3.2 is out!

Ah, finally AgileWiki3 is a bit agile, what with the move, promote and demote commands.

This is quite a step up from 3.1.0, as we've added (some) agility, finished access control (with the addUser and removeUser commands), revamped tables completely and added descriptors for LedgerEntries.

Bill

Powerful classifiers greatly simplify application code

The promote and demote commands, together with the move command, add a measure of agility. And they are now finished and checked in. It went very quickly, partly because the API is in reasonable shape and partly because I coded them before in AgileWiki2.

So there's a bit of cleanup to do--I don't like the restrictions on addParent and there are a number of displays which require minor changes--and then we do the 3.2 release. And a whole lot sooner than I had thought.

I am very much looking forward to adding classifiers to AgileWiki3. This is an area where Rolonics really shines.

One way to think of classifiers is as a late-binding system. Classifier Sections define the namespace, and Entries (typically Classifier Entries, but also Ledger Entries perhaps) then reference other rolons in the namespace by name. This makes for a very powerful programming system, especially with the richness available via a half dozen different kinds of Classifier Sections. Application programming suddenly gets very very simple.

Bill

the chicken and the egg

Its been a toss up, do I work on Agility or Classifiers next? Well, I'm very close to finishing 3.2, but first I want to add some basic agility. Once 3.2 is released, I want to focus on classifiers. And then after releasing 3.2, I want to work on adding a lot more agility.

Now I've just completed/checked in a move command that allows you to move Folders, Pages and LSecs within a Cabinet. Its a start, but you really need a means to promote LSecs to Pages, Pages to Folders, etc., as well as a means of demoting Drawers to Folders and so on. Move, Promote and Demote then start to give you some minimal useful agility.

But I'll probably do a release in the AM before rushing into promote and demote.

Bill

delegation completes access control

I've finally finished access control in AW3 (checked in, but not yet released). We already had read and write access control, where such permissions could be limited to a single user or group. But only those able to modify the /Users table were able to add users to groups.

The new addUser and removeUser commands complete the picture, finally. These commands are available to anyone who is an admin for a Cabinet, and that means everyone can use them for creating groups for their own personal Cabient, at a minimum.

Once installed on agilewiki.org, it means that every registered user will be able to administer their own area as if it were an independent Wiki, including access control.

A more natural PIM

http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/laforge49?entry=a_more_natural_pim

Now I'm a cross-blogger. :-( Comes from having more than one, I guess. The above is the latest in my attemt to justify some of the strong claims I make about Rolonics.

Bill

post 3.1.3

Release 3.1.3.0 went out last night, and I am quite happy with how table lsecs have developed. It is nice to have generic create and edit row operations now, especially as they perform field-level validation. But my excitement is centered around the display.

Table cells, when untyped, support full brace notation. You can even include the document from another rolon in the display of a cell. As well, cells of type pathname, userName and cabinetName are also clickable references. And all these references are tracked in the _refs- table (at the TKS level), so citations work as well.

With the newly enhanced API, it will be easy to support full wiki text in, say, headlines, with very little effort.

So where do we go from here? More validation! We can easily extend descriptor units to support validation of all entries. After that I'd like to work on commands for creating descriptor units. And fix delegation! And that should bring us to release 3.2.

Bill

back to the future

Lots of media attention on blogging here in India. The government then decided to put pressure on ISPs to block only slected blogs, not the sites hosting them. So once again I can access this blog via my ISP, along with most others in India, though access may vary by ISP.

3.1.2 was released on the 19th, and really flushed out comment management, together with tags and tag search. Meanwhile, there's been a change of focus for release 3.2--the intent now is to include validation in this upcoming release, but not agility. So the Columns table in table descriptor units has been extended to include field type and a required flag. And the new crRow and editRow commands use this information to validate user input. And there is a new custom display for rows as well.

Another new area under development is the idea of (Ledger) structures. A structure would be implemented using LEnts together with a structure table table in the descriptor unit.

Now I had thought initially that structures would be one kind of LSec, but then I realized that descriptor units are best treated as structures, and that there would be classifier structures and descriptor structures as well. Perhaps what would be best is to simply enhance the existing LEents, DEnts and CEnts displays and make them more like the new row display.

Bill

India moves against blogs

In response to terorist activities, the government of India, acording to "The Economic Times" (India), has stopped access to 17-18 blog sites. That includes this site, which I can no longer access through normal means.

I do have another blog, at http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/laforge49/ though I do not use that site as a project journal.

You can also subscribe to the project list: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/compstrm-wiki

Or access the list's archive: http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_id=45730

Bill

AgileWiki3.1 is not fun to use

When I first started putting content into AW3, I didn't like it. Too many features missing from the previous version. I've had different complaints from the office. And last night I was bringing Norm up to speed and I got a different set of complaints from him. It is nice to have such solid agreement for so many different reasons, no? Turn it around, and I've got a few easy to fix items that might make AW3 a bit friendlier.

The problem, at least in part, has been my focus on the big holes. So I want to take some time to work on smaller things. Like not putting the JSec/Comment name in the title--it adds no value and makes things look very obscure.

Saturday I spent writing. Got a nice essay out on the Sun blog site, among other things. Sunday I managed to get some code written. So now you can add tags and use them in a find command. And some tags are added to comments when they are created. The project at the office has pushed AW a bit in the direction of issue management and this will help.

Bill

On Rolonics and its importance to the software industry

Here's a blog I did on the Sun site that I think you will enjoy:

http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/laforge49?entry=a_contrary_view

priorities

It was a good day today. I got to demonstrate AW to a coworker, with content he had provided. The weak point is that I'll need tag classifiers to do some of the things he is asking for. And I had been thinking of putting off classifiers until after 3.2. Hmm. I guess I could do just tag classifiers for 3.2, eh?

