe OFBiz will become like Linux, more meant for die hards.
Better to teach us newbies how to fish (docs/references) than to help us 1 issue by 1 issue on the ML.
Jonathon
Scott Gray wrote:
> Hi Jonathon,
>
> I guess you could call it a confession, I just wanted to mention a
> difficulty that I had and I what I thought might make it easier.
>
> I'm surprised at time being the factor behind you not contributing your
> code, I have always believed that you save time by getting your code into
> the trunk. Once it's in the trunk you no longer have to deal with
> conflicts
> and you are no longer the only one charged with improving the code, it also
> opens your code to review which may help improve the implementation itself.
>
> I think we have enough contribution reviewers, the shortage is in actual
> contributions. There are plenty of bug reports, wishlists and experiments
> in jira but not a great deal of contributions awaiting review.
>
> Regards
> Scott
>
> On 11/04/07, Jonathon -- Improov <jo...@improov.com> wrote:
>>
>> Scott,
>>
>> I don't know if you meant those 5 steps as a confession of sorts. If so,
>> I'll add that I am
>> personally guilty of those.
>>
>> No time, no impetus.
>>
>> As I told Chris Snow before, I read the codes easily enough. Eg. if I had
>> a question about
>> JobManager, it just takes me 5 minutes read the answer from the source
>> codes. Horrible folks like
>> me don't bother much with documenting OFBiz.
>>
>> By the way, I also find it difficult to merge in my enhancements into
>> OFBiz. No time. So how many
>> committers are there now? Actually, the better question is, how many
>> contribution reviewers do we
>> have?
>>
>> Jonathon
>>
>> Scott Gray wrote:
>> > Hi All,
>> >
>> > Whenever I come across something new while looking at the code or
>> reading
>> > the mailing lists, my thoughts usually run along these lines:
>> > 1. I think I'll add that to the docs
>> > 2. Where shall I put it?
>> > 3. I/We need to create a better structure
>> > 4. I don't think I have the time or "big picture knowledge" to do this
>> > 5. I need to get back to what I was doing
>> > And then I leave it at that
>> >
>> > I think if we had a relatively full table of contents as a starting
>> > point it
>> > would be much easier to add snippets here and there with out them being
>> > disorganized and hard to find. Then the hard work would be in cleaning
>> the
>> > pages up every now and again rather than deciding where to put things.
>> >
>> > Regards
>> > Scott
>> >
>> > On 11/04/07, David E. Jones <jo...@hotwaxmedia.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Christopher,
>> >>
>> >> It's really great to see people interested in working on
>> >> documentation, especially interested enough to actually put something
>> >> together like this.
>> >>
>> >> I'd like to make a small suggestion, for you and for anyone else
>> >> interested in a documentation effort: just as with source code, the
>> >> most effective way to work on documentation is to start with what
>> >> exists and work on improving it incrementally. There is a lot of
>> >> documentation on the docs.ofbiz.org site, and room for many thousands
>> >> of hours of work to improve and flesh out that documentation.
>> >>
>> >> The great thing about helping with incremental improvements on
>> >> existing documents (even if the incremental improvement means a
>> >> reorganization or refacturing or the like; though that is obviously
>> >> dangerous when just starting out) is that your efforts become part of
>> >> something bigger, and with enough people doing this eventually the
>> >> combined effort will result in something great.
>> >>
>> >> -David
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Apr 10, 2007, at 11:42 PM, Christopher Snow wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > For the past few months, I have been trying to put together some
>> >> > technical documentation on ofbiz. I wanted the book to be detailed
>> >> > and accurate, but I have found it difficult to get answers to a lot
>> >> > of my questions on the mailing lists. I have found the whole
>> >> > process very tiring, and wasteful of time as I am having to spend a
>> >> > lot of effort working things out by looking through code. Maybe
>> >> > my emails are too rude? Maybe the mailing lists aren't working
>> >> > (what about lists for tech-user, functional-user, dev, docs)?
