In the tools forum ~Vamsi posted a request for asking if anyone wanted to participate in a development project - he called it something like open source. In an Email from another user of this board he mentioned a new forum where developers could post this type of source code. It would be nice to go to a forum and see code from other users, download and modify for my use. I am not sure how many people would be interested in a forum like this. Maybe if a lot of users of this board would respond with "YES - I would contribute and use this forum" the wonderful moderators would create it. I would like to see problems posted in the tools forum and source code in another forum. The risk of this is that people may try to use this as a "baan source swap" place and that is not what I want.

So if a lot of developers reply to this with a yes then maybe we could get a new forum.

Thanks

Mark

I would also like to see a forum that contains commonly used (re-usable) functions that are not provided by Baan.

I have created my own DLL where I keep mine. Linking this DLL to most of my scripts and using the functions saves me a lot of development time!

I think it would be a great forum if it were structured to contain only "approved and proven" functions, and chains pertaining to new functions.

I'm all for it and would even help in monitoring it.

I had a little chat with Pat on ICQ over the weekend. He promised to look into my request for a CVS on www.baanboard.com. Lets see if he has time and resources.

It would be nice if he is able to implement the www.sf.net on baanboard.com (the only drawback I know of is that sf moved from mysql to postgresql).

If this is not possible in the near future then the short term solution can be what Mark proposed.

Mark/Gordon/Vamsi,

As Vamsi already said: he put a request forward for a CVS server which I am currently discussing with our webmaster. As for the additional forum this is easily achieved if we can agree on some things first. Here are my comments/remarks/concerns:

private
Going on mark's comments: he would like this forum to be a private one with limited access to developers. Although the board provides easy mechanisms to control forum access on user and/or usergroup level, my question is how do you decide who is allowed to read/write to the forum in question?

moderated
Following Gordon's comments: I would also like to see the forum moderated. Gordon, I take it from your comment that you would be willing to take up this task. We expect moderators to visit the board regularly, preferably daily.

knowledge sharing
I would like a strict separation between the old Tools Development forum and the possible new one. I can agree with Gordon's comment about 'for approved code' only. All other development questions should still go into the regular development forum as we want to keep sharing knowledge as much as possible.

Putting this all together could result in: creating a moderated (and possibly private forum). Messages in the moderated forum will pass through a moderator queue and will only be displayed on the forum after moderator approval. The question remains on how to set criteria for forum access.

Let's hear your feedback girls and guys.

Pat,

I am sorry if I left you with the impression that I wanted it private, I reread my message and could see where you got that. My main concern is that the people would use this forum to swap baan code and if Gordon would help moderate the new group that would be great.

I stringly agree with your statement on the other tools forum. I do not want it changed and I like the way it is.

Thanks Pat!!!!

Mark

Hi Mark,

Thanks for clarifying your statement :) Let's see how the other guys react.

Pat,

I would be willing to be the moderator of the forum and could visit the site on a “close” to daily basis.

I also agree with the "strict separation between the old Tools Development forum". We should agree upon a forum purpose and description before implementing anything.

I'm envisioning message chains that deal with a specific function and it's code. It would be up to the community to request/suggest, create, post, modify, and test the code of the function. Once they’re happy with it (whatever that means), it could be moved to an index of functions.

Yes, some sort of an index of functions should be maintained with a link to the function code itself. I’m not sure if this can be accomplished because I don’t know the capabilities of the vBulletin software. A function template should also be developed, so all the functions have the same look.

I’m a little confused with the moderator queue and approval process you describe Pat. Can you give me more information?

Some things about this forum that should be addressed are:

When would functions be put into the index and would the answered post chains be deleted?
How long would un-answered posts be retained?
What should the function template contain and layout: Title, Description, Date, Author, Tested by, Platform info…
Forum purpose and description


I’m currently out-of-state on vacation, so I might not be able to get back to this thread for a couple of days.

Thanks,

Gordon,

Let me rack my brain on this and then get back to you all, probably by email. I will have visitors over from Ireland today so I won't be much on the board till next monday but I will try to get the email out today.

I'd really like to contribue some code out in the open. Preferably with some form of "free to use, but if alterations are made and used to the code they must be made available" license.

Phil,

Nice to see you on this forum. Welcome! What are your thoughts on GPL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html). Rather than invent a new one how about using one of the following (http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Open_Source/Licenses/). Would love to see some comments on this subject.

Are you not associated with the Open Directory Project anymore?