Dataface Users Site

[Aoirthoir]

I am going to be registering a domain for a dataface users site, where we can store code, dataface programs, dataface CSS style sheets, sql examples and dumps and so on. Looking for a website name and asking here for suggestions.

This will also be a place that will have the various versions of dataface installed, so that you can put your own dataface apps on if you like. Of course this means MySQL access as well. I will have to hand create users for each database because my provider doesnt have an automatic method to set up your own databases as far as I know. I will check with them and if they do then I can give folks their own user names and access to add their own databases to..if not as I said I will hand create databases for anyone that wants them, assuming they keep the use within limits. But once you have a database (or even multiple databases) you will be able to add tables as you wish, signing in for instance with phpMyAdmin, or any other MySQL management software.

So you will be able to house database apps and data here, share code repositories, share common mysql data (like zip code data) and so on.

my-dataface.com ? (blech)

dataface-users.com ?

dataface-base.com?

Ok those are all ive come up with so far. any other ideas I am glad to take votes on.

Thank you

[shannah]

I have a server that can be used for this. It uses virtual private server technology so the access would be just like having root access to a machine. Hence we can install whatever tools we need and create as many databases as we want, even from PHP.. just like running it on your own machine.

I can give you SSH access Aoirthoir so that you have free reign on it... no disk space issues either.

If you want to go that way.

my vote is for dataface-users.com

-Steve

[njw]

As this is not-for-profit, how about dataface.org or dataface.net? I prefer short domain names!!!

Neil

[Aoirthoir]

Unfortunately both are already registered. One just has a parked page. The other brings up nothing. Otherwise those would have been great.

Say how about in Irish? (Gaeilge...not Gaelic..that's Scottish..Irish is Gaeilge..pronounced Gay-luh-guh)

sonra’-clˆr-aodainn.com which would become sonrai-clar-aodainn.com

or more simply:
sonra’-ceannaithe.com which would become sonrai-ceannaithe.com or sonraiceannaithe.com

Both of which terms mean dataface.

Those are easy domains to remember. What do yall think? I prefer the second to the first. The pronounciation is much easier. SHONE REE KAY NIV. vs Shone REE Clar AY DIN.

Hmm ok it is a toss up

[Aoirthoir]

Mr. Steve,

That sounds like a great idea. Would folks be able to sign up and then with approval or automatically be able create their own MySQL databases? Currently on my system I have to go through my providers Panel. Which is one of their own making, it isnt based on the ones that most ISPs provide.

Also would folks be able to host their databases there?

Lastly, what about commercial use? For instance I wish to set up a ZipCode database. Someone can enter a zipcode and get back the city and state automatically. I'd like this to be a dataface app actually. So could that be set up or should that be on a different server? (Assuming it were set up and someone was using it for commercial use, I would expect a fee to be paid to you for that...) Of course also they will be able to download the dataface ini structure and SQL dumps for input into their own servers if they wish.

[njw]

Did I mention short domain names?

Unfortunately both are already registered. One just has a parked page. The other brings up nothing. Otherwise those would have been great.

>

Say how about in Irish? (Gaeilge...not Gaelic..that's Scottish..Irish is Gaeilge..pronounced Gay-luh-guh)

>

sonra’-clˆr-aodainn.com which would become sonrai-clar-aodainn.com

>

or more simply:

>sonra’-ceannaithe.com which would become sonrai-ceannaithe.com or sonraiceannaithe.com



>Both of which terms mean dataface.



>Those are easy domains to remember. What do yall think? I prefer the second to the first. The pronounciation is much easier. SHONE REE KAY NIV. vs Shone REE Clar AY DIN.



>Hmm ok it is a toss up" title="Smile" />

>

[zopemgr]

I registered:

xataface.com
data-face.org
and
data-face.net

today..

more details forthcoming...

[Aoirthoir]

Ah I like those. Works for me.

[njw]

.net or .org work well for me.

Neil

[Aoirthoir]

I am assuming that Dataface Administrator is Mr. Steve?

If so, we have now domain names which are simple and domain space. I also have space as well.

So I think we should think about the kinds of things we want to see on the site....I have several ideas of my own..if we all contribute this will become a great resource for us. All of these things should be able to be uploaded, noted with the copyright of the individual uploading, organized by type, category and so on. Here are some things we can do in no particular order:



CSS templates.

Smarty Templates.
(For screen input, reports, the like)

Dataface Apps.

Dataface samples and templates.

Dataface MiniApps (like for instance a dataface zipcode lookup)

Graphics.

SQL templates.

SQL Dumps.

