Hi Christoph, it is a joy to read your email!!!
> At work I have to cope with requirements and their specification, too. > We also use DOORS [1] which - in my opinion - is no masterpiece in user > interaction (okay, sometimes its not far from being horrible). But is > has some advantages in consistency and traceability which are - at the > moment - not available in other application. I like the idea of DOORS, but the implementation could have been much better if one would use the concepts that are available now. > [Snip] >> MOTIVATION >> I'm working in an environment, where I have to handle lots of >> specification documents, test code real source code, ... . >> My specifications tend to be extensive, complicated and hard to comprehend. > Okay, just for software development. Or usable for other systems? I think of a tool that appeals to all people who work with documents. I highlighted the software development part because of my audience. With OO::EasyTracker a lawyer could add meta data to laws, comments and cases of the field he is working in. A student of medcine could collect all his data for his phd in OO::EasyTracker and the end result would not be code but the phd. It also would be very usefull for people who write technical documentations. With OO::EasyTracker they could keep track of the changes in the software. The main idea is, that it is _not_ a data base, but a normal word processor. Most people know how to work with a word processor. If you want to work with DOORS you need to be a programmer. At least you know the concept of types and variables. > And by the way: If specifications are complicated and hard to comprehend > there is no tool to change that. ;-) Yes, there is. Is is called pump gun, but in our civiliced word, its use is prohibitted. > [Snip] > I was a bit lost in your proposal and - maybe - completely missed the > thread. Therefore I will try to summarize you idea just to make sure I > did understand it correctly. Please correct me if I'm wrong: No false modesty: You got it absolutely right. > The members of software development projects work with > requirements for the application to develop. Those requirements > are collected in specification documents. Those specifications > can be managed by OO:Easytracker. Yes > Specifications documents may contain any object (from text to > complex graphics). Instead of editing the whole document, those > specification documents are divided in sections. Each section > can be accessed (read only, edit) by any team member which has > sufficient rights. Those rights are centrally managed by a > server application which also holds the (final) master document. There are no set sections as in DOORS. The user can block as many characters he want. The partitioning of the document will be done by the user who want to edit something. > Editing the documents does not mean to edit conventional files. > The data transfer is done exclusively via network. If changes > are applied to a document section, the server application cares > for consistency and traceability (version history). If > necessary, the server informs other users about changes. Yes > Besides editing the specifications, the users can add meta data > which helps to identify sections or objects relevant to him/her. > To identify differences between document versions, the system > provides several ways (graphics, tables) to present those > changes. Yes > To ease the access for the software developers, the access to > the system is completely integrated into Eclipse. Eclipse is the > development environment the software developers use anyway. > So I have some questions: > q1) Previously you talked about mind mapping techniques. Are mind maps > part of the OOo document which can be edited? Maybee my mentioning the mind map issue was a bit missleading. I'm thinking of a graph that shows how all meta data is connected and I called it mind map. > q2) Previously you talked about software and test code. How to edit this > data and keep track of the changes. Will you use the standard > functionality of Eclipse and connected tools (CVS, SVN, ...)? The user can use any revision controll system he likes. He has to look after this him self. > q3) Is the data changed instantly on the server or why do we need a > direct network connection to the server application? Even in the > industrial environment, many people work off-line and therefore need a > local copies. I was only allowed a 1/2 page for the proposal. Every client has its own local copy. If the net gets down the user can edit the secions he has previously blocked and can read all documents, but he can not block new sections. This allows for people taking their laptop home and working offline. > q4) Why are no separate tools used to work with the specifications. > Normally you would use a content management system like MS SharePoint, > EMC documentum or something like that. Besides the integration into > Eclipse (which only makes sense if you work with software code) - what > is key advantage? I don't know ME SharePoint or EMC. I will look them up. I think I need Eclipse to be able to define projects. Using OpenOffice has the big advantage of the open document format. So everybody can write new services to analize his own documents. He would write a plugin to Eclipse which is very fast and easy. > q5) How does the resulting source code relates to the given > specification? Are special fields used to e.g. keep consistency between > specification and source code? I want to do that with comments until somebody commes up with a better idea, // Begin ID#12345 // End ID#12345 > q6) What kind of working model or development process (e.g. review, > quality, test cases, sub-projects) is implemented into the system? In DOORS we do that with attributes, so I want to use the tags for this task. You can use tags for everything. As they are plain text you deccide what that text will mean. Tags can overlap 100 of times. Using clusters you can filter for the tags you are working with. > q7) What core functionality of OOo will be used? Or will you provide all > functions which are available in the stand alone version? It will be the full version. > q8) What license will you use? Your website [2] informs that companies > have to buy this software. I've spoken with companies and they saied they will not use tools that are for free. I thought of coppying the strategy of Sun offering OpenOffice/StarOffice. I would like to do training, help with instalation and implement some addons for a individual customer. > Although I would prefer a conventional content management system (at the > moment), I must say that I like your idea. I think that kind of editing > would not only help to commonly work on OOo specifications. I'm looking > forward to read your answers and to better understand your motives. > Have a nice day! > Christoph > PS: You used a "reply-to" email-address in your posting. This prevents > the answers being automatically posted on OOo [discuss]. I think you did the same. I don't know how toh change that because I don't want all of my mails to have the reply adress [discuss]. How do people usually handle this problem? > [1] Telelogic DOORS is an application to manage requirements > specifications in a team. For those who wish more information on this > commercial application visit > http://www.telelogic.com/products/doors/doors/index.cfm > [2] http://ooeasytracker.de/ -- Mit freundlichen Grüßen Schuster Gerhard --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
