DevMeetingChristmas2004summary

From Dokeos

Contents 1 present 2 Community 2.1 Dokeos Company 2.2 Release Schedule 2.3 CVS 2.4 Dokeos Developer meetings 2.5 Wiki/website Usage 3 Development 3.1 database refactoring 3.2 Dokeos Language Translation Tool 3.3 All propositions for the following issues are approved by the meeting and can be added to the CVS

present

• dokeos company: Thomas De Praetere
• Ghent University: Toon Van Hoecke, Patrick Cool, Berit De Meester, Olivier Cauberghe, Thomas Berton, Bert Vanderkimpen, Ren� Haentjens, Willem Wieme
• VUB: Roan Embrechts, Koen Vanmeerbeek, Frederik Questier
• Hogent: Michel Pancoucke, Bart Mollet
• Artevelde: Frederik Martens

Community

Dokeos Company

Thomas De Praetere emphasizes that the following issues are important for Dokeos present and future clients:

• Peer-to-peer-connections : exchange of all kind of resources
• Usability of all kind of multimedia material
• Interoperability: combine the Dokeos software with local databases, test systems �
• SCORM material makes them platform and software independent, they�re free to change their Learning/Knowledge Management System at any time. For this reason Dokeos should provide a SCORM export function.
• Clients are looking for solutions, not for platforms.
• No appropriate open-source tool is available to create SCORM packages.

Release Schedule

• April 2005 seems a good date for a stable 1.6 release, certainly for education institutions
• An unstable campus version will be introduced on www.dokeos.com for testing. This unstable campus will be updated every 2 weeks with the cvs files
• Alpha-release: extract from the CVS as-is, planned for the end of December 2004, managed by Olivier Brouckaert
• Afterwards, every two weeks: an updated release based on the current CVS-version, mentioning the recent changes and bug fixes.
• February 2005: beta-release, accompanied with a �bug finder� contest, to stimulate the debugging participation of the administrators

CVS

• Branching:
  • Main branch: stable release (current: 1.5.4 integration of 1.5.5)
  • Candidate branch: alpha/beta release (current: 1.6)
  • Experimental branch: testing of new ideas
• Training day for using the CVS:
  • Thursday January 13, 2005: start at 10h, Dokeos training room, Paleisstraat 44, Brussels, computers are available, preparation by Roan/Thomas Berton/Olivier Brouckaert
• CVS: when do we add new developments/features to the CVS?
  • First announce developments/changes on the dokeos-forum (with screenshots, code logic, database changes, ...)
  • Then try in the experimental branch
  • Actual implementation of large developments should be decided in a dokeos developer meeting where the developer presents his development (working demo) and the needed changes

Dokeos Developer meetings

• Should occur more frequently, based on the agenda. The agenda for a next meeting should be on the wiki and all developers can add items. When the item list is filled enough one can propose to have a meeting.

Wiki/website Usage

• Mostly accessed pages on the website concern documentation (we should keep in mind that the focus is printable documents).
• Wiki is very well suited for creation of documentation. Once an issue is in a finished version, it should be converted into a pdf-format and transferred to the documentation section on the website.
• Roadmap should be on the wiki, only to be edited by developers. Additionally, a �Dreammap� will be introduced for suggestions from everybody.
• Projects where a lot of collaboration between developers is needed: wiki is more preferable then the forum
• All Wiki sections should be more visible in the different parts of the website: documentation, software, �
• All developer partners should have an ftp-account for the website

Development

database refactoring

• database, table, field names: efforts will be made to define consts for tables and fields that are used frequently
• Remove obsolete tables and fields: OK (in progress, by Yannick Warnier)
• Renaming of fields (and tables): OK (in progress, by Yannick Warnier)
• Resizing of fields: OK (in progress, by Yannick Warnier)
• unique course and user key: remove the course_id in favor of the course_code
• multiple and/or single database modes: the proposal of Yannick to completely remove the multiple database mode is put on hold. Nevertheless, refactoring of database-calls is necessary. The proposal is not bad but should be done on the single database dokeos only.
• support for other databases: all direct mysql-function calls should be changed to the equivalent api functions
• Foreign key integrity refactoring: proposal of Yannick Warnier to clean the database design to increase the FK integrity is accepted
• Course database refactoring : a unified table structure based on the distillation of the general properties of every tool item (visibility, accessibility, time windows, author, �) is necessary to enhance functionality for groups, better notification etc. The proposed structure will be documented by Toon Van Hoecke and Patrick Cool, and is already partially tested on the production server of the Ghent University. Toon and Patrick will enhance the communication with Yannick before implementation

Dokeos Language Translation Tool

• will be implemented on the dokeos website in January by Patrick
• all languages will be entered in the language database
• Multiline variables need to be introduced manually
• Koen will contact responsibles for each language

All propositions for the following issues are approved by the meeting and can be added to the CVS

• Improved quota system (Roan)
• CSS (style switcher) (Patrick)
  • Approved for platform level (only platform admin decides on the look of the system) and user level (accessibility, �)
• Language selection menu (Patrick)
  • The platform language will also be added to the web adjustable config settings
• File Structure (Roan)
• Group based Agenda (Patrick)
  • remove [] for default date setting
  • �show all�: default
  • add �upload resource� : should be discussed
  • replace �duration� by �end time�
  • merge the two filter dropdown boxes (user and groups) into one using the optgroup tag
• Personal Agenda (Patrick)
• My Agenda (Patrick): full agenda title in mouse-over
• Announcements (Patrick)
• WACS: Web adjustable config settings (platform, course, user) (Roan, Jan, Example Patrick)
  • Platform: allow_self_registration, lost_password, is_trackingEnabled, SiteName, Rootweb, administratorName, allowSelfRegProf, �
  • Course: permission of tool, course stylesheet, course_subscription_allowed, default_student_publication_visibility,
  • User: user_style_sheet
• Virtual Course support (Roan)
• Metadata for documents (Rene)
• Search documents by keyword/metadata (Rene  ??? )
  • Activation via WACS
  • Is there any overlap with the database search tool of Yannick?
• Who�s online (Thomas)
  • Remark: there is still no consensus about the position of the �who�s online� information (the right side of the user section in the banner seems favorable)
• Login page customization (Thomas)
• Course copy