Decentralized source code and new features

[Marco]

Hello Guys,

Has Ning made available to tool or a documented process to ease the pain of implementing new Ning deatures onto a network that has decentralized source code?

[Mike Nicholson]

Hello Marco!

We have indeed started to document this process in more detail. We're writing up tutorials that cover many of the APIs and features offered by the Ning Platform. We have two up so far:

• Hello World Part 1 - A great primer for implementing your first feature on Ning
• Advanced Member Search - Building from what was written in Hello World this tutorial guides you through implementing a feature that searches the Content Store
• These two should get you started. That's it for now, but please stay tuned to the documentation wiki for more to be posted.
  Cheers!
  Mike

[Marco]

Hi Mike - thanks for responding. I just want to make sure you understood my post. I'm looking for documentation, or a process that will allow me to re-sink my network as Ning comes up with new Ning release. I'll take a look at the Avanced Member Search. I have done the hello world tutorial. It was of imense help in helping develop new features against the API.

Also, what is the status on Nings implementation of the new Open Social standard.

Thanks for your help. It's must appreciated.

Cheers to you too.

Marco :-)

[Mike Nicholson]

Hey Marco!

Thanks for the clarification. Merging will always be a tricky process. We're working on a merge tool now that should help a little bit, but the best way to make upgrades proceed smoothly is to use good development practices. For instance, if you keep your new features in their own widget directories (like in the tutorials) and do not modify any standard files, you won't actually have to merge anything when you upgrade. You can simply copy the new version over the top of the previous version of your social network.

We do, however, have on our tutorial to-do list instructions for using more sophisticated merging tools like Subversion to mange your social network's code.

Cheers!
Mike

[Marco]

Thanks for your reply Mike. So just to make sure I understand. What I've done is modified a standard *.php file in one of the template directorries, such as

filmixer/widgets/index/templates/

and I backed up the standard code as _bak.php within the same template directory just in case I need to revert for whatever reason.

I have not created new features per se. I basically did some minor modifications the the standard code, which I want to maintain going forward.

Are you suggesting that I create a new widget directory such as widget_mod, which contains the modified standard files and the same directory path as the standard widget directory? If so, then it sounds like I can simply copy the modified file back into the standard template directory after the merge.

Also, what if I keep the modified code in a file renamed as * _mod.php? At what level does the merge work? Will my modified file be wiped out, or will the merge process overlook this file?

I guess the gist of the question is, "At what level does the merge overwite files and directories?" Is it absolutley necessary to create a new widgets directory to maintain all my modified files in order to protect them from being overwitten?

Thanks a lot for your response.

Marco :-)

[Colleen Dick]

woot I did the hello world, and just going through the process was tremendously helpful. This is the entry point I was looking for. And yes I would like to know the process for staying synched now that I'm decentralized. Lets say I've been good and only added files but not modified any standard ning ones. Tomorrow a big upgrade comes out. where do I go to get it.