In order to enhance the modular character of Mapbender, I propose to
split the database table gui_element. The problem with the current table
layout is, that there is no table for "element", just gui_element (From
now on, whenever I speak of an "element" (as in "gui_element") I refer
to it as a "module").
So if you have to change a module, the changes do not propagate
throughout Mapbender. You have to edit the settings in every GUI
manually, it is harder to track module changes.
Currently it's not possible to set a version number on a module. So you
also do not know the compatibility status of a module. Some only work
with specific versions, for example "set_locale" will require Mapbender
2.5, it should not be possible to load it in an older Mapbender.
We need a centralised spot for keeping modules. Like an Eclipse update:
You open your admin GUI and get a message about new available modules.
Currently, you can only copy a GUI element from another GUI. Imagine,
Mapbender could load it from mapbender.org. We would have enormous
quality control over the modules in distributions.
Another problem is module IDs, the same module can have two IDs in two
separate GUIs. IDs should be unique at all the time. If a user created a
new module, we could do a remote check if there already is a module by
that name.
Users would also be kept from editing a stable module and by this
creating their own bastard modules that waste everybody's time.
For releasing, this approach would also make things easier. You could
keep the SQL for a module within the file system, and construct the SQL
data dump with a build process.
I would like to see this happen this year. Mapbender needs to change,
things are growing to be more and more complex, yet there is no
infrastructure. We need less overhead, I don't want to see Mapbender
dead as a dodo.
Maybe we can discuss this face-to-face at FOSSGIS, but certainly up
front here.
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