Nooku FM Integration

Nooku is a team of experienced software architects, lead by Johan Janssens, Lead Architect of Joomla 1.5.

The Nooku story germinated from a seed of an idea created during a conversation between Joomla 1.5 Lead Architect Johan Janssens, and some high profile Joomla users. It was 2007, and Joomla 1.5 was a great step up from the previous versions. But for the United Nations, the Belgian Police, and a number of companies, Joomla was missing enterprise-level multilingual features.

The ideas for the development model grew from there. The combined efforts of our partners allowed us to build innovative Open Source technology: First Nooku Content, for multilingual management, and later Nooku Framework, a new brain for Joomla, and the logical next step after the Joomla 1.5 framework. more at nooku.org


Joomla on the other hand just released its J!1.7 version last July 19, 2011. In addition, Joomla will have a Six-Month Release Cycle which is...

"A shorter development cycle that will enhance Joomla’s stability by providing more core feature development and adoption. Short-term releases will be in active development for six months, then reach the end-of-life one month after the next version’s release. Long-term support will be active for 15 months, starting with Joomla version 1.8. Version 1.7 will have a support cycle of seven months."

The community of Joomla now speaks up about integrating Nooku to Joomla. It has climb to the 20th spot in the community garnering 351votes as of the moment.

If you'd like Nooku be integrated to Joomla you can cast your vote at Joomla Idea Poll Forum

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Open Source CMS No Stranger on IBM i

There are a lot of options available to IBM i shops looking for a software package that allows them to run a website on their favorite box. But one class of tools that seems to be gaining lots of traction these days is the group of open source, PHP-based content management systems (CMS). The big three in this category include Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress, and you might be surprised to learn about some of the prominent IBM i industry websites that are using these systems.

The rise of the open source CMS on the IBM i server is directly tied to the increasing prominence of PHP as a Web application programming language, and the hard work that Zend Technology and IBM have done to make PHP a fully vetted and integrated environment on the platform.

The work of these partners opened the door to running all sorts of packaged enterprise applications, such as SugarCRM. We hear a lot about SugarCRM, since it's a profit-making software company with a big marketing budget and a modern management style. The popular PHP-based CRM system was even made into an official IBM i Solution Edition, putting it on a podium alongside the world's largest ERP vendors.

But there's a lot of IBM i-PHP activity occurring below the marketing radar, where a fast and free download of an open source product trumps official IBM ordering forms. This is where you discover that today's IBM i pros are increasingly willing to experiment with the open source model, which eschews paid hand-holding in favor of volunteerism and sharing what worked.

And although there are no IBM i Solution Editions for Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress, IBM i pros at some point realized there's nothing stopping them from running these popular LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP)-based applications on their IBM i servers. All that's required is Zend's PHP environment and the MySQL database, which can be obtained at very low costs.

These CMS systems provide the basic underpinnings required to publish and manage a website. WordPress is generally regarded as the easiest (but most limited) of the three to use, while Drupal seems to get credit for advanced functionality (as well as the associated complexity). Joomla seems falls somewhere in the middle.

Focus on Joomla

Two members of the Joomla community--Ryan Ozimek, president of Open Source Matters, a not-for-profit organization created to help the Joomla project, and Mark Dexter, a member of the Joomla Production Leadership Team, recently briefed IT Jungle on the state of open source CMS, and the recent enhancements to Joomla.

The Joomla project is focused on providing a relatively small set of core functionality that's handled by the CMS, such as managing users, files, menus, language encoding, search functions, archiving, and (most importantly) page appearance. The core CMS comes out of the box with the capacity to run polls, enable voting, handle links, use RSS newsfeeds, share postings with friends via email, and manage banners (ads or otherwise).

Advanced functionality--such as a payment system for an ecommerce website--is handled by add-ons written by third parties. "Most real-life sites will need more stuff, such as events, calendars, forums, or ecommerce functionality. That's where the extensions community comes in," Dexter says.
More than 8,000 Joomla extensions are currently available, and nearly one-quarter of them work with Joomla version 1.6, a major revision released six months ago. Extensions can be found at the Joomla extensions directory, while Joomla services offered by for-profit companies can be found elsewhere.

