Older blog entries for mglazer (starting at number 366)

I am writing a bit on the Software Creation Process (or SCP).

Three stages are involved:

1. Concept Creation

2. Application Building

3. Software Deployment

Thier order is as important as each of them are.

4 Jan 2003 (updated 4 Jan 2003 at 23:13 UTC) »

There seems to be a lot of WYSIWYG html web editors out there that claim to be JS only but use the execCommand which is IE only.

So, I am writing a true JS only WYSIWYG html web editor that will work with both NS and IE with JS 1.0 enabled.

What I do is use mousevents and value transfer from the div view of the html code and the textarea editor.

For the textarea editor I use icons and a onclick event handle with a JS function command that encapsulates the seclected text with the desired html code of the command selected i.e bold icon bold selected text etc...

So this is not true WYSIWYG but it is a JS only and not JS that is IE only html web editor. Instead of editing as WYSIWYG though it has to have a text area and a preview div above which is updated on every keydown event.

A simple solution is to use activex and provide the activex plugin for non IE browsers as a download. Or to be even more spiffy use ScriptX (requries plugin download too but its not active X!).

4 Jan 2003 (updated 4 Jan 2003 at 03:31 UTC) »
Screesnhot of my Template Management System (TMS) Administrative Shell UI
3 Jan 2003 (updated 3 Jan 2003 at 20:46 UTC) »

I am in the formidable stages of building my Template Management Software (TMS for short).

It contains three individual and independent yet interactive layers of template creators for coherent workflow processes in TMS.

1. Managers

2. Designers

3. Developers

The diff between the three is template type they use.

The managers uses forms for template placeholder names and values only.

The designers uses only pure html code and only placeholders to create editable regions and design page layouts.

The developer uses templates that allow for custom xml tags that call PHP classes like JSP custom tags and Java Beans.

There is also a large modicum of template utitilies and tools available in this TMS.

1. Template Parser (the actual template engine(s))

2. Template Compiler (native PHP scripts updated automatically when template is updated).

3. Template cacher (secure (md5) template var, frag, and whole local file storage)

4. Template Mapping (db2template)

5. Template Editors (XML and HTML WYSIWYG)

6. Template Sets (themes)

7. Template 2 static creation (directory structure real file names and relations based on template sets)

8. Template Layout (control, structure, organization)

9. Template resuable PHP component classes (similar convetions to Java Bean class structures)

10. Template xml custom tags i.e. <x:db table='directory' set="0,5" />

I am beyond the concept creation portion and the storyline / storyboard part and have begun the actual application building part.

Since I have already created all of the above mentioned as independent classes it is really just a matter of putting it all together in a cohrent management UI shell.

The last part will be the TMS testing and deployment, maybe within two to three weeks.

Three way EXAMPLE:

SITENAME = "4Arrow.com"
siteheader.html = <b>{SITENAME}</b>
index.html = <x:site file="siteheader.html" />
x:site = class site { site ( $args ) { return $args['tpl']->tmpl_parser( implode ( '', file( $args['params']['file'] ) ) ); } }

The above shows us a simple example of the three way independent and interactive TMS workflow processes.

3 Jan 2003 (updated 4 Aug 2011 at 18:17 UTC) »

I've been experimenting with text to binary and vice versa encoding and decoding to use to protect PHP code and execute it.

I want to use the PGP concept of passphrases with private and public keys.

The only current issue I see is that the text and binary sizes are exactly the same. I was hoping converting text strings to binary might shorten them but no luck yet.

So at this point its only use is for encoding PHP code into binary and executing it with a public key. Still very alpha code and I probably won't do much with it for a while.

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3 Jan 2003 (updated 4 Aug 2011 at 18:17 UTC) »
Zope Rules!

It is the most powerful rapid application development web-based server available.

It just happens to be open source and free!

My project, PHPortal, is a PHP replication (not scale just scope) of Zope as a homage and to spread the word. Mainly also to provide something similar for web shared hosting accounts.

