Thanks for that - I'll have a think on it
As far as the log out - I've always thought people would just close the browser - but it's an interesting point...
Carl.
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Carl,
Where is the CSV ?
I'm interested in helping and also translating this to italian.
------------
I believe you need a confirmation box when deleting a website record with existing pages underneath!!! just
deleted one of my test website by accident!!!
-------------
Have a choice of using or not using just plain HTML without the Rich text editor or at least provide an option to switch between the two.
-------------
Seperate the content and templates
-So that you can generate the same website with the template of your choice.
-Ability to use the same content on a different website and different order etc
-Have the ability to use a per page template assignment.
-------------
Tableless designs like www.csszengarden.com?
Menu generator eg:http://gosu.pl/dhtml/mygosumenu.html?
Template generator ?
Css generator ?
Static form generator eg:http://phpformgen.sourceforge.net/?
-John
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Lot of good interesting points here - I'll try and come up with some answers here - (from the bottom'ish up)
- I like the CSS stuff - and I've already been thinking on a 'multiple template' idea - but I must admit I was thinking on the lines of using the WYSIWYG editor to enter a template with special markers e.g.:
[[HEADING]]
[[MENU]]
[[FOOTER]]
etc.
If we could work out how to do this using CSS (providing that we can get a good list of cross-browser compatability), that would probably be better (or potentially a mixture of both).
- we'd need to figure out how to make the CSS up with minimal user expertise.
- Another thing I've been thinking of is using a tree menu javascript (www.destroydrop.com/javascripts/tree), in the xdbcms system so we can easily see the menu layout.
I'm already using a pull down menu system (which can do multi levels), so if I work this into the system, then I'd probably use that, but the idea of pull down lists on the output site should go onto the ideas list).
I've already been thinking about an error message if you try and delete records with sub-ordinate records (websites with pages) - so I'll take that on board.
Now to the 'fun' part - what I've not widely advertised so far is that the whole program is actually generated from another program which I have developed (and may become a commercial product, so I'm not thinking of releasing this at this time.) Another project (xdb-money - http://xdb-money.sourceforge.net/ is also generated by the same system).
As the system is 'generated', there is actually no CVS, and any alterations to the xdbcms program directly are overwritten the next time the program is generated (which is very often as the XDB generator is under constant update - and has been for the last two years).
In terms of changes - perhaps the best way of assisting (apart from giving great feedback as you've done so far), is to let me have code examples and I'll try and work out if the code can be incorporated.
- Sorry if this isn't a simple answer, but one of the final goals of the XDB generator (no relation to IBM's XDB), is to create a web-based general purpose database generator (similar to my recollection of superbase).
What sparked the project off was a friend of mine who suggested creating a hospital information system (I work in the National Health Service in England), for Africa, as they can't afford the costs of a commercial system. I knew that such a system couldn't be hand-crafted as it would be too large and complex, and so XDB was born. - xdb-money, and xdbcms could be both thought of as 'test cases', however, they are not, and I class these as both fully independent systems, and I'll be constantly folding back code and ideas into these projects (and some more I'm thinking of!) - especially as these will automatically be 'generated in' by the generator.
- Perhaps a little long, but hopefully the above gives background.
If you've got suggestions for code changes (especially the CSS settings) I'd really like to see them.
Many thanks
Carl.
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Carl
Quite interesting that this program is generated from another.
I've had a look around to see what people are doing with template and css generators and the best I could come up with is something along the lines of www.mamboserver.com which if possible maybe you could incorporate there template manager so people could use the exiting templates for mambo on xdbcms, what do you think?
-John
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Thanks for the feedback - sorry it's been a little while in coming back..
I think I mentioned that I was thinking along the lines of a templating system - I've already created one in the XDB program generator which uses a double bracket notation e.g. [[FIELD:BLAH]], which is used in conjunction with the free text editor that's being used within XDBCMS. Actually, the html pages of XDBCMS itself were created using this template mechanism (you'll see some changes in 0.03 which should be released next week!).
It'd be easiest to retrofit the template mechanism to XDBCMS, as I've already got the code - I guess this will be the major change to be released in 0.04....
Carl.
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hi,
i downloaded and checked the 0.03. but i see that customization seems to be very hard. everything is output by printf() and very complex. but i can understand this because you're generating this code automatically. but what is the difference between codecharge and this cms, for example?
but truly this project has potential. there is almost no other cms that can produce static html. i have one question for example if i change a file then the whole db is updated or just the changed row of db?
btw, can you please put a demo so we all can test and report?
