Aaaaaah - after three days of struggle the support team decided to install the appropriate version of the XML library on the server. And now everything works. I feel unleached - and able to focus on the important stuff!
Upload them MS Project XML files and check the results. It is not necessarily pretty because all the CSS styles have bright background colors. Mattäus will hopefully fix this. But we need this to see where things go.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
AJAX
Finally the first AJAX stuff is working. This is the success that will save my Friday night :-)
Unfortunately I can't share it with anybody due to the environment problem ...
Unfortunately I can't share it with anybody due to the environment problem ...
Environment issue
My own little project is just a mapping of the big world out there:
Ever since Wednesday I am experiencing environment problems. Whenever I am uploading and processing a XML file that contains MS Project data the server uses up 100 % CPU and some memory but never responds. Only after the process is killed resource-consumption relaxes again - naturally the server's respons is still missing.
Locally (of course) everything works fine.
In fact that bug impacts the cost per day for the server. It did raised from 40 cents (before Wednesday) to 80 cents (with the bug).
The support team is working on it. I trust them as much as I trust other environment teams ...
Ever since Wednesday I am experiencing environment problems. Whenever I am uploading and processing a XML file that contains MS Project data the server uses up 100 % CPU and some memory but never responds. Only after the process is killed resource-consumption relaxes again - naturally the server's respons is still missing.
Locally (of course) everything works fine.
In fact that bug impacts the cost per day for the server. It did raised from 40 cents (before Wednesday) to 80 cents (with the bug).
The support team is working on it. I trust them as much as I trust other environment teams ...
Thursday, March 26, 2009
TRAC
As of today there is a TRAC installation on our host where you can actively participate in Knowledge-Sharing (WIKI), report errors or improvements (Bug-Tracking) and check the delivery milestones (Roadmap).
Check out the important links at the left to get to our dedicated TRAC.
Please contact me to request a user.
Check out the important links at the left to get to our dedicated TRAC.
Please contact me to request a user.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Hierarchical data in relational databases
Obviously there will be a work-breakdown-structure (WBS) in ProjectTraXX. Which brings up the question of how to store effectively hierarchical data in relational databases.
There are bright people who did think about that before. In case you are nurdy enough: Check this article out.
ProjectTraXX can now import WBS from a MS Project XML file and add information for the "Nested Set Model" to it. We will make it look neat tomorrow and add some basic operations within ProjectTraXX (add, delete, move, etc.).
There are bright people who did think about that before. In case you are nurdy enough: Check this article out.
ProjectTraXX can now import WBS from a MS Project XML file and add information for the "Nested Set Model" to it. We will make it look neat tomorrow and add some basic operations within ProjectTraXX (add, delete, move, etc.).
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
projecttraxx.com
On Monday the server-setup was completed and all the stuff was deployed on our server. You can access our (currently) tiny application at projecttraxx.com now.
Honestly - I could call the site all day and look at the welcome-page. Just because we made it.
Feel free to register, try stuff out and send me bug-reports via mail that follow which format:
- Steps you did (please start with the login)
- Expected results
- Actual results
If you proove to be a worhty testing-community (that is after 100 bugs) there will be a propper bug-tracking system. Let's not rush it yet.
GIT - Update
To be more precise on GIT: We were on GitHUB which implies a small fee for non open-source projects. But on Monday we moved and quickly installed GIT on our own server. This way we save money and feel more exclusive by accessing our sources at projecttraxx.com :-)
To be honest: Once you know how it works it is not that hard any more. So I reduced the post below. There are enough turorials out there - you don't need me for that.
To be honest: Once you know how it works it is not that hard any more. So I reduced the post below. There are enough turorials out there - you don't need me for that.
Friday, March 20, 2009
GIT
We are on GIT - finally.
Configuring a UNIX client under Windows VISTA is a pain. Especially since you need to generate and add public/private keys for secure SSH. Not that command-lines drive me crazy. But having documentation for UNIX and some kind of prepackaged emulation for windows led to investing the afternoon to get it up and running.
At least it was finished before the trip to the rosebud.
Tasks that are left for tomorrow: deployment with capistrano and sandbox PayPaling.
Configuring a UNIX client under Windows VISTA is a pain. Especially since you need to generate and add public/private keys for secure SSH. Not that command-lines drive me crazy. But having documentation for UNIX and some kind of prepackaged emulation for windows led to investing the afternoon to get it up and running.
At least it was finished before the trip to the rosebud.
Tasks that are left for tomorrow: deployment with capistrano and sandbox PayPaling.