Joomla is becoming quite popular at the moment. While WordPress has a much bigger footprint (owning to its focus on blogging), Joomla accounts for nearly 3 percent of the world's websites, according to Ozimek. "We've got a new release cycle, and we're seeing a lot of good energy moving forward with Joomla, and we're really excited to see where we're going," he says. In July, Joomla announced version 1.7, which separates the Joomla CMS from the Joomla Platform application framework, and also institutes a new six-month release cycle.

Open source CMS is not just for hobbyists anymore, as many of the world's biggest companies run open source CMS. Joomla counts International House of Pancakes and a major Citibank website as Joomla-run websites. In the IBM i world, COMMON's website at www.common.org and the Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professional Association's website at www.wmcpa.org are hosted on Joomla running on IBM i backends. The Young i Professional's website at www.youngiprofessionals.com is done with Joomla. You'll also find instructions
for loading Joomla onto IBM i on the YiPS site.
"We're targeting ease of use on the one hand, but delivering scalable and powerful functionality on the other hand," Dexter says. "We don't think we have to do one or the other. Joomla sites are running websites for everything from small churches and mom and pop stores up to companies like McDonalds and eBay. It's a full spectrum of users."

Integration with MySQL is a blessing and a curse for Joomla. On the one hand, the capability to integrate DB2/400 data with Joomla's data housed in MySQL via the DB2 Storage Engine from IBM can be used for all sorts of good stuff--such as serving as a backup. One the other hand, support issues loom. Oracle's decision to end support for MySQL on IBM i late last year has put the kibosh on some IBM i professionals' plans to give Joomla on IBM i a shot.

But the open source CMS kimono has been opened, and the software is getting more sophisticated every day. In the end, IBM i shops will likely find a pre-built package that suits them.


source: ITJungle

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Virtuemart and Nooku Collaboration?

heyhooo nooku folks,

after the RC2 of vm2 I finally found the time to write here. I had some questions, but before I was on that list I got the answer directly via skype by dave (thanks for this). So who I am and what I want here?


I am Max Milbers, leader of the virtuemart project. I dont like to repeat my self as you, so using DRY in communication

http://www.joomlasverige.se/joomla/english-section/74-quick-questions-max-milbers

The introduction of myself is at begin and not too long I think.

Hm what are my interest in nooku? I must admit I didnt had the time yet to follow the conversations, but I wanna start with it. I am quite sure about that big people try to destroy joomla and it seems that nooku is what we (maybe we all) thought years ago, what joomla would be now.

After Kerkrade we started to use nooku conventions for the database. We use now in virtuemart abstract controllers, models and tables. We worked really hard the last 2 months to convert vm2 again more OOP, so that we can switch easier to nooku.

My goal and imho and afaik the rest of the vm team is with me is that VM2.2 should be written in nooku to be future proof.

I am really glad since kerkrade as I saw Johanns presentation and as I had good talks with David that you started/joined this great work. Atm we are not able to contribute something, because VM2 itself is a huge project. But I am quite sure we will do, when we actually start to port vm2 to nooku.

Greetings
Max Milbers

PS: You may have a bit fun and look into the version.php of the vm2
Rc2 (only when you already playing with it).

 

 

more on this at Google Groups

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Joomla 1.7 JED icon is ready for Joomla Developers

JED icon for Joomla 1.7 is ready for those Joomla Developer who wants to show their extensions ready for Joomla 1.7

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Virtuemart 2 RC 2 ready for download

A bit later then announced, we release today VirtueMart 2 RC2 (1.9.8). As easy to see on the statistics of http://www.ohloh.net/p/virtuemart, we reduced the codebase again. We redesigned all tables and use now the nooku conventions. We added more b2b capabilities. The RC2 should now also be hardened against SQL-Injection, XSS and code injection. VM2 is working with j1.6, but not designed for it, that means we do not activly use the new ACL features and simular.

Very interesting for veterans, which use virtuemart 1.1 is the migrator. It already imports the most important stuff. At some points it does not make sense to import old setting, because it would lead to a very bad configurated VirtueMart 2 shop and not using the new advantages and features. But it should be possible for small shops to migrate to vm2 within some hours.