>> >> >
>> >> > Eclipse BIRT have got it right. They have provided an excellent
>> >> > users manual (field guide) and an excellent developers guide
>> >> > (integrating and extending BIRT). That really ramps up your
>> >> > knowledge of BIRT before looking at the code. With ofbiz, I've had
>> >> > to pretty much dive straight into the code (and spend time weaving
>> >> > my way through classpath loaders, container loaders, etc, before
>> >> > getting to find what I needed).
>> >> >
>> >> > Anyway, I've uploaded my scribbles if anyone finds it useful but an
>> >> > awful lot of work is needed to finish it off.
>> >> >
>> >> > > http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/ofbiz_tech.pdf
>> >> >
>> >> > See you in a few months ...
>> >> >
>> >> > --
>> >> > This message has been scanned for viruses and
>> >> > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
>> >> > believed to be clean.
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > No virus found in this incoming message.
>> > Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>> > Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 269.2.0/756 - Release Date:
>> 4/10/2007
>> 10:44 PM
>>
>>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 269.2.0/756 - Release Date: 4/10/2007 10:44 PM
Re: leaving ofbiz for a while
Posted by Scott Gray <le...@gmail.com>.
Hi Jonathon,
I guess you could call it a confession, I just wanted to mention a
difficulty that I had and I what I thought might make it easier.
I'm surprised at time being the factor behind you not contributing your
code, I have always believed that you save time by getting your code into
the trunk. Once it's in the trunk you no longer have to deal with conflicts
and you are no longer the only one charged with improving the code, it also
opens your code to review which may help improve the implementation itself.
I think we have enough contribution reviewers, the shortage is in actual
contributions. There are plenty of bug reports, wishlists and experiments
in jira but not a great deal of contributions awaiting review.
Regards
Scott
On 11/04/07, Jonathon -- Improov <jo...@improov.com> wrote:
>
> Scott,
>
> I don't know if you meant those 5 steps as a confession of sorts. If so,
> I'll add that I am
> personally guilty of those.
>
> No time, no impetus.
>
> As I told Chris Snow before, I read the codes easily enough. Eg. if I had
> a question about
> JobManager, it just takes me 5 minutes read the answer from the source
> codes. Horrible folks like
> me don't bother much with documenting OFBiz.
>
> By the way, I also find it difficult to merge in my enhancements into
> OFBiz. No time. So how many
> committers are there now? Actually, the better question is, how many
> contribution reviewers do we
> have?
>
> Jonathon
>
> Scott Gray wrote:
> > Hi All,
> >
> > Whenever I come across something new while looking at the code or
> reading
> > the mailing lists, my thoughts usually run along these lines:
> > 1. I think I'll add that to the docs
> > 2. Where shall I put it?
> > 3. I/We need to create a better structure
> > 4. I don't think I have the time or "big picture knowledge" to do this
> > 5. I need to get back to what I was doing
> > And then I leave it at that
> >
> > I think if we had a relatively full table of contents as a starting
> > point it
> > would be much easier to add snippets here and there with out them being
> > disorganized and hard to find. Then the hard work would be in cleaning
> the
> > pages up every now and again rather than deciding where to put things.
> >
> > Regards
> > Scott
> >
> > On 11/04/07, David E. Jones <jo...@hotwaxmedia.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >> Christopher,
> >>
> >> It's really great to see people interested in working on
> >> documentation, especially interested enough to actually put something
> >> together like this.
> >>
> >> I'd like to make a small suggestion, for you and for anyone else
> >> interested in a documentation effort: just as with source code, the
> >> most effective way to work on documentation is to start with what
> >> exists and work on improving it incrementally. There is a lot of
> >> documentation on the docs.ofbiz.org site, and room for many thousands
> >> of hours of work to improve and flesh out that documentation.
> >>
> >> The great thing about helping with incremental improvements on
> >> existing documents (even if the incremental improvement means a
> >> reorganization or refacturing or the like; though that is obviously
> >> dangerous when just starting out) is that your efforts become part of
> >> something bigger, and with enough people doing this eventually the
> >> combined effort will result in something great.
