freeform-news Mailing List for FreeForm
Status: Pre-Alpha
Brought to you by:
voronkov
Menu
▾
▴
freeform-news — Basic news about project development and releases.
You can subscribe to this list here.
| 2004 |
Jan
(1) |
Feb
(2) |
Mar
|
Apr
(1) |
May
(1) |
Jun
|
Jul
|
Aug
|
Sep
|
Oct
|
Nov
|
Dec
|
|---|
|
From: <ben...@id...> - 2004-05-25 09:00:29
|
Dear Open Source developer I am doing a research project on "Fun and Software Development" in which I kindly invite you to participate. You will find the online survey under http://fasd.ethz.ch/qsf/. The questionnaire consists of 53 questions and you will need about 15 minutes to complete it. With the FASD project (Fun and Software Development) we want to define the motivational significance of fun when software developers decide to engage in Open Source projects. What is special about our research project is that a similar survey is planned with software developers in commercial firms. This procedure allows the immediate comparison between the involved individuals and the conditions of production of these two development models. Thus we hope to obtain substantial new insights to the phenomenon of Open Source Development. With many thanks for your participation, Benno Luthiger PS: The results of the survey will be published under http://www.isu.unizh.ch/fuehrung/blprojects/FASD/. We have set up the mailing list fa...@we... for this study. Please see http://fasd.ethz.ch/qsf/mailinglist_en.html for registration to this mailing list. _______________________________________________________________________ Benno Luthiger Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich 8092 Zurich Mail: benno.luthiger(at)id.ethz.ch _______________________________________________________________________ |
|
From: <vor...@to...> - 2004-04-10 11:03:22
|
FreeForm Pre-Alfa 2 Release Readme=20
This document contains release information for FreeForm Ple-Alfa 2=20
About FreeForm project=20
FreeForm is an open source (licensed under GNU GPL) non-profit software
project. This means it is free in all the meanings of this word. The =
source
code of FreeForm can be downloaded for free from our site or from the
project's CVS repository. FreeForm is a business form management system,
which affords users to design and fill rich script-enabled forms. Forms =
are
designed visually and are save to the XML-based format, which is called =
FDL
(Form Definition Language). The binding of a form to the XML file is =
fully
customizable, so FreeForm can work with any format of XML you want. =
FreeForm
would also provide users with capability to publish forms on the web, to
export them in number of formats and would have multiple renderers, so a
single form would have different visualizations - one for printing, one =
for
web-publishing, etc.=20
FreeForm is build on .NET platform. .NET is an innovative platform for
applications, which gives developers a set of powerful capabilities. You =
can
lunch FreeForm binaries over the web, use FreeForm form designer as an
applet on a web page, fully customize it's security policy. It is even
automatically optimized by JIT to your hardware platform and much more.. =
FreeForm has a flexible extensible architecture, that affords you to =
write
plugins of multiple types, that can freely access the whole =
functionality of
the program. FreeForm provides improved availability and manageability. =
You
can fully customize what services of the program can be added at =
startup,
recover application after the fault, send an automatically generated =
error
report to FreeForm support, etc. FreeForm gives user a full control over =
the
XML. Forms, created with this program, saves it's data to XML files, =
which
structure can be fully customizable and suit any custom scheme. So you =
can
use FreeForm to edit any XML files you want. Form engine is based on the =
FDL
(Form Defintion Language), which is build on the very top of XML. FDL is =
a
text based formatted and is can be simply transported over the net. You =
do
not even need to send a form by itself to your clients - just send a =
link!