The new release also contains already an update function done by akeeba release system, dont wonder that it shows you running virtuemart 1.9.8, the final should just get the number 2.0.0.

The new features as list:

• For faster and more secure programming we use now more abstract classes.
• Completly redesigned table layout.
• Added hooks for plugins (own views, own customer number system, and so on,...), look in the wiki for more information http://dev.virtuemart.net/projects/virtuemart/wiki/Plugin_system
• Added registering while checkout
• New backend design
• Hardened against hackers
• New js (jQuery to avoid Mootools incompatibility problems)
• Customfields for the computer/pizza configurator
• Real multicurrency, real currency format defined by currency
• Prices displaying configurable by shoppergroups (also rounding)
• Various sorting and searching options
• Update system using Akeeba Release System
  (ARS, more information akeebabackup.com/software/akeeba-release-system.html)

more at Virtue Mart

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Widgetkit is getting bigger

Widgetkit has been around for 6 weeks now and during this time a lot has happened. First we like to thank everyone who tried the Widgetkit betas and has send us feedback. We really appreciate it! Until today we have released 5 betas including bugfixes, optimizations and new widgets. Here are some notable features we've added so far: translations, RTL support, editor support for Joomla's TinyMCE and JCE, caption support for slideshows and HTML5 video playback in the lightbox. With the upcoming release of Joomla 1.7 on 19. July 2011, we've also updated Widgetkit to support the latest 1.7 version as well. This makes Widgetkit work perfectly on Joomla 1.5, 1.6 and 1.7 and the latest Wordpress 3.2. Here is an overview of all the new widgets we've added since the first beta release:

Gallery
The gallery widget provides a great way to create an image gallery with multiple images on your website. With the built in directory browser you can easily add or remove image source directories and create your individual gallery in no time. To change the gallery's overall appearance we've added two new styles with BETA5, wall and slider, to current slideshow style. The wall style allows you to create image and polaroid walls with a lightbox and spotlight effect. The slider style puts the images next to each other and shows them fullsize on mouse hover with a sliding effect. Just pick your favorite style and everything else is done automatically in the background for you like image resizing and caching. It has never been that easy to create an awesome looking gallery!

Map
The map widget let's you create maps with multiple locations and markers. Powered by the latest Google Maps API you can change various settings to create a map which perfectly fits into your website. The new style settings allow you to change overall map colors and adopt your site colors to the map. We promise that you'll love this one!

Accordion
The accordion widget creates a group of items using a smooth sliding effect when selecting an item to display its content. We added a simple and clean style to make the accordion easily match to a broad range of websites.

Media Player
We unveiled the media player already in BETA4 which let's you playback video and audio files directly in your website content. Embedding videos is simply done through HTML5 <video /> element which is also widely supported on mobile devices like iPhones, iPads or Android phones and tablets. You also don't need to worry about older browsers, because it has a flash fallback for all who don't support these HTML5 elements. You can even play your .mp3 files by using the new <audio /> element. Great, is'nt it? more at YooTheme

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Joomla 1.7 RC1 Released

The Joomla Project is pleased to announce the availability of Joomla 1.7 RC1 for download. This is the first release made within the new six-month release cycle that started with the delivery of Joomla 1.6 in January 2011.

What is this release for?
There are several goals for this release:

• To allow advance testing of sites and custom extensions so that site administrators and developers can report any problems before the final release.

• To raise awareness that the end of the current development cycle is fast approaching.

• To allow testing of the upgrade from version 1.6.5 to 1.7.0.

Click here to download.

What is this release NOT for?
This beta version of Joomla 1.7 is not suitable for production sites. It should be used for testing only.

When is the final release due?
Joomla 1.7 GA (general availability) is due to be released on 19 July 2011. The planned milestone after this date are:

• 10 August - Joomla 1.6 reaches end of life and is no longer supported

• January 2012 - Next version of Joomla is released

• April 2012 - Joomla 1.5 reaches end of life

• Please note that dates may be subject to change depending on availability of volunteers and circumstances beyond our control.