Now there's about 18 developers (counting Norm and myself) on the team page, a few more anonymous observers on the project and over 30 in the mailing list. But contributions are slow. Is it a lack of documentation? The difficulty of dealing with a substantial change in world view? An insufficient value proposition? Lack of functionality in the current release?

I know slides will help, it always does. Right now my #1 priority is documentation on applications. And then I need some row commands--had to add a row to the Users LSec today and I tell you, it is not a process I would want to document! So some slides should fit somewhere in the top 3. And now I want tag classifiers. It is always too much.

My hope is that I can build up enough documentation/slides/functionality that it will be enough to encourage some developers to really dig in and get in a position where they can help. It is good to know that so many folk are interested, I just need to bring things to the point where the participation is less sporatic.

Well as long as I seem to be heading in the right direction, I don't mind putting in the time and the effort. I just wish folk would ask more questions--it really helps with the writing.

Bill

An application for Sun Microsystems

I've been busy the last few days. First, I've made it a lot easier to install applications. Each application now has its own .commands, .rolons and .fields file in the working directory. At startup they are all read in and processed. So installing an appliction is just a matter of copying the jar file into the lib directory and copying these additional files into the server's working directory. And then restarting the server. Now I just need to update all the documentation.

An I'll note that the amount of documentation at agilewiki.org (its in the wiki itself now) is growing. I usually spend one or more hours every morning writing documentation.

But what's kept me busy is a request for an application at the office. We want to put up a document, allow comments on various sections, and then analyze those comments. So I've added a number of features...

--You can now specify that when a guest visits a particular topic, a request to login is displayed rather than the topic's document.

--Brace notation has been extended to support the inclusion of the document content of other topics. For example, you can have one document which holds a table, and in the cells you can include other documents. Recursively.

--You can now determine the URL of a topic simply by clicking on the pathname. The browser then displays the URL, which you can then add to external documents.

So it looks like a big release is coming up. Not anything I had planned, but still good stuff that makes AW a more useful tool.

Bill

Ready for Beta, again

We went back to alpha to redesign the way tables were implemented. That's been done--the rows in a table are now LSecs.

The sample application, simple accounting, is also working. And the code is a whole lot better than when tables were implemented as document content.

So we're ready for beta. Things are looking reasonably stable. But it is a very early beta. We need documentation on descriptor units and on the simple accounting application. As well, it is an awkward Wiki to use. Much work remains even to regain the capabilities of its prototype, AgileWiki2.

Bill

agilewiki.org needs cleaning up

I've just released alpha 3.0.1.0 and installed it at agilewiki.org. Now I've got to dig into agilewiki.org and manually clean up some things--there is no convertion program.

If all goes well, be should be back to beta soon.

Bill

untimely change

I am a bit unhappy. Had a great idea--put table rows in lsecs rather than saving the entire table in a document. LEnts can then be used for cell values. And each row now has its own journal.

The turning point is when building applications which use tables. It just seems better, with fewer commands and less code, to make this change.

I just wish this could have been done before saying we are in beta. Oh well. Perhaps it is just a matter of wearing the egg well.

Bill

all's well that ends well--agilewiki.org is back up

Our ISP has nearly completed the relocation of all the servers and agilewiki.org is back up. Bad timing, as this came just after the beta release.

Enjoy!

Bill

When one blog is not enough

I've started a new blog at http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/laforge49/ where I talk about my work at Sun as well as the AgileWiki.

I'm keeping this blog as a project log, with personal comments. I expect to use the Sun blog mostly for work related items and the occasional anouncement.

Bill

It is all so clear to me now

AgileWiki3.0 implements a (basic) set of Rolonic structures.

Rolonics is like the unified theory of application development, where ANY application can be viewed from a Rolonic perspective and consequently mapped into Rolonic structures.

So AgileWiki3.0 implements much of the structure needed by ANY application.

What we need most in AgileWiki3.1 then is to implement an Application Programmer's Interface (API), and at least one application.

Bill

yet another wiki

Cheers! AgileWiki release 3.0.0.0 is out!

So now we have yet another bad Wiki. Ohh good! Just remember that this is really a Rolonic database pretending that it is a Wiki. The database is stable--that's the real milestone.

Work now will focus on (1) agility features and (2) application platform features.

Here's what I expect:

• 3.0 - it was just a lot of hard work to get this far.
• 3.1 - a bit more fun as AW becomes agile.
• 3.2 - some excitment with the addition of classifiers.
• 3.3 - real utility with the addition of email client capabilities.

But hey, that's all a ways off. And miles to go before we rest.

Bill

ArkDbPropertiesAndTables

I've been working on a new Cabinet at agilewiki.org, ArkDbPropertiesAndTables. This Cabinet brings some closure to the documentation, as it connects the rolonic elements visible to the user to the previously documented PersistantDataStructures. It's not finished, but nearly so.

In the process of creating this documentation, I've given the new release a pretty good workout. And it is behaving beautifully!

Bill

almost beta

A number of bugs have been found/fixed in the AW database, including one this morning. Perhaps it is stable now, but only time will tell. However, once we started adding content, we have never lost any. So things have really been moving along very nicely.

There is still a little code left to do before I'm willing to say we have a beta release. And a little more documentation is needed too. So we could be doing a beta release as early as next week. But a lot depends on the stability of the database.

However, it really doesn't mean too much yet. For all the framework that has been created, so far all we really have is a Wiki. Access delegation is missing. Agility is missing. And its ability to host applications is missing. None of that is going to be too difficult--the framework is all in place. Still, it will some take time.

Bill