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Codecharge - Not met this one before - obvious biggest difference is that you've got to pay for it - my generator is free (to me at least! - as it may someday become a commercial product). My generator is completely web driven using pages very similar to the XDBCMS data entry screens (as the generator program has actually generated itself - just as C compilers are written in C).
In terms of modification, true the program code is difficult to modify - I only ever change the generator. Saying that, if you've got some suggestions for new features can I suggest you add this to the 'feature requests' topic (I'm about to add in this forum!)
I must admit I'm not clear on your question about changing files - any chance on re-phrasing it?
It's a bit tricky putting up a demo as sourceforge doesn't supply MySQL as part of its hosting service - as far as I know. But you can see an example of the output - the projects website (xdbcms.sourceforge.net) is completely generated by XDBCMS - there are also a couple of websites in the pipeline which I'll probably create an 'examples' section within the project website when they're available...
In terms of a static website - if you installed XDBCMS on the machine where your 'public' website is available, it is possible to generate directly to that directory. Why? because this gives you some of the benefits of database driven websites (ie. instant update), but with the efficiency of static pages. - it's an interesting possibility, I'm also thinking that at some point I might put an 'automatic' re-generator in place so that it re-generates the website every n minutes. But I think that's some way off yet....
Hopefully the above is helpful - please let me know your rephrased question....
Carl.
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changing files: for example, i have a web site with 30 files. assume that i changed three files. now i want to update the site. Are just those 3 files uploaded or the entire web site (30 files but only 3 are changed)?
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Yes all 30 files would be re-generated - I think there's too much risk of program error if you try and start to work out what has changed - I would imagine in most cases the generated HTML files would be fairly small anyway? (the main bulk of websites tends to be the graphics etc - at least to my opinion- and these don't actually get touched).
Presumably you're using an upload tool (such as sitecopy?) to upload the files that have changed to your website... in which case, html files will be uploaded, but only graphics that have changed.
Hopefully this helps...
Carl.
PS: As a general item, if anyone has websites generated with XDBCMS, I'd like to know, and I can put links on the main XDBCMS website as examples of use.... (I think I might enter a main topic on this discussion board for this purpose...)
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Carl,
Just a couple of observations,
Once you log in , there is no log out option?
When you select the "about" it pops out a new window can you please change this behavior so that it just displays on the existing page.
- John
Thanks for that - I'll have a think on it
As far as the log out - I've always thought people would just close the browser - but it's an interesting point...
Carl.
Carl,
Where is the CSV ?
I'm interested in helping and also translating this to italian.
------------
I believe you need a confirmation box when deleting a website record with existing pages underneath!!! just
deleted one of my test website by accident!!!
-------------
Have a choice of using or not using just plain HTML without the Rich text editor or at least provide an option to switch between the two.
-------------
Seperate the content and templates
-So that you can generate the same website with the template of your choice.
-Ability to use the same content on a different website and different order etc
-Have the ability to use a per page template assignment.
-------------
Tableless designs like www.csszengarden.com?
Menu generator eg:http://gosu.pl/dhtml/mygosumenu.html?
Template generator ?
Css generator ?
Static form generator eg:http://phpformgen.sourceforge.net/?
-John
Hi John,
Lot of good interesting points here - I'll try and come up with some answers here - (from the bottom'ish up)
- I like the CSS stuff - and I've already been thinking on a 'multiple template' idea - but I must admit I was thinking on the lines of using the WYSIWYG editor to enter a template with special markers e.g.:
[[HEADING]]
[[MENU]]
[[FOOTER]]
etc.
If we could work out how to do this using CSS (providing that we can get a good list of cross-browser compatability), that would probably be better (or potentially a mixture of both).
- we'd need to figure out how to make the CSS up with minimal user expertise.
- Another thing I've been thinking of is using a tree menu javascript (www.destroydrop.com/javascripts/tree), in the xdbcms system so we can easily see the menu layout.
I'm already using a pull down menu system (which can do multi levels), so if I work this into the system, then I'd probably use that, but the idea of pull down lists on the output site should go onto the ideas list).
I've already been thinking about an error message if you try and delete records with sub-ordinate records (websites with pages) - so I'll take that on board.
Now to the 'fun' part - what I've not widely advertised so far is that the whole program is actually generated from another program which I have developed (and may become a commercial product, so I'm not thinking of releasing this at this time.) Another project (xdb-money - http://xdb-money.sourceforge.net/ is also generated by the same system).
As the system is 'generated', there is actually no CVS, and any alterations to the xdbcms program directly are overwritten the next time the program is generated (which is very often as the XDB generator is under constant update - and has been for the last two years).