SQL Databases/Tables. As much as possible these should be centrally located to prevent duplication. Which brings up something, currently we can only access dataface tables in the database that we are in as far as I can tell. A nice feature would be to access other databases (assuming some mechanism to input the password for it) such as govtdata.zipcodes for the zipcodes table.. etc)

Or even databases on other servers...

Any other ideas are welcome

[dwe]

Just a great idea (and now i understand your mail a LOT better )

A good idea would be to put as many as sample (real-world) applications online as possible ('showcase').
I`d personally would love to see how others are using dataface.

And as many short tutorials how to solve pratical problems during implementation as well, some sort of 'best practices'.

For my (still ongoing) tutorial i digged in the docu/reference, the forum, the api-website etc, and tried to put the help
/hints Steve and others gave me into direct usage.
(BTW: thank you very much, Steve ... and all the others ... more questions are comming )

Current things I`m working on are:
1. 'rolodex'
2. 'user / account management'
3. 'network inventory/ nagios setup table'

Something that just popped up in my mind: how about a 'testing/peer review' area where members could place their apps online
to help solve acutal problems/discuss implementation?

Best regards,
dwe

[shannah]

This all sounds like a good idea. There are some logistical issues that need to be dealt with:

1. Permissions
- We would need a good permissions model so to prevent abuse.

2. Implementing all of the infrastructure.

We are looking at developing a full-scale system to be able to post, share, and demo entire projects. This is a significant project. I suppose that, at the most basic level, all we would need is some sort of system to allow people to upload their projects so that others could try them out.

For doing the actual code and template design this may be the best way to diseminate information.

For things like the INI files, it may be more beneficial for users to develop some sort of online forms to generate fields.ini, actions.ini, permissions.ini files etc, so that users don't have to learn the syntax. I have been planning on developing this sort of thing to incorporate into dataface itself, but it has been too low priority to get the spotlight.

[Aoirthoir]

All of these are great ideas.

First commenting on a statement by Mr. Neil Watson... I am fine with any work I do in dataface being used in a commercial enterprise or not for profit. Kind of in the spirit of GPL. I think folks who post things should decide their copyrights/lefts. Our company has decided most of the things that I program will be GPLed. As well as most of the things we pay outsiders to do for us.

Mr. Dirk,

Exactly what I was thinking. Dataface is currently a method for making programs. I see the possibilities of it being a huge repository of fields, tables, databases, themes, css styles, reports, queries, sql stored procedures, program modules, full blown applications and so on. Currently, in Dataface or any other app making program you have to put together data structures, screen layouts, relationships and so on to make an app. Even applications that use a lot of templating, application frameworks or code generation still require a lot of this. Many things though are always going to be the same. A USA phone number is always going to be of the same format. Why program it over and over again?

So as we create these little widgets, we can combine them into apps. And widgets (not an official name) can be any of the things we've already mentioned (fields.ini for a group or individual field, valuelists, CSS styles etc). As long as we keep it reasonable generic and follow standards (which we will have to borrow from others or create), one widget can apply to another.

An example of this is the RecordID. If your tables use RecID and someone elses use tablenameID and so on..then we have to recode each time we want to make our app work with someone elses. But if I know that we all follow the same format for the ID field (whatever format that is) then I know I can access your tables without changing my code.

From widgets we go to projects/miniapps/ and full blown applications. So someone might have a huge accounting system set in this site we are talking about. Another person might have an itty bitty Inventory module. A third person might love the accounting except for their inventory, so they pull that out and replace it with the little one. Now we have an entire new application.

In order for this to work we also need to do exactly what you said..create Best Practices instructions. In addition, as much as possible, we create the back end code in Dataface. As time goes on and we all understand the dataface code as much as Mr. Steve, then these things will grow exponentially.

Mr. Steve,

I think you said it most simply. With the server that you are talking about we could assign a couple of people to manage it. Others could upload their projects into a Dataface Database using the file upload methods. Then one of us could review them, and implement them directly on the server. Finally turning particular modules live when we know they are working. This would allow people to test apps right on the server if we are so willing.

Now to your ini file thing. If we created a way of storing all of this information, would you be able to create a method to read our MySQL tables and then output the appropriate ini files in the right places? If so then we need to get together (Mr. Dirk, you, me, Mr. Neil, and others that are willing) and lay out a structure for these tables. Dataface itself would not have to actually read the table in order to generate the program, it could still read ini files. And the program to output the sql to ini would not even have to be dataface itself at all.

If seems like we might have a team of at least four, maybe more if others are willing, so that would make this project very doable.