To all XOOPS Users

This is about Modules and the Module Repository.

For those that don't know me ,my name is John Mordo, XOOPS User jlm69, I am a third party developer of the Jobs Module, the Classifieds Module and the Alumni Module.
I want to ask the community to help me with something. If you have been around here for a while you know that XOOPS has had a tough year or so, and if you are like me, you have noticed that it is getting back on track. There are some good people trying to bring this back where it should be. I would like to ask for your help. I am not a XOOPS Core Developer, nor am I part of any team in Xoops. I am just a XOOPS User just like you, and I like XOOPS alot.

Over the years I have read some posts saying that this module or that module doesn't work anymore. I think we should get this sorted out.

BlueStocking has posted a zip file with all of the XOOPS Modules in it. I think We as Users of these modules should help these good people I mentioned earlier because they can't do what I am thinking by themselves, so here is my idea.

When you download a module to use on your site and it doesn't work, don't just be disappointed and walk away from it, you can notify me or we could have a special forum to report 'Dead Modules', some way of knowing they don't work. Then we can have them removed from the Module Repository and maybe have a special place for these 'Dead Modules', once they are listed maybe someone who wants to use one of them and has the ability can update it so it can be put in the Module Repository again. To make this work we would need people willing to do the testing of these modules, no one person or small group would be able to do this themselves, but as a community we could make this happen.

I'm not asking you to test all the modules on the list, but pick the one or more that you would want to use.
If you would like to contribute something to Xoops, but don't feel you can, here's you chance.


We could even have polls or some way of knowing which modules are most important to the XOOPS User (You) and then maybe some developers would see the need and fix a module for the community.
That's kind of how I got started doing my modules, I wanted a Jobs module for a site, so I made one out of the myads module, then I saw that other Xoopers wanted a Jobs Module so I released it, and as they say the rest is history.

I don't have all the details figured out it's just an idea right now , but lets figure a way to make this or something like this happen. I know that the XOOPS Core Developers and the XOOPS teams out there read these posts, and I'm sure they wouldn't mind a community effort like this, in fact I don't know, but I think they would really appreciate it.
I have not asked for permission from anyone to do this and no one has asked me, it is just me asking the Community I have been a part of for a long time to come together and help those good people make XOOPS the best it can be.

If it takes having a special site for these Dead Modules, I could make it. I am willing and able to work on this. How about You.

This is not for Modules that have a few errors, it is for Modules that no longer work at all.

Thanks for listening and if you have any ideas please don't be shy.


John Mordo

Quote:
Adopting and updating abandoned modules is a great way to learn about PHP, Smarty and object-orientated programming.

Many of the XOOPS modules I have tried over the years offer great functionality, but the original developer has moved on and is unable to keep them up to date. Some modules don't work because they were designed at at time when PHP register_globals was typically 'ON'. Some don't work because they make calls to XOOPS core functions that have been superceeded. However, ALL of these issues can be fixed by someone who is, or wants to be, PHP savvy. In many cases, the lion's share of the work has already been done.

If the recently proposed "PHP 5 compatible or deleted" policy was in effect, JLM69 would never have seen the MyAds module and history would have been very different.

A module orphanage (perhaps with some developer resources?) is a great idea.

Gets my vote.

John, your idea is spot on!

We need a "Module Update Team" or "Extreme Makeover Team" that would focus on updating some of the older "orphan" modules, which could be prioritized by the community.

What would be also great, is to extract some of the common functionalities to a "Module Framework" which then would help to update old and develop new modules much faster.

Actually, as we update couple of those first modules, we should document it how it was done and make a tutorial out of it, so other people would learn how to update old modules themselves.

So maybe as a starter, as a community let's pick up an "orphan" module and let's try to update it together making it "state of the art". We would start with a review of the module (existing functionality, features), agree on which parts have to be updated, then people could contribute their proposed solutions for review and then we can pick-up the best ones and incorporate into the final solution, which could be a "show case" for other module updates.

The key for XOOPS success will be two things:

1) ease of developing new modules (developer focus)
2) broad variety of existing modules (user focus)

If we could update a lot of the older modules and create an attractive portfolio, this would help XOOPS tremendously!