In terms of changes - perhaps the best way of assisting (apart from giving great feedback as you've done so far), is to let me have code examples and I'll try and work out if the code can be incorporated.
- Sorry if this isn't a simple answer, but one of the final goals of the XDB generator (no relation to IBM's XDB), is to create a web-based general purpose database generator (similar to my recollection of superbase).
What sparked the project off was a friend of mine who suggested creating a hospital information system (I work in the National Health Service in England), for Africa, as they can't afford the costs of a commercial system. I knew that such a system couldn't be hand-crafted as it would be too large and complex, and so XDB was born. - xdb-money, and xdbcms could be both thought of as 'test cases', however, they are not, and I class these as both fully independent systems, and I'll be constantly folding back code and ideas into these projects (and some more I'm thinking of!) - especially as these will automatically be 'generated in' by the generator.
- Perhaps a little long, but hopefully the above gives background.
If you've got suggestions for code changes (especially the CSS settings) I'd really like to see them.
Many thanks
Carl.
Carl
Quite interesting that this program is generated from another.
I've had a look around to see what people are doing with template and css generators and the best I could come up with is something along the lines of www.mamboserver.com which if possible maybe you could incorporate there template manager so people could use the exiting templates for mambo on xdbcms, what do you think?
-John
Hi John,
Thanks for the feedback - sorry it's been a little while in coming back..
I think I mentioned that I was thinking along the lines of a templating system - I've already created one in the XDB program generator which uses a double bracket notation e.g. [[FIELD:BLAH]], which is used in conjunction with the free text editor that's being used within XDBCMS. Actually, the html pages of XDBCMS itself were created using this template mechanism (you'll see some changes in 0.03 which should be released next week!).
It'd be easiest to retrofit the template mechanism to XDBCMS, as I've already got the code - I guess this will be the major change to be released in 0.04....
Carl.
Carl,
I look forward to the new release/s.
Here is some potential php code for the CSS generator
http://color.twysted.net
What do you think?
-John
hi,
i downloaded and checked the 0.03. but i see that customization seems to be very hard. everything is output by printf() and very complex. but i can understand this because you're generating this code automatically. but what is the difference between codecharge and this cms, for example?
but truly this project has potential. there is almost no other cms that can produce static html. i have one question for example if i change a file then the whole db is updated or just the changed row of db?
btw, can you please put a demo so we all can test and report?
Hi Ken,
Thanks for the feedback - I'll try to answer...
Codecharge - Not met this one before - obvious biggest difference is that you've got to pay for it - my generator is free (to me at least! - as it may someday become a commercial product). My generator is completely web driven using pages very similar to the XDBCMS data entry screens (as the generator program has actually generated itself - just as C compilers are written in C).
In terms of modification, true the program code is difficult to modify - I only ever change the generator. Saying that, if you've got some suggestions for new features can I suggest you add this to the 'feature requests' topic (I'm about to add in this forum!)
I must admit I'm not clear on your question about changing files - any chance on re-phrasing it?
It's a bit tricky putting up a demo as sourceforge doesn't supply MySQL as part of its hosting service - as far as I know. But you can see an example of the output - the projects website (xdbcms.sourceforge.net) is completely generated by XDBCMS - there are also a couple of websites in the pipeline which I'll probably create an 'examples' section within the project website when they're available...
In terms of a static website - if you installed XDBCMS on the machine where your 'public' website is available, it is possible to generate directly to that directory. Why? because this gives you some of the benefits of database driven websites (ie. instant update), but with the efficiency of static pages. - it's an interesting possibility, I'm also thinking that at some point I might put an 'automatic' re-generator in place so that it re-generates the website every n minutes. But I think that's some way off yet....
Hopefully the above is helpful - please let me know your rephrased question....
Carl.
hi,
thanks for the kind reply.
changing files: for example, i have a web site with 30 files. assume that i changed three files. now i want to update the site. Are just those 3 files uploaded or the entire web site (30 files but only 3 are changed)?
Hi Ken,
Yes all 30 files would be re-generated - I think there's too much risk of program error if you try and start to work out what has changed - I would imagine in most cases the generated HTML files would be fairly small anyway? (the main bulk of websites tends to be the graphics etc - at least to my opinion- and these don't actually get touched).
Presumably you're using an upload tool (such as sitecopy?) to upload the files that have changed to your website... in which case, html files will be uploaded, but only graphics that have changed.
Hopefully this helps...
Carl.
PS: As a general item, if anyone has websites generated with XDBCMS, I'd like to know, and I can put links on the main XDBCMS website as examples of use.... (I think I might enter a main topic on this discussion board for this purpose...)