> >>
> >> -David
> >>
> >>
> >> On Apr 10, 2007, at 11:42 PM, Christopher Snow wrote:
> >>
> >> > For the past few months, I have been trying to put together some
> >> > technical documentation on ofbiz. I wanted the book to be detailed
> >> > and accurate, but I have found it difficult to get answers to a lot
> >> > of my questions on the mailing lists. I have found the whole
> >> > process very tiring, and wasteful of time as I am having to spend a
> >> > lot of effort working things out by looking through code. Maybe
> >> > my emails are too rude? Maybe the mailing lists aren't working
> >> > (what about lists for tech-user, functional-user, dev, docs)?
> >> >
> >> > Eclipse BIRT have got it right. They have provided an excellent
> >> > users manual (field guide) and an excellent developers guide
> >> > (integrating and extending BIRT). That really ramps up your
> >> > knowledge of BIRT before looking at the code. With ofbiz, I've had
> >> > to pretty much dive straight into the code (and spend time weaving
> >> > my way through classpath loaders, container loaders, etc, before
> >> > getting to find what I needed).
> >> >
> >> > Anyway, I've uploaded my scribbles if anyone finds it useful but an
> >> > awful lot of work is needed to finish it off.
> >> >
> >> > > http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/ofbiz_tech.pdf
> >> >
> >> > See you in a few months ...
> >> >
> >> > --
> >> > This message has been scanned for viruses and
> >> > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
> >> > believed to be clean.
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > No virus found in this incoming message.
> > Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> > Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 269.2.0/756 - Release Date: 4/10/2007
> 10:44 PM
>
>
Re: leaving ofbiz for a while
Posted by Jonathon -- Improov <jo...@improov.com>.
Scott,
I don't know if you meant those 5 steps as a confession of sorts. If so, I'll add that I am
personally guilty of those.
No time, no impetus.
As I told Chris Snow before, I read the codes easily enough. Eg. if I had a question about
JobManager, it just takes me 5 minutes read the answer from the source codes. Horrible folks like
me don't bother much with documenting OFBiz.
By the way, I also find it difficult to merge in my enhancements into OFBiz. No time. So how many
committers are there now? Actually, the better question is, how many contribution reviewers do we
have?
Jonathon
Scott Gray wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> Whenever I come across something new while looking at the code or reading
> the mailing lists, my thoughts usually run along these lines:
> 1. I think I'll add that to the docs
> 2. Where shall I put it?
> 3. I/We need to create a better structure
> 4. I don't think I have the time or "big picture knowledge" to do this
> 5. I need to get back to what I was doing
> And then I leave it at that
>
> I think if we had a relatively full table of contents as a starting
> point it
> would be much easier to add snippets here and there with out them being
> disorganized and hard to find. Then the hard work would be in cleaning the
> pages up every now and again rather than deciding where to put things.
>
> Regards
> Scott
>
> On 11/04/07, David E. Jones <jo...@hotwaxmedia.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Christopher,
>>
>> It's really great to see people interested in working on
>> documentation, especially interested enough to actually put something
>> together like this.
>>
>> I'd like to make a small suggestion, for you and for anyone else
>> interested in a documentation effort: just as with source code, the
>> most effective way to work on documentation is to start with what
>> exists and work on improving it incrementally. There is a lot of
>> documentation on the docs.ofbiz.org site, and room for many thousands
>> of hours of work to improve and flesh out that documentation.
>>
>> The great thing about helping with incremental improvements on
>> existing documents (even if the incremental improvement means a
>> reorganization or refacturing or the like; though that is obviously
>> dangerous when just starting out) is that your efforts become part of
>> something bigger, and with enough people doing this eventually the
>> combined effort will result in something great.
>>
>> -David
>>
>>
>> On Apr 10, 2007, at 11:42 PM, Christopher Snow wrote:
>>
>> > For the past few months, I have been trying to put together some
>> > technical documentation on ofbiz. I wanted the book to be detailed
>> > and accurate, but I have found it difficult to get answers to a lot
>> > of my questions on the mailing lists. I have found the whole
>> > process very tiring, and wasteful of time as I am having to spend a
>> > lot of effort working things out by looking through code. Maybe
>> > my emails are too rude? Maybe the mailing lists aren't working
>> > (what about lists for tech-user, functional-user, dev, docs)?