Use the WYSIWYG ("what you see is what you get") capability of the =
design
mode to easily create custom forms in several minutes - using plenty of
standard forms elements and a powerful script engine.=20
About current release=20
FreeForm project is currently in Pre-Alfa stage. It means that even the
basic functionality is not implemented yet and everything, even =
including
main project concepts, can be changed in the next release. This release =
is a
some sort of a preview of future functionality. Do not expect from it =
any
stability. We just provide you with runnable (on the platform which is
described in system requirements) executables and full source code, =
which
can be compiled, using Microsoft C# Compiler version 7.10 for .NET =
Framework
version 1.1. We are very interested in a feedback from you (read about =
how
to contact us in the separate section of this readme).=20
License agreement=20
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the =
Free
Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your =
option)
any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will =
be
useful, but WITH NO WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General
Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the =
GNU
General Public License along with this program; if not, write to; Free
Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA
02111-1307, USA.=20
FreeForm is released under the GPL with the following exceptions: "In
addition, as a special exception, the FreeForm group gives permission to
link the code of this program with the Microsoft .NET library (or with
modified versions of Microsoft .NET library that use the same license as =
the
Microsoft .NET library), and distribute linked combinations including =
the
two".=20
System requirements=20
Component=20
Requirement=20
Computer and processor=20
Personal computer with an Intel Pentium 233-MHz or faster processor =
(Pentium
III recommended)=20
Memory=20
128 MB of RAM or greater=20
Hard disk=20
20 MB of available hard disk space. Additional 30 MB of hard disk space
would be needed to install Microsoft .NET Framework if you have not =
already.
Display=20
Super VGA (800 / 600) or higher-resolution monitor.=20
Operating system=20
Microsoft Windows=AE 2000 with Service Pack 3 (SP3) or later, or Windows =
XP or
later.=20
Other=20
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or later is required; Microsoft .NET =
Framework
version 1.1 or later is required.=20
Changes in this release=20
* The major infrastructure, built using Service Provider pattern, is
mostly implemented. Now the basic part of program functionality is
represented by reusable services.=20
* The form serialization/deserialization mechanism was partially
rewritten in order to archive more flexibility. Support for container
elements was added. Now all nested elements are rendered as nested tags =
in
form definition file. The root level tag (e.g. the form by itself) is =
parsed
like all other container elements.=20
* Support for comments and annotations added to FDL Schema parser (can
be found in fdl.dll assembly).=20
* A property editor for the form elements was added. Property editor
uses reflection and FDL Schema data to get the information about hot to
represent control's properties. Currently you can edit simple properties =
and
"complex" properties with it (such as Font, Color etc.).=20
* A mechanism of serializing/deserializing form data was written. Form
data is serialized to a fully customizable XML file, which can be
"structured" according to your custom scheme.=20
* Form elements can be mapped to XML tags as well as to XML
attributes.=20
* Several basic form elements (which are used for visualization of the
form) was added. These are: LabelElement, CheckBoxElement, =
ComboBoxElement,
LinkLabelElement, PanelElement, RadioElement and of course FormElement. =
They
can be found in =94windows=94 assembly. A RepeatingPanel element is also
partially implemented.=20
* All form element classes implement now IDataBoundElement interface,
which makes a process of data serialization/deserialization much easier =
and
faster (the first implementation was built on the reflection mechanism). =
* A list box, which can display items in categories with image at the
left side from them, was added.=20
* A combo box control for selecting color was added. (This control is
used in Propery Editor user interface).=20
* A combo box control for selecting font was added. All font names are
drawn in their font. (This control is used in Propery Editor user
interface).=20
* A =93header=94 (a group-box like control) was added (used in Propery
Editor user interface).=20
* A numeric box (that accepts only integer numbers) was added (used in
Propery Editor user interface).=20
