Thanks for all your valuable feedback. I really need to think this out before I go further
----- Original Message ----- From: "A. Razzak Memon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "RBG7-L Mailing List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, July 23, 2004 2:18 PM Subject: [RBG7-L] - Re: Developer Updates > > At 11:22 AM 7/23/2004 -0400, Joel Solomon wrote: > > >I have a question for the developers out there. First, a little history. > > > >I am developing an application for our schools nationwide. Although > >the base application is the same for all the schools, some of the > >schools require customization due to geographic locations or operational > >issues. > > > >Therefore, what is the best way to manage these changes? It would be > >quite a task to maintain a separate application for each school. What > >about general updates to everyone's application? What is the best way to > >approach these updates? > > > >Thanks in advance for any feedback > > > Joel, > > Here is MORE to add to the suggestions provided by fellow R:BASE > Users and Developers: > > Once you get your database organized, then the biggest challenge > will be providing higher quality and more reliable software > support and updates. > > To address these challenges and avoid expensive mailers and > delivery methods, think about a centralized WEB-based technology > to automate the entire process. > > The WEB-based technology of software updating consists of three > primary stages: > > 01. Generating the update package > 02. Managing the delivery of the update package > 03. Performing the update of update package > > Generating the Update Package: > The initial stage in the process involves generating the software > update package containing bug fixes or new features. In order to > make this software update package as small as possible, and > therefore suitable for delivery, the update package should > include only the changes between the version that already exists > and the updated version of the software. > > Managing the Delivery of the Update Package: > Once generated, the update package is published to a distribution > platform. This distribution platform manages the various versions > of the software update packages and handles the actual delivery > (download) of the software packages to the authorized and/or > registered users. > > Performing the Update of the Update Package: > > In this third stage of the process, the downloaded update package > is used to perform the actual update of the original software, > database, as well as the application. The update package and the > utility necessary to perform the software update occupy a small > amount of learning and a knowledge of available tools and R:WEB > Suite. This stage also validates that the correct software update > package has been received and that the update process has been > successfully completed. > > Imagine the challenge of providing RBG7.1 and R:WEB Suite Updates! > > At the upcoming Fall 2004 R:BASE Developers' Conference, we'll > unveil these in-house built tools as well as the applications > related to R:WEB Suite. http://www.rbase.com/conference > > Very Best R:egards, > > Razzak. >