>> >
>> > Eclipse BIRT have got it right. They have provided an excellent
>> > users manual (field guide) and an excellent developers guide
>> > (integrating and extending BIRT). That really ramps up your
>> > knowledge of BIRT before looking at the code. With ofbiz, I've had
>> > to pretty much dive straight into the code (and spend time weaving
>> > my way through classpath loaders, container loaders, etc, before
>> > getting to find what I needed).
>> >
>> > Anyway, I've uploaded my scribbles if anyone finds it useful but an
>> > awful lot of work is needed to finish it off.
>> >
>> > > http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/ofbiz_tech.pdf
>> >
>> > See you in a few months ...
>> >
>> > --
>> > This message has been scanned for viruses and
>> > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
>> > believed to be clean.
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 269.2.0/756 - Release Date: 4/10/2007 10:44 PM
Re: leaving ofbiz for a while
Posted by "David E. Jones" <jo...@hotwaxmedia.com>.
There are "training" outlines that have been around for years and
these are intended to be the overall structure for documentation, or
at least technical level documentation. They are here:
http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBTECH/Comprehensive+OFBiz+Training
+Outlines
For end-user documentation there is already quite a bit of structure
in the end-user space, especially under the End User Docs Home page:
http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBENDUSER/OFBiz+End+User+Docs+Home
-David
On Apr 11, 2007, at 2:23 AM, Christopher Snow wrote:
> Scott,
>
> I think a detailed TOC is required, here is something I started:
>
> http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/Book_TOC.png
>
> Cheers.
>
> Chris
>
> On Wed, 2007-04-11 at 19:50 +1200, Scott Gray wrote:
>> Hi All,
>>
>> Whenever I come across something new while looking at the code or
>> reading
>> the mailing lists, my thoughts usually run along these lines:
>> 1. I think I'll add that to the docs
>> 2. Where shall I put it?
>> 3. I/We need to create a better structure
>> 4. I don't think I have the time or "big picture knowledge" to do
>> this
>> 5. I need to get back to what I was doing
>> And then I leave it at that
>>
>> I think if we had a relatively full table of contents as a
>> starting point it
>> would be much easier to add snippets here and there with out them
>> being
>> disorganized and hard to find. Then the hard work would be in
>> cleaning the
>> pages up every now and again rather than deciding where to put
>> things.
>>
>> Regards
>> Scott
>>
>> On 11/04/07, David E. Jones <jo...@hotwaxmedia.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> Christopher,
>>>
>>> It's really great to see people interested in working on
>>> documentation, especially interested enough to actually put
>>> something
>>> together like this.
>>>
>>> I'd like to make a small suggestion, for you and for anyone else
>>> interested in a documentation effort: just as with source code, the
>>> most effective way to work on documentation is to start with what
>>> exists and work on improving it incrementally. There is a lot of
>>> documentation on the docs.ofbiz.org site, and room for many
>>> thousands
>>> of hours of work to improve and flesh out that documentation.
>>>
>>> The great thing about helping with incremental improvements on
>>> existing documents (even if the incremental improvement means a
>>> reorganization or refacturing or the like; though that is obviously
>>> dangerous when just starting out) is that your efforts become
>>> part of
>>> something bigger, and with enough people doing this eventually the
>>> combined effort will result in something great.
>>>
>>> -David
>>>
>>>
>>> On Apr 10, 2007, at 11:42 PM, Christopher Snow wrote:
>>>
>>>> For the past few months, I have been trying to put together some
>>>> technical documentation on ofbiz. I wanted the book to be detailed
>>>> and accurate, but I have found it difficult to get answers to a lot
>>>> of my questions on the mailing lists. I have found the whole
>>>> process very tiring, and wasteful of time as I am having to spend a
>>>> lot of effort working things out by looking through code. Maybe
>>>> my emails are too rude? Maybe the mailing lists aren't working
>>>> (what about lists for tech-user, functional-user, dev, docs)?
