[Firefly-dev] Things to think about

[firefly-dev]

sigh...how many questions :)

ok, let's start:

>1. Frontend's
>        a. user(patron)
>        b. user(staff)

mmm..I don't understand exactly what do you mean with 'patron', do you
mean the library's admin ?

I discuss about the frontend later in the message.

>2. database
>        a. use a existing database
>        b. make out own

I'm for b)
It' also very important to use classes that'll permits us to work in the
same ways with different db, without changing the code.
Who knows, maybe one day we'll need to switch db, and this is never a
nice thing...

>3. website
>        a. needs to be done.
>        b. any ideas?

Right now we can use the space offered by savannah, we just need few
pages. One for the news and one for download, and maybe also one to
explain what FireFly is :)
I think it's still too early to buy a domain, don't you think ?
Also do you think we must put online some pages in the next days or we
should think about this later ?

>4. Is this whole project going to work from within a browser or be a
>        independent app. Is it going to be its own install straight
>from disk
>        and take up a entire harddrive? Is it going to be diskless, and
>just
>        work on a server?

The library in my town adopt both browser and indipendent app.
Browser is most used by users to search in the catalog, 
but they also use it for loan books fomr internet.

My opinion is that we need both, the browser mainly for users(but since
the app is browser based it can also be used by staff) while the
non-browser app only for staff. Browser can also be used by users to
update their details, like phone number, address etc...

I think the indipendent app have to be installed in every pc used by
staff and must be easily upgradable, I thought about automatic upgrades
and the possibility to install and download plugins directly from the
app, or even something like 
apt-get update && apt-get upgrade :))
However this leads to a problem, every time there is a new version staff
have to update the program in every pc where it is installed, which is
not a very bad solution but it'not handy.
we have to think about this, maybe we can make the app upgrade itself
silently ? I mean the app can automatically check if there's a new
version when it starts, if yes it pops up a dialog window to let the
user choose to upgrade or not.

>5. Is it going to be text or gui?

mmm..I think a gui is necessary, but since the app should be platform
independent, we haven't lots of choices.
Maybe java could be a good solution, python works well with java(jython,
but never tried), however it is also possible to build gui in python
that works on the most platforms with wxPython (www.wxpython.org).

>6. How is the Public Access Catalog(PAC) setup?

do you mean the catalog for users with PAC ?
if yes, well, if we make it browser based this should not be difficult.
Basically it will be a website.

>7.What types of options are going to be in the admin side?

I didn't think about this... I don't know, I still don't have many ideas
But one question, who do you refer to when talking about admin ? the
library "boss" ?

>8. What languages are going to be needed for programming? Is Perl and
        Python enough?

wxPython seems interesting, I think we can also make the gui in python
avoiding java or other languages.
Right now I think python and perl(argh...php ? :)) are enough.

>9. Do we need a chat room to have real time discussions?

great idea, in my library there are two floors, a chat room can be very
useful.  This can be implemented as a plugin.

>10. Do we need to break parts into teams? GUI, PAC, Records, Admin
>        Utils, etc.

We have to define the order in which develop each single piece of the
software. 
The first point to take care of is the db, this is very important. 
What db should we use ? I don't know if  mysql is suited for this app, 
we should start to plan the db and see if mysql has all the features we
needs, otherwise we have to consider postgresql or firebird.
Do you have any experience in designing database ?
I have some but nothing special...

Then everyone of us will take care of a single piece, I think it's
better to start with the catalog, we need scripts to add, edit and
delete books from the db.
After this we have to develop at the same time the user management part
and the loaning part, because if we want to test the loaning part we
need a user to loan the book :)

Once we have something working (doesn't need to be completed) we 
must do a lot of tests to assure that everything works fine.
This is the core of the app and must be solid and flexible.

gui development and eventually plugins(chat, reviews etc...) will come
later.

One thing to keep in mind and to implement from the beginning is the
i18n support, imho this is very important. 
We have to think how to implement this, and since the app is
multiplatform we can not relies on gettext :(


>Ideas for a GUI:
>

>1. Drag and drop list for patrons, so they can build a list to print
>out
>        and search for.

again I'm not sure about the meanings of "patrons", sorry :(

>2. Call up book reviews from say Amazon(not limited to)

wow, this is a very cool features.
This mean that we have to integrate a browser in the app, and to take a
look at the web services kit offered by amazon, however I don't know the
license of this sdk.


Ah, another very important thing, library uses standards for the
classifications of the books, I think we need to gain some docs about
this, I don't know you but I don't konw anything, and this aspect is
important also because will reflect the design of db.


Bye


marco