Zope has so much coolness that after 5 years playing with it I have yet to discover and completly get my head around all of its awesomeness.

Zope's widespread success has to do with its; a. learning curve, b. accessibility.

Solutions are more widespread shared hosting account support for people to easily and affordabily use it for real-world purposes.

The learning curve is definetely coming down. A good idea might be for Zope to trim the entire interface, not just a skin but a toned down management, simpler the better, minimalize and make it a bit hipper looking. Zope lacks a nice interface it looks too much like a file folder system than a purposefull application.

Beleive it or not most people want something for a specific purpose sometimes doing too much is not good.

A easily repurposefull management interface for zope (not just skins) that are application specific (Zope that does one thing, not back end focused, user interface usage focused) i.e. a complete help desk solution, knowledege base, news application etc.. would make the clamor for it also much greater.

The goal I beleive should be to embed Zope greatness for easier, quicker, more purposefull distribution and use.

Now, I know this can already be done to Zope easily, which is good, but it isn't done enough, known, or shown. Complete Zope Application specifc management Interfaces examples of use.

For example, being able to ship a Zope that is all ready to be used to manage an employee directory both front and back end. The managment for the above should also be focused and designed specifically for that use.

In other words a Zope man interface for non-developers and a specific use.

Also, I am sure when it is made clear how to do the above easily many developers would be happy to create Zope repurposed app-specific UIs that can be distributed at standalone costs for Zope Corp or each other.

My other project, Xpc, is a JSP replication because I like the developer focused templating layer of the XML custom tags and the Java Bean components as well as the compilation of the templates. Again same reason to bring this functionality to the large number of shared web hosting accounts.

I believe the core (low-end) internet users (regular paying users) are those who pay anywhere between $5-$30 / month for a shared web hosting account. That is the core audience for web developer products and services. From real-time weather, stock prices etc...

The high-end paying internet users are the big cash cow corproations anyone in the fortune 500. They have much greater technological needs and are willing to pay for two things; 1. ability, 2. support.

Whomever can provide those two things the best gets the customer, price is irrelevent for the big cos in regards to technology since it is so amorphous, they care more about support services and out of the box capabiltiies that they seek.

Now here is where the intersection occurs.

The webmaster in the low-end gets a job at the high-end customer, he can then influence from the inside-out purchasing due to his personal experiences. It is kind of like embedded advertising.

As I getting ready for this month's PHPortal version release (0.2.7) I am already gearing up for the next month's dev run.

I am hoping to finally start into object model arrays as abstraction layers to programming to enable independent workflow processes that are interactive and wholly dependent on each other.

The first shot at this will be with web user interfaces specifically with regards to management interfaces for template tools.

Template tools include:

1. Template Parser

2. Template Compiler

3. Template Editor (wysiwyg html editors, xml wysiwyg editors, template placeholder form editors)

4. Template Mapping

5. Template Layout Control (placeholders, editable regions)

6. Template Layers

7. Template Sets (themes)

8. Staticize Template (generate static versions)

Template layers and their workflow processes is an unusually unmentioned yet important topic in large organizations.

This article "Template Layers and workflow processes" explains in greater detail the concepts behind the template management tool Web UI I am creating with an abstraction object model array layer.

This again delves into Montros.org theory if not a bit prematurely.

Later I will write about management interface shells and the best way to make them. A few focus points will be replication, usability, and navigation.

This is not about security nor about even what we will use the management UI for that is why it is called a shell.

I will literally be discussing the finer points in the creation of management web UIs in a very generic manner not specific to any purpose of use.

I will learn C# and dot NET this week. ShardDevelop is pretty cool even though it ships with absolutely no samples.

Visual GUI creators with no samples is like shooting for fish in the atlantic.

This brings up the great learning curve issues with repect to learning new languages.

Sensitive Islamists:

"Do not call us violent or we will kill you!"

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