* =93Smart=94 exception handling on the thread level is added =
(implemented
in the same way as in MS Office applications =96 a dialog, that affords =
you to
recover/restart application).=20
* Attributes (such as DesignGroup, DesignName), that controls a
representation of a form element in a property editor were added.=20
* Safe mode engine was added. Safe mode is a special startup
configuration, when only core services are loaded for stability.=20
* Command line swithes, that can control program configuration was
added.=20
* Now program is loaded with the help of a special module =96 Controller
=96 that allocates a win-console if needed (to show errors at start-up,
command line help, etc), loads services and lunches a program. =
Controller
also handles exceptions.=20
* Anonymous services was added (a service that can be once added to
ServiceProvider, but cannot be obtained). ServiceProvider executes =
it=92s bool
Run() method, and =93deletes=94 a service if this method returns true or =
leaves
if it returns false. Anonymous service gives a possibility to implement, =
for
example, one-time-to-use functionality. Well, you start a program, a =
program
scans for updates and after this you no longer need the code, that do =
this
scanning. With the help of anonymous services this code (which can be =
for
example implemented in a separate assembly) can be simply =93thrown =
away=94,
unloaded. You can also write multiple extensions of that sort. Than
anonymous service can start a new program thread that can do some work
independently (in this case it would be downloaded only before program
exit). Anonymous services are represented by the IAnonymousService
interface.=20
* FDL Schema can be now accessed through interfaces, defined in
core.dll assembly.=20
* A mechanism for late initialization of services was added. Late
initialization is used, when a service want to execute any additional
initialization logic after all other services are initialized. Late
initialization is implemented with the LateInitializationCallBack =
delegate.=20
* IEnvironmentService, that gives users an access to information about
application, system environment and startup configuration was added.=20
* IRecoverService, that enables users to restore the default program
configuration, was added.=20
* IExclusiveControlsService, that gives an access to the controls,
that have their own interface was added.=20
* IStandardControlsService was added. Standard controls are controls
that do not have their own exclusive services. It was done so because =
all
this controls are fully compartible with standard Windows Forms =
controls.=20
* IFdlSerializerService was added. This service is used for
serialization and deserialization of the Fdl format into object graph =
and
for corresponding operations with form data, which is generally saved =
and
restored from a customizable XML format.=20
* IDesignerService, that provides main methods an properties to
control the behaviour of visual designer (used to create forms) was =
added.=20
* IStreamService, that provides methods to work with file steams, was
added.=20
Online documents=20
* Pre-Alfa 2 readme:
<http://freeform.sourceforge.net/index.php?show=3Dpage&src=3Dprealfa2>
http://freeform.sourceforge.net/index.php?show=3Dpage&src=3Dprealfa2.=20
* General project description:
<http://freeform.sourceforge.net/index.php?show=3Dpage&src=3Dabout>
http://freeform.sourceforge.net/index.php?show=3Dpage&src=3Dabout.=20
* Top 10 benefits of FreeForm:
<http://freeform.sourceforge.net/index.php?show=3Dpage&src=3Dtop10>
http://freeform.sourceforge.net/index.php?show=3Dpage&src=3Dtop10.=20
* FreeForm FAQ:
<http://freeform.sourceforge.net/index.php?show=3Dpage&src=3Dfaq>
http://freeform.sourceforge.net/index.php?show=3Dpage&src=3Dfaq.=20
* System requirements:
<http://freeform.sourceforge.net/index.php?show=3Dpage&src=3Dsystemrequir=
e>
http://freeform.sourceforge.net/index.php?show=3Dpage&src=3Dsystemrequire=
.=20
* Licensing:
<http://freeform.sourceforge.net/index.php?show=3Dpage&src=3Dlicensing>
http://freeform.sourceforge.net/index.php?show=3Dpage&src=3Dlicensing.=20
FreeForm assemblies=20
The current release of FreeForm includes the following assemblies:=20
Name=20
Description=20
core.dll=20
Contains ServiceProvider implementation, FDL Schema interfaces and =
services
interfaces.=20
designer.dll=20
Contains an implementation of visual designer (used to created forms).=20
fdl.dll=20
Contains an implementation of FDL Schema, FDL Schema parser and =
serializers
for forms and forms data.=20
windows.dll=20
Contains implementation of form elements.=20
resources.dll=20
Contains main project resources (strings an graphics).=20
gui.dll=20
Contains FreeForm GUI implementation, e.g. controls and dialogs.=20
packages.dll=20
Contains implementation of services, used for general purposes.=20
