Sherwood Botsford wrote: > This is a log of my experience with knoda. I hope it will help see > what a new person to this software sees, and that people looking at > this can use this to improve both the software and the documentation.
As already mentioned, knoda is not actively maintained so it's not likely to change or improve much. It is based on python2.5 which is also old-ish. As a corollary however, it is unlikely to break either :) I think you will find it pretty powerful as you get used to it. > My background: I have used linux for about 15 years, and have spend > much of my working life as a computer geek. I have never been a > database administrator. I have a hobby tree farm and it is now > getting to the point where spreadsheets no longer work to keep track > of what I've got, and which trees were planted when, and just where > are the dogwoods, and how many Japanese fantail willow do I have? Knoda is a good choice. Essentially you'll be storing your data in SQL in postgresql/mysql; if Knoda becomes unusable in 10 years time then you won't lose your data. > I figure if I stumble over something, then it's probably worth a look. > > Turns out that knoda is not available as a binary package. Maybe not on your distro? On Debian (and I guess Ubuntu) I run: apt-get install knoda and it 'just works' > Form work is (so far) a bit confusing. The tutorial doesn't explain > the function of Id, of Identifier, of the (number) after the > datasource, AFAIK these are internal identifiers. They *may* be useable for low-level access - not sure :) > and that of Label for lineedit field. My assumption is > that forms are stored as hidden tables, They can be stored as tables centrally or in ~/.hk_classes/<driver>/<App>/<form>.hk_form See the 'Object Manager' to move from one to another. > that the Id is an identifier > of this element in the database, that the (number) in an index into a > list of tables in this database. Haven't figured out a plausible > explanation for Identifier yet, nor why the data field has a label > that can be separate from the textlabel. Maybe it was intended to one day... > My expectation: The first time a panel is referenced, there is either > a mention, or a link to an explanation of each item on that page. The > explanation should state *what* it is, *when* I (as a user) would need > to know about it, and a pointer to further examples. E.g. "Editlines > have a label, which for now you can ignore. This later will allow us > to automate the form makeing process, and remove the need for having a > separate TextLabel." Sadly open source is often about exploring - very few people contribute back in the form of documentation. It doesn't help that Knoda is stable and has no community wiki. This could be a starting place... http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Knoda > As a wish along those lines, right now to add a field for a form I have to: > 1. Select edit line. > 2. click about where I want it. > 3. adjust position. > 4. adjust size. > 5. pick a label (default to field name) > 6. select TextLabel > 7. clcik about where I want it. > 8. type it's name in the Label field. (Why does a text label have a tool > tip?) > > For a lot of things, it may be easier to have a "quick form" with is a > column of field names, and a column of editlines. This allows quick > prototyping of a form, allows the user to enter a bunch of typical > data, and find out all the places where the editlines are too small. >>From this form, then, it can be re-arranged for better use later. Yes, that would be nice. Unlikely to happen now though. > As I continue with my discoveries, I'll post to the list. You may want to write to a wiki and link... David -- "Don't worry, you'll be fine; I saw it work in a cartoon once..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Open Source Business Conference (OSBC), March 24-25, 2009, San Francisco, CA -OSBC tackles the biggest issue in open source: Open Sourcing the Enterprise -Strategies to boost innovation and cut costs with open source participation -Receive a $600 discount off the registration fee with the source code: SFAD http://p.sf.net/sfu/XcvMzF8H _______________________________________________ Hk-classes-discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hk-classes-discuss