>>>>
>>>> Eclipse BIRT have got it right. They have provided an excellent
>>>> users manual (field guide) and an excellent developers guide
>>>> (integrating and extending BIRT). That really ramps up your
>>>> knowledge of BIRT before looking at the code. With ofbiz, I've had
>>>> to pretty much dive straight into the code (and spend time weaving
>>>> my way through classpath loaders, container loaders, etc, before
>>>> getting to find what I needed).
>>>>
>>>> Anyway, I've uploaded my scribbles if anyone finds it useful but an
>>>> awful lot of work is needed to finish it off.
>>>>
>>>>> http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/ofbiz_tech.pdf
>>>>
>>>> See you in a few months ...
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> This message has been scanned for viruses and
>>>> dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
>>>> believed to be clean.
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
Re: leaving ofbiz for a while
Posted by Christopher Snow <sn...@coralms.com>.
Scott,
I think a detailed TOC is required, here is something I started:
http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/Book_TOC.png
Cheers.
Chris
On Wed, 2007-04-11 at 19:50 +1200, Scott Gray wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> Whenever I come across something new while looking at the code or reading
> the mailing lists, my thoughts usually run along these lines:
> 1. I think I'll add that to the docs
> 2. Where shall I put it?
> 3. I/We need to create a better structure
> 4. I don't think I have the time or "big picture knowledge" to do this
> 5. I need to get back to what I was doing
> And then I leave it at that
>
> I think if we had a relatively full table of contents as a starting point it
> would be much easier to add snippets here and there with out them being
> disorganized and hard to find. Then the hard work would be in cleaning the
> pages up every now and again rather than deciding where to put things.
>
> Regards
> Scott
>
> On 11/04/07, David E. Jones <jo...@hotwaxmedia.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Christopher,
> >
> > It's really great to see people interested in working on
> > documentation, especially interested enough to actually put something
> > together like this.
> >
> > I'd like to make a small suggestion, for you and for anyone else
> > interested in a documentation effort: just as with source code, the
> > most effective way to work on documentation is to start with what
> > exists and work on improving it incrementally. There is a lot of
> > documentation on the docs.ofbiz.org site, and room for many thousands
> > of hours of work to improve and flesh out that documentation.
> >
> > The great thing about helping with incremental improvements on
> > existing documents (even if the incremental improvement means a
> > reorganization or refacturing or the like; though that is obviously
> > dangerous when just starting out) is that your efforts become part of
> > something bigger, and with enough people doing this eventually the
> > combined effort will result in something great.
> >
> > -David
> >
> >
> > On Apr 10, 2007, at 11:42 PM, Christopher Snow wrote:
> >
> > > For the past few months, I have been trying to put together some
> > > technical documentation on ofbiz. I wanted the book to be detailed
> > > and accurate, but I have found it difficult to get answers to a lot
> > > of my questions on the mailing lists. I have found the whole
> > > process very tiring, and wasteful of time as I am having to spend a
> > > lot of effort working things out by looking through code. Maybe
> > > my emails are too rude? Maybe the mailing lists aren't working
> > > (what about lists for tech-user, functional-user, dev, docs)?
> > >
> > > Eclipse BIRT have got it right. They have provided an excellent
> > > users manual (field guide) and an excellent developers guide
> > > (integrating and extending BIRT). That really ramps up your
> > > knowledge of BIRT before looking at the code. With ofbiz, I've had
> > > to pretty much dive straight into the code (and spend time weaving
> > > my way through classpath loaders, container loaders, etc, before
> > > getting to find what I needed).
> > >
> > > Anyway, I've uploaded my scribbles if anyone finds it useful but an
> > > awful lot of work is needed to finish it off.
> > >
> > > > http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/ofbiz_tech.pdf
> > >
> > > See you in a few months ...
> > >
> > > --
> > > This message has been scanned for viruses and
> > > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
> > > believed to be clean.
> > >
> >
> >
> >
>
Re: leaving ofbiz for a while
Posted by Scott Gray <le...@gmail.com>.
Hi All,
Whenever I come across something new while looking at the code or reading
the mailing lists, my thoughts usually run along these lines:
1. I think I'll add that to the docs
2. Where shall I put it?
3. I/We need to create a better structure
4. I don't think I have the time or "big picture knowledge" to do this
5. I need to get back to what I was doing
And then I leave it at that
I think if we had a relatively full table of contents as a starting point it
would be much easier to add snippets here and there with out them being
disorganized and hard to find. Then the hard work would be in cleaning the
pages up every now and again rather than deciding where to put things.