freeform.exe=20
A module used to lunch program and to control it's execution process.=20
Contacts=20
* Admin email: <mailto:vor...@us...>
vor...@us...=20
* Online forums:
<http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=3D349501> =
freeform.research
and <http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=3D349502>
freeform.support=20
* Tracker:
<http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=3D628605&group_id=3D100893&func=3Db=
rowse>
support requests.=20
* Project page: <http://sourceforge.net/projects/freeform>
http://sourceforge.net/projects/freeform.=20
* Project site: <http://freeform.sourceforge.net>
http://freeform.sourceforge.net.=20
=20
Online version of this document can be found at
<http://freeform.sourceforge.net/index.php?show=3Dpage&src=3Dprealfa2>
http://freeform.sourceforge.net/index.php?show=3Dpage&src=3Dprealfa2 =
page. This
document, and all it's contents does not make the FreeForm team =
responsible
for any side-effects of using our product.=20
=20
|
|
From: Basil V. <vvo...@tc...> - 2004-02-19 08:39:45
|
What is nightly builds? Nightly build is an automated build of the whole solution, which is made = regular, at 24:00 (GMT+03:00) every day. It is the most latest version = of FreeForm compiled binaries, but generally it is not checked or even = tested, so do not expect from it any stability. If you want a stable = release, please wait until it would be officially made through the = SourceForge.net interface.=20 Nightly build also includes full source code of FreeForm solution in a = single zip file. Generally this source code "snapshot" includes not only = projects which are officially released through the SourceForge.net = release systems, but also projects, made for testing purposes and event = projects which can be not yet committed to CVS. But night source code = snapshot do not include project build tools. That is why you should = disable all pre-build and posbuild events in order to build the project. Then nightly build includes a source code documentation. Documentation = is automatically generated from the source code comments with the help = of NDoc at the same time as project file built. This is probably the = easiest way to get to know about the most recent changes in FreeForm = sources. Documentation is a set of compiled (chm) HTML files with index = and a search system. The best way to be "in touch" and informed about all new project = releases is to sign up for the mailing list, which can be used for = project releases monitoring. Official release usually include all the = neccessary tools, which are needed to build the project and source code = documentation also. Downloads This the latest version of FreeForm build. Click a link for direct = download. If any link is broken please contact project administrator. Compiled binaries (freeform-nightbuild.zip) Source code snapshot (freeform-nightsource.zip) Source code docs (freeform-nightdocs.zip) Please understand, that builds are made automatically, so in some cases = a project can even fail to build and a zip archive would miss several = important assemblies. In order to check if a nightly build finished = without errors please check a build log. If a build log contains any = errors do not download compiled binaries - download only source code or = documentation. |
|
From: Basil V. <vvo...@tc...> - 2004-02-19 08:38:44
|
A first source code release (namely Pre-Alfa 1) of FreeForm was made. = This release contains only demo functionality, however you already can = create and save forms in Fdl (Form Definition Language) format. You can download it here: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=3D100893&package_id= =3D108482&release_id=3D216942 |
|
From: <vor...@to...> - 2004-01-31 13:16:22
|
FreeForm A business form management system A project FreeForm was started on SourceForge.net. Public repository, mailing list and project home page were created. FreeForm is a business form management system, which affords users to design and fill rich script-enabled forms. Form engine is XML/XSLT-based. FreeForm would also provide users with capability to publish forms on the web, to export them in number of formats and would have multiple renderers, so a single form would have different visualizations - one for printing, one for web-publishing, etc. The project assumes basic concepts of MS InfoPath, the advantages of .NET platform and some innovative ideas. For this moment the main programming language is MS C# and the target OS is Microsoft Windows. Currently the project is in the planning stage. Visit project home page <http://freeform.sourceforge.net/> Visit FreeForm at <http://sourceforge.net/projects/freeform/> SourceForge.net E-mail to project admin <mailto:vor...@us...> |