Re: Contributing Ux features

On 29/03/2014 20:53, Erik Huelsmann wrote:

Hi Lyle,

On Sat, Mar 29, 2014 at 4:41 PM, Lyle <..hidden..> wrote:

All,
I've done a couple of hacks so that I can continue working with the latest release.

I'm getting back to the point I planned to be at when I started this upgrade. I'm going to add some usability features to make life easier for my bookkeeper and myself. This will be in the form of:
* jQuery validation of forms
* jQuery AJAX calls for auto complete fields

Form validation hasn't been worked on so far, but auto complete for e.g. GL accounts has been implemented in 1.4; 1.4 also features date-selectors and could quite easily be enhanced for customer selections etc. Check out http://efficito.com/demo for a 1.4 demo so you can see it without having to set it up yourself.

There's one possible issue though: the ajaxy stuff has been implemented using Dojo (while you mentioned using jQuery).

I'm not familiar with Dojo, but I guess they wont be too far apart with regards to functionality. I'm familiar with jQuery so that's what I usually go to.

Using 1.4 for my real account seems far too dangerous, but I want to add in the Ux features to the current stable so that my bookkeeper can take advantage. I'm not sure what the best solution is here for contributing.

* Tooltips for mouse over descriptions of different fields

This would be great: it's something that we miss; meaning that I think LedgerSMB isn't self-documenting enough, even though it's pretty simple -- as in that it has very few knobs -- not all the knobs are completely apparent to the casual user.

Yeah, tooltips can go a long way to someone new.

Is anything like this currently in the works? Is there a set place you'd like me to put JS code?

In 1.4 a base has been laid out, but it needs further work.

I also suspect I'll be submitting various bug fixes along the way as I'm finding plenty of errors even in the working parts.

What is the preferred way to delivery patches?

If you can supply patches as unidiff attachments, that's a solution for now. We're contemplating moving to github, in which case you could simply submit pull requests. Do you have github experience? We prefer patches against trunk for new functionality and bug fixes - when applicable - which can then be backported to all relevant maintained branches. This ensures problems which have been fixed in 1.3 stay away when upgrading to 1.4 -- instead of (frustratingly) reappearing.

Hmmm... seems like I'll need to have a 1.4 to test out at least. I'll give it all some thought and try to figure a good way forward.

Welcome and thanks for taking the time to find, report and even fix the issues you find!

No worries. I've been meaning to contribute for years, just wish I had more time :/

Lyle