Just read this thread and thanks to Jensclas for the little plug on XBS Modgen which I wrote. There are a couple of issues I'd like to address:
Documentation
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One of the reasons I wrote ModGen, was because of exactly the problem that the initial poster has signalled, lack of documentation for XOOPS itself. As a developer, and perhaps unlike some, I don't have the time to wade through lines of code to try and figure out what the heck is going on. I have done with XOOPS <=2.0.13 and have written many mods which hopefully are of use to others as well as myself. I have also made the point of providing documentation with thos modules (CDM, SACC etc.) ModGen itself hasn't got much documentation yet because I released it earlier than I normally do in an Alpha stage. The Beta release will have documentation.
My experience with the Metatags module is also instructional. I deliberately left out documentation. Why, primarily to see the reaction. And it is enlightening. Most queries I have had on my support site could have been adequately resolved if I had provided the same level of documentation that I did with my earlier modules. The lesson: Mod devs should write good usage instructions explaining all features to avoid support issues. Time involved answering queries needlessly is time better spent with your family / down the pub or whatever.
Now go check the online documentation available for each of the modules that you have loaded to verify what I am talking about.
In the 2.0 branch of XOOPS the available documentation was sparse, but it was there (it has since disssapeared). In the 2.2 branch it is non existent, and with the uncertainty of where it is going, I for one have decided not to develop for the 2.2/3/4 branch until a/ the XOOPS core team have stabilised the development and b/ the documentation is available for it.
Xoops is now a grown up CMS, not the plaything of a few script kiddies. Serious businesses and serious citizens are depending on it to drive their web development.
Module Development
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McNaz is right. To write a XOOPS module is a developers job. ModGen can write the framework for you which can otherwise typically take a day to a week depending on your input capability (and once you know what you are doing), but it cannot write the application logic. You need to understand PHP and MySQL and all that involves. It took me 9 months to write my first module, primarily due to tracking down documentation and asking questions on a variety of forums (not just Xoops). PHP was a dialect that I hadn't used before. Fortunately programming in SQL and a variety of other languages (Pascal, C, C++, Modula2, Paradox, Assembler, etc etc) were a massive help. But if you haven't done that it is going to take you a lot, lot longer.
However I do see a partial way forward. I've just checked out Formulize and its hookup with Pagemaker. Whilst I haven't got it working yet on XOOPS 2.0.14 (cus they changed things under the covers again), the concept is intriguing and one that is at the back of my mind for the next version of ModGen, i.e the ability to create a module that includes forms and workflow by filling in boxes. You are never going to get away from the need to have a 'real' programmer around to sort out the business logic for the app, but it would be a start (a la Visual C++, VB, Turbo Pascal, Paradox etc.) But that is a huge effort to implement.
Anyone willing to pay my wages for the next year or so?
Regards
A