Regards
Scott
On 11/04/07, David E. Jones <jo...@hotwaxmedia.com> wrote:
>
>
> Christopher,
>
> It's really great to see people interested in working on
> documentation, especially interested enough to actually put something
> together like this.
>
> I'd like to make a small suggestion, for you and for anyone else
> interested in a documentation effort: just as with source code, the
> most effective way to work on documentation is to start with what
> exists and work on improving it incrementally. There is a lot of
> documentation on the docs.ofbiz.org site, and room for many thousands
> of hours of work to improve and flesh out that documentation.
>
> The great thing about helping with incremental improvements on
> existing documents (even if the incremental improvement means a
> reorganization or refacturing or the like; though that is obviously
> dangerous when just starting out) is that your efforts become part of
> something bigger, and with enough people doing this eventually the
> combined effort will result in something great.
>
> -David
>
>
> On Apr 10, 2007, at 11:42 PM, Christopher Snow wrote:
>
> > For the past few months, I have been trying to put together some
> > technical documentation on ofbiz. I wanted the book to be detailed
> > and accurate, but I have found it difficult to get answers to a lot
> > of my questions on the mailing lists. I have found the whole
> > process very tiring, and wasteful of time as I am having to spend a
> > lot of effort working things out by looking through code. Maybe
> > my emails are too rude? Maybe the mailing lists aren't working
> > (what about lists for tech-user, functional-user, dev, docs)?
> >
> > Eclipse BIRT have got it right. They have provided an excellent
> > users manual (field guide) and an excellent developers guide
> > (integrating and extending BIRT). That really ramps up your
> > knowledge of BIRT before looking at the code. With ofbiz, I've had
> > to pretty much dive straight into the code (and spend time weaving
> > my way through classpath loaders, container loaders, etc, before
> > getting to find what I needed).
> >
> > Anyway, I've uploaded my scribbles if anyone finds it useful but an
> > awful lot of work is needed to finish it off.
> >
> > > http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/ofbiz_tech.pdf
> >
> > See you in a few months ...
> >
> > --
> > This message has been scanned for viruses and
> > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
> > believed to be clean.
> >
>
>
>
Re: leaving ofbiz for a while
Posted by "David E. Jones" <jo...@hotwaxmedia.com>.
Christopher,
It's really great to see people interested in working on
documentation, especially interested enough to actually put something
together like this.
I'd like to make a small suggestion, for you and for anyone else
interested in a documentation effort: just as with source code, the
most effective way to work on documentation is to start with what
exists and work on improving it incrementally. There is a lot of
documentation on the docs.ofbiz.org site, and room for many thousands
of hours of work to improve and flesh out that documentation.
The great thing about helping with incremental improvements on
existing documents (even if the incremental improvement means a
reorganization or refacturing or the like; though that is obviously
dangerous when just starting out) is that your efforts become part of
something bigger, and with enough people doing this eventually the
combined effort will result in something great.
-David
On Apr 10, 2007, at 11:42 PM, Christopher Snow wrote:
> For the past few months, I have been trying to put together some
> technical documentation on ofbiz. I wanted the book to be detailed
> and accurate, but I have found it difficult to get answers to a lot
> of my questions on the mailing lists. I have found the whole
> process very tiring, and wasteful of time as I am having to spend a
> lot of effort working things out by looking through code. Maybe
> my emails are too rude? Maybe the mailing lists aren't working
> (what about lists for tech-user, functional-user, dev, docs)?
>
> Eclipse BIRT have got it right. They have provided an excellent
> users manual (field guide) and an excellent developers guide
> (integrating and extending BIRT). That really ramps up your
> knowledge of BIRT before looking at the code. With ofbiz, I've had
> to pretty much dive straight into the code (and spend time weaving
> my way through classpath loaders, container loaders, etc, before
> getting to find what I needed).
