[Openinteract-help] Re: Questions about OpenInteract

[Chris W. <ch...@cw...>]

On Tue, 2002-02-12 at 20:08, Thomas A. Lowery wrote:
> Chris,
> 	I'm looking at OpenInteract as an application framework to replace
> 	a currently running cold fusion server.
> 
> 	I've the "basic" installed completed, however now I'm not sure
> 	where to go with the product.  The documentation is very confusing
> 	on starting a new application.
> 
> 	Is OpenInteract about to interface with a database without
> 	predefining all the tables and structures?  Learn what the
> 	database contains upon connection?
> 
> 
> 	Where do I start defining a simple interface to a person table?
> 
> 	person (
> 		  person_pk	number not null
> 		, first_name varchar(36)
> 		, last_name  varchar(36)
> 	)
> 
> 
> 	Out of all the "frameworks" I've reviewed (Perl based, as I enjoy
> 	developing in Perl), yours works (the demo site), now I need to
> 	know how to start an application using it!

Hi Tom,

(cc'd to openinteract-help)

Clearly, this is an area where docs would help. So here's a quickstart
guide to developing an application. Note that a good example for the
handler and templates is the 'classified' package, which ships with OI.

1) cd to your dev directory

2) $ export OPENINTERACT=/path/to/base_install
   $ oi_manage create_skeleton --package=myapp

3) edit conf/spops.perl:
     - set 'base_table' to your table
     - set 'id_field' to your PK field
     - add 'field_discover => "yes"' so you don't have to 
       list the individual fields
     - set your appropriate DB driver in the 'isa' (e.g., change 
       'SPOPS::DBI::MySQL' to 'SPOPS::DBI::Pg' for Postgres)

4) edit OpenInteract/Handler/Myapp.pm to include the sample code from
OpenInteract::CommonHandler. (I don't have a template for this yet,
sorry.) Decide if you want to have search/display/edit/remove
capabilities and modify the various items as necessary.

5) create templates in template/ for the search_form, search results and
record display. (Borrow from 'classified' package where appropriate)

6) edit conf/action.perl to associate your handler with a URL

7) edit doc/myapp.pod with information about your package

8) edit Changes with the changes you've made

9) edit package.conf with contact information and a package description

10) check the package: 
    $ oi_manage check_package

11) if not ok, fix; if ok:
    $ oi_manage export_package
    $ oi_manage install_package --package_file=myapp-0.01.tar.gz
    $ export OIWEBSITE=/path/to/mysite
    $ oi_manage apply_package --package=myapp

12) restart your web server

The next version of OI will do much of 3-5 automatically, creating a 
handler based on CommonHandler; creating templates for searching,
displaying search results, and detail/editing screens, and modifying
your SPOPS object definition. But that's a few months off.

Thanks,

Chris

-- 
Chris Winters (ch...@cw...)
Building enterprise-capable snack solutions since 1988.