Payments
Bummer - Amazons payment services only work for the US. So the whole idea of subscribing to ProjectTraXX and receiving a monthly bill in your amazon account, where the amount depends on the number of user, is finally gone.
I am lacking alternatives of fast and easy ways of payment system integration. If you have any ideas feel free to spam me. Otherwise users will end up purchasing allotments of users for the next month or so via PayPal and do pre-payment.
Actually pre-payment is a nice thing from the seller's perspective...isn't is?
I am lacking alternatives of fast and easy ways of payment system integration. If you have any ideas feel free to spam me. Otherwise users will end up purchasing allotments of users for the next month or so via PayPal and do pre-payment.
Actually pre-payment is a nice thing from the seller's perspective...isn't is?
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Host and DNS Names ... only Deployment missing
Agile development is nice. I started this morning with a post and some features on this blog. Only afterwards I realized that the formerly top-secret name and target domain of our project is available on the internet. So the run for the very much wanted domain started (bummer). No Problem - we acted quickly and reserved two domains to start with:
- projecttraxx.de
- projecttraxx.com
While on the infrastructure side of live I decided to tackle the host as well. Got an out-of-the-box shared Ruby-On-Rails host at HostingRails.com and conected DNS and IP addresses.
Keep it cool - database and deployment are still missing - but you can call the DNS and you will see something like this page :-) I am feeling quick today ...
Coding with Ruby On Rails
ProjectTraXX's technology stack is based on Ruby On Rails with a MySQL database. Frontend stuff will probably be pure HTML with some AJAX script-libs. Now don't get a wrong impression - frontend decisions are well thought through - by Matz (@Matz: Where is your blog ???).
Ruby on Rails is a framework that supports very fast and agile development. It is great fun to code with it. Even though it is light weight compared to some Java stacks there is learning curve. That's probably due to my limited experience with coding (lately) and due to the fact that I am supported with only an old RoR book - the classic one - the one which is 1.5 years old. Which means: It is totally outdated.
So every once in a while (three times per hour) I google some exception-traces to catch a nurdy comment in a rails-forum that suggests to skip deprecated methods and move on with the much easier way it is done nower days ;-)
At the end of the day that's coding - and coding is fun. It is a lot of work, too. But - hey - I asked for it. So back to the roots and back to work.
Ruby on Rails is a framework that supports very fast and agile development. It is great fun to code with it. Even though it is light weight compared to some Java stacks there is learning curve. That's probably due to my limited experience with coding (lately) and due to the fact that I am supported with only an old RoR book - the classic one - the one which is 1.5 years old. Which means: It is totally outdated.
So every once in a while (three times per hour) I google some exception-traces to catch a nurdy comment in a rails-forum that suggests to skip deprecated methods and move on with the much easier way it is done nower days ;-)
At the end of the day that's coding - and coding is fun. It is a lot of work, too. But - hey - I asked for it. So back to the roots and back to work.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Basic timeline
In case you are wondering why this post get's updated frequently: It is called rolling-wave technique. Later phases are detailed only at the time they bcome relevant. As this project is quite agile let me share our definition of later: later = next week ;-)
22.03.2009: After the first week we aim at basic functions and a stable development Setup:
05.04.2009 Acces rights for projects, time bookings and review of the bookings are implemented and tested.
12.04.2009 Analysis for projects is implemented and tested.
There is a secon delivery thread for the GUI. This one will start in April and a basic timeline for that will be posted soob.
22.03.2009: After the first week we aim at basic functions and a stable development Setup:
Functions
- Users, login, invites (done)
- Restricted areas & Password encryption (done)
- Payment with Pay-Pal (pending Pay-Pal approval)
Setup
- Source code avilable through GIT (done)
- Running on a hosted server (done)
05.04.2009 Acces rights for projects, time bookings and review of the bookings are implemented and tested.
12.04.2009 Analysis for projects is implemented and tested.
There is a secon delivery thread for the GUI. This one will start in April and a basic timeline for that will be posted soob.
Realization starts
Finally the realization of this project starts (16th of March 2009). It only took 10 months to get started :-) I am looking at a two month break from the regular work and there are ambitious plans on how far to push this through a very agile development.
You will see more action on this blog now: There will be posts with delivery-dates, URLs as well as technical and functional information.
FYI ... During the last couple of months functional and technical requirements have been collected. Use cases have been recorded and are currently converted into a screen-flow / -design. The information is available on mindmeister.com.
You will see more action on this blog now: There will be posts with delivery-dates, URLs as well as technical and functional information.
FYI ... During the last couple of months functional and technical requirements have been collected. Use cases have been recorded and are currently converted into a screen-flow / -design. The information is available on mindmeister.com.
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