>
> Anyway, I've uploaded my scribbles if anyone finds it useful but an
> awful lot of work is needed to finish it off.
>
> > http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/ofbiz_tech.pdf
>
> See you in a few months ...
>
> --
> This message has been scanned for viruses and
> dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
> believed to be clean.
>
Re: leaving ofbiz for a while
Posted by Shi Jinghai <sh...@langhua.cn>.
Hi Chris,
After thinking it for a while, I think I can contribute a domain name
such as ofbiz-wiki.org and a website space and templates simplar to
http://www.ubuntu.com/support/local which can help you and your team to
write ofbiz documents eithor in English or in other languages.
If you agree to continue your writing in this way, please feed back, and
then I'll arrange my staff to register the domain and build the website
templates for you.
Kind regards,
Shi Jinghai/Beijing Langhua Ltd.
在 2007-04-11三的 06:42 +0100，Christopher Snow写道：
> For the past few months, I have been trying to put together some
> technical documentation on ofbiz. I wanted the book to be detailed
> and accurate, but I have found it difficult to get answers to a lot
> of my questions on the mailing lists. I have found the whole process
> very tiring, and wasteful of time as I am having to spend a lot of
> effort working things out by looking through code. Maybe my emails
> are too rude? Maybe the mailing lists aren't working (what about
> lists for tech-user, functional-user, dev, docs)?
>
> Eclipse BIRT have got it right. They have provided an excellent
> users manual (field guide) and an excellent developers guide
> (integrating and extending BIRT). That really ramps up your
> knowledge of BIRT before looking at the code. With ofbiz, I've had
> to pretty much dive straight into the code (and spend time weaving my
> way through classpath loaders, container loaders, etc, before getting
> to find what I needed).
>
> Anyway, I've uploaded my scribbles if anyone finds it useful but an
> awful lot of work is needed to finish it off.
>
> > http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/ofbiz_tech.pdf
>
> See you in a few months ...
>
Re: leaving ofbiz for a while
Posted by Chris Howe <cj...@yahoo.com>.
Hi Christopher,
I'm sorry to hear of your frustrations. I think most people who
frequent the lists will be disappointed to read your message as we all
put in quite a bit of time to help grow the community by pointing
people in the direction of the resources they seek or in answering a
direct question head on.
I might suspect that the mailing lists were broken as well if it
weren't for the 30+ messages I receive a day from them. Looking
through the archive, I can't see too many of your questions that went
unanswered from myself, much less from someone else in the community.
So, I'm at a bit of a loss as to how we can prevent users like yourself
from becoming disenchanted with the project. If you have suggestions,
I would certainly enjoy reading them.
In any event, thank you for putting together your notes and making them
available for others. I look forward to pointing people in it's
direction so that they may learn from your experiences. Hopefully the
break will be a short one and you can come back and reap the benefits
of the project and we will, in turn, be able to reap the benefits of
your contributions. Good Luck!
Chris
--- Christopher Snow <sn...@coralms.com> wrote:
> For the past few months, I have been trying to put together some
> technical documentation on ofbiz. I wanted the book to be detailed
> and accurate, but I have found it difficult to get answers to a lot
> of my questions on the mailing lists. I have found the whole process
>
> very tiring, and wasteful of time as I am having to spend a lot of
> effort working things out by looking through code. Maybe my emails
>
> are too rude? Maybe the mailing lists aren't working (what about
> lists for tech-user, functional-user, dev, docs)?
>
> Eclipse BIRT have got it right. They have provided an excellent
> users manual (field guide) and an excellent developers guide
> (integrating and extending BIRT). That really ramps up your
> knowledge of BIRT before looking at the code. With ofbiz, I've had
> to pretty much dive straight into the code (and spend time weaving my
>
> way through classpath loaders, container loaders, etc, before getting
>
> to find what I needed).
>
> Anyway, I've uploaded my scribbles if anyone finds it useful but an
> awful lot of work is needed to finish it off.
>
> > http://docs.ofbiz.org/download/attachments/1218/ofbiz_tech.pdf
>
> See you in a few months ...
>
> --
> This message has been scanned for viruses and
> dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
> believed to be clean.
>
>