How do I upgrade to Joomla 1.7?
Upgrading from Joomla 1.6.4 to Joomla 1.7 will be easy. Joomla! Start to Finish: How to Plan, Execute, and Maintain Your Web Site (Wrox Programmer to Programmer) You can test the upgrade from 1.6.5 to 1.7.0 RC1 with the following simple steps:

1. Create a test version of 1.6.5. (Do not use a production 1.6 version!)
2. Navigate to the Extension Manager -> Install tab.
3. In the Install from URL, enter the URL for the RC1 test update package: http://joomlacode.org/gf/download/frsrelease/15233/66395/Joomla_1.6.5_to_1.7.0_RC1_Update.zip.
4. Press the Install button.
5. The system will work for a minute and then (we hope) display a success message. That's all there is to it! If you have any problems, please post in the forum on on the issue tracker.

If you are using Joomla 1.5 then you will still be required to migrate your site using the jUpgrade component. more at Joomla

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Joomla! 1.7 - Division or Fission?

On July 19th, Joomla 1.7 will be released and this version is something special because of various reasons. Before I go into details, I want to mention a few user groups.

JOOMLA! USER GROUPS
There are so many people in the world using Joomla! for their own purpose. Joomla! now powers 2.8% of all existing websites in the world. I’ll just mention a few of them here.

Newbies
If you need a website and you are new to Joomla!, you can download Mastering Joomla! 1.5 Extension and Framework Development and install it and you can build your website in a very easy way. Even when you are only using the core package, and even if you are just a beginner in this field. If you need help getting started, here is a link: http://cocoate.com/j17 Have fun! more at Joomla


WHAT’S NEW IN JOOMLA! 1.7
For people who look at the user interface or to any ‘visible’ features I have a short answer. In the user interface of the alpha version I examined, only one single Joomla! 1.5 Development Cookbook checkbox is added in the mass mail component. It is now possible to include or exclude blocked users in a mass mail. This is a nice feature but it will not ‘blow your mind’. more at Joomla

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Joomla! 1.7 Highlight - Batch Processing

Elin Waring recently blogged on the Joomla! Community Portal about some of the features coming with Joomla! 1.7, appropriately titled Peeking at 1.7. Aside from the separation of the framework and CMS, I think (and I may be a bit biased) one of the better changes is the ability to batch process items being added to the framework. A popular feature excluded from Joomla! 1.6, its return for 1.7 marks benefit for users and developers alike.

BACK STORY
Getting batch processing into the core for 1.6 and 1.7 hasn't been an easy task. At the first beta release of 1.6, only the Menu Manager had it in the items view. After one tracker item, the methods were carried over to the Category Manager. The place that it was most asked for, the Joomla! Templates Video-Training Article Manager, just couldn't get the same treatment in a timely manner and it was decided that this feature wasn't important enough to block the release of 1.6. Fast forward a few months, and Dennis Hermatski submitted a patch to batch process articles. It was tested and implemented into the development head, which was moving away from the 1.6 series and beginning to take shape for the forthcoming 1.7 release. Upon seeing this commit, I remembered the lack of batch processing being available for the core and began testing Dennis' code on other core components. I realized that Dennis had not only coded a solution for the Article Manager, but the code was easily reusable throughout the CMS.

INTO THE FRAMEWORK
I quickly requested an SVN branch to begin incorporating this feature into the framework to make it Joomla! 1.5 Essential Training available for the core components and all third party developers. The first task was to move the code out of ContentControllerArticle and ContentModelArticle into the methods that they had overridden, JControllerForm and JModelAdmin (respectively). The model functions were a simple move which required only changing hard coded com_content references into an $extension variable that would act based on which component was using the code at the time. The controller method took a little bit of outside thinking because each controller sets a redirect for after the process is complete. Instead of each controller duplicating all the batch function code, I decided instead to move the common code into JControllerForm with each controller presetting the actionable model and the redirect before feeding into the parent function.

Once all the code was moved, I began reviewing the existing code for com_categories and com_menus to determine how much of this extended code could be deleted. I found several lines that were deletable, including making the controller methods follow my boilerplate code. As a further demonstration of the implementation, batch processing was added to com_weblinks as well. more at Joomla

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