John, thank you again for this excellent idea!

John,
I have made a link on the Module Repository page and as you suggested added a DeadModules page to the wiki.

Wonderful suggestions...
Moving right along...

Lets make it happen!

Quote:
No my definition from a dead module is:
- the most wanted module that dont support regularly by any person or any group anymore.

it means we dont need to support a similar module that no body wants it ( give it a poll)

so maybe a most wanted module works for some months or even some years but if you put all your money in that basket someday you should be in trouble.

an example is Xhelp module.
another is xcgal module.(the current users have not any options to upgrade to extgallery.)

so we should find developers for "most-wanted dead modules"

putting the list in the wiki is the best method to make it UP-To-DATE. just link the module from sourceforge.

on the other hand, we must promote best modules so that to push ahead state of art, so great samples for new incomers (users or devs). Our need is definitevely to be more professional, so to increase quality, i don't mean to be more complicate by those words, but to ensure modules are secured by using correctly the XOOPS API and make use completely of all powerfull features of the XOOPS API (for compat purposes).
For that we have to push ahead must have/state of art modules...
by the way the solution should be "keep it easy", because someone will have to maintain something...

I can help awakening the dead.
I´ll wait for that list of not working and wanted modules.

Xuups.com(xoops user utilities) is needing activity. Using it for modules development and troubleshooting would(and will) be just great.

John, count me in
I can help evaluate some modules in some way :)

Quote:
I think that is exactly what is needed.

IMHO, if someone adopts a module from the orphanage it should not be made available here until some of the experienced PHP developers have checked that text input is sanitised properly, it won't crash the DB server, etc, etc.

It may require a team to perform the scrutiny, but at least users would be able to download from xoops.org with confidence that the module meets basic quality and security requirements.

And PLEEEEASE... on behalf of the many thousands of PHP 4 users, 'PHP 5 Compatible' gets more kudos than 'PHP 5 Only'.

It does from me anyway!

Hi everyone,

I have made a post late laster year with same idea, I am happy to see this one picked up people's attention.

I thinks we need to separate the modules that are updated and working from the dead ones by date of last release. let's say all modules that were released in 2007 (new/and updated mod releases) are not to be considered dead. All releases in 2006 and backwards are to be considered dead. So we will test all modules released in 2006 and before then. After this the list of the dead modules should be identified.

So after these dead modules are fixed as mentioned before they are released and placed under the working modules list, which of course has to be maintained as well. So new users/comers will be directly using working modules only increasing wider/quicker adoption of XOOPS and mods. Also we need to make sure to state the compatibility or backward compatibility, if any, of the modules with the version of php and mysql, preferably the latest versions.

of course we have to think about using PHP5 and MySQL 5 for dev as well as the latest version of XOOPS when testing all these outdated modules, so all testers and developers should be using the latest/recent versions for development and testing environment.

So lets all forget the php4 and MySQL 4 concerns, do we want to leave those using these versions behind, well that will be a decision for those users to updgrade or stay where they are currently. Most hosting now offer the latest version of php5 and mysql5, there has to be a starting point somewhere for XOOPS to continue improving and stop the setbacks.

I read XOOPS : The XOOPS Project in 2008 article https://xoops.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4090 it is very promising, we all should read it to be on the same page.

I have tested mostly the latest modules and have a hand written list with notes and comments I made, i'll do my best to revise it and then post it soon.

I certainly would like to ask that module developers state precisely the capabilities of the modules so as to make it easier for people to make a choice of use.

Also License is one of my concerns. I believe that we all have the aspiration of building/making something for xoops. I personally encourage all modules to be released as open as possible where license is concerned. This is one of the main reasons why XOOPS is widely adopted.

By the way I see Joomla CMS has a nice modules listing system. maybe we can use their idea and improve on it. All I can say to end is that XOOPS is by far the BEST CMS compared to Joomla, mambo, etc. which I have tested of course, they have even worse problems. XOOPS is way ahead of the pack. XOOPS rocks!

btesec