D2 4.1 - Developer doc/training

Got the D2FS API, White Papers and Samples and browsed through it.

The documentation seems quite useless. There are no examples (the ' plugin template' provided is not even complete, some files are missing etc...)

Has anybody some more documentation / training material ?

Are there companies out them offering trainings for developers ?

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jsilver

Sorry about the confusion. If you look at the back of the guide, you’ll see the disclaimer that states that the samples are provided “as is”, and include some dependencies on EMC internal resources. We felt it was important to provide a starting point as early as possible for using the API even if it requires some additional effort to get working.

I’ll try to get the samples on ECN as soon as possible, but can’t promise anything until after EMC World.

All comments

jsilver

There was a problem with the zip file containing the plugin template on subscribenet. We’ve just uploaded a new version.

We’re also in the process of compiling samples that will be posted on ECN in the near future. Please watch for these.

Buddy

Thank you Jerry but unfortunately, seems like nobody has been checking this out.

I reset the classpath and everything but it still won't compile because some Java code and methods are missing...

Any chance somebody in EMC will look into that or do we just have to wait for those samples. BTW, any ETA for those ?

jsilver

I’ll try to get the samples on ECN as soon as possible, but can’t promise anything until after EMC World.

Buddy

Yes, I saw that. I guess I misunderstoof it, for me it was more in terms of dependencies, missing JAR's etc. The missing code is really about this YourD2 plugin, hence my surprise to see it wasn't in

well, I guess I'll have toi wait then.

Thank you for the effort though

Francois Dauberlieu

I was under the same impression. I guess we were both wrong

Still, there is one side of the original question that is unanswered: Are there trainings out there for developers ?

Alvaro_de_Andres

AFAIK (and this includes what EMC people told me in several events) there is no developer training for D2, nor is planned to happen. EMC wants D2 to be a product that *only* supports configurations and not being "modified", so I wouldn't expect anything else than the existing plugin samples

Francois Dauberlieu

That sucks.

EMC can't or shouldn't expect customers to have 2 deployments, 1 D2 for configuration and 1 heavily customized Webtop tp reproduce the D2 config AND apply the specific customization.

For example, in our case, we have an integration of CAD softwares in Webtop and of course, get some requests from customers to port it to D2 so basically, what you're saying is that we're on our own. Not cool

Alvaro_de_Andres

EMC position on this is: If you need customization -> Webtop / xCP, if you don't (or it is "minimal") -> D2/D4

And I agree, if the customer sees D2 and "wants" it despite the need of customization, you're screwed

tejrajs

I was able to create sample plugin (to override checkout/cancel checkout service) which as of now just add some sysouts in D2 client log.

Regarding the compilation issues during plugin development you just need to include some jars from D2-Config and D2-Client applications.

Francois Dauberlieu

Yes, I've been able to do that too and yes I can include the missing Jars but it's not only missing jars missing. Also a few java class defining some of the examples dialogs and features... No matter to me, for now....

jsilver

These are all valid issues that are being raised, and I would ask for some patience while we sort them out. We've never claimed that configuration with D2 is the whole solution. Before D2, the norm for ECM clients was 80% custom code and 20% configuration. With D2 we raised the power of configuration to 80% of the effort, and now with D2 4.1 we're making the remaining 20% much easier. We actually released D2 4.1 ahead of schedule (when was the last time a software company did that?), and there are still a few areas that we will attempt to improve on, like training and documentation.

Buddy

Sorry ot have opened a can of worms Jerry

Francois Dauberlieu

Well, in all fairness, Jerry, the Config in D2 and cusotmization in Webtop/xCP was really the message sent by IIG in Momentum Berlin 2011 when the purchase of D2 was annouced (message that I also got during chats with high level IIG personel at the event, no people, I won't give names...).

That said, it doens't really matter to me now....what matters is that IIG is doing somthing about that

I appreciate the fact that you guys are working on those 20% but hey, you know developers.... we're never happy and it never goes fast enough and the doc is never complete enough (which is this case is quite true though)

jeremyprioux

Hi,

Jerry, could you confirm that even if it requires some effort, that's still possible for developers to create some extensions to D2 4.1 (plugins) ? There is no need to have additionnal (and unreleased) libraries ?

Thank you

Francois Dauberlieu

Salut Jeremy,

Jerry will confirm but I can give you my experience.

The answer is yes, you can download the developement stuff from subscribenet. It includes documentation and samples

The only extra libs you'll need will be if you want to use IZpack to create your installer just like the other D2 plugins

Now, that said, I have a couple of comments about all that

1. The doc is far from being good, especially the javadoc which is only usefull to list the methods but not to say how to use them

2. The plug-in template won;t compile because it's missing some java code and also the Maven dependencies (they are internal to EMC developpers) so you'll have to modify that

3. One of the big improvements compared to 4.0 is that now, D2FS is integrated within the D2 webapp. No need to go all over the place as it was before

My 2 cents

jsilver

Francois is right. The provided samples have some dependencies to resources that are not available outside of EMC, but you don't need those samples to create D2 extensions. They're just examples, admittedly in need of some improvement.

Julien.Fontaine

And François, did you try to develop external widget ?

Francois Dauberlieu

Nope, and I don't think we will. Basically, we're building an external client integrated in other software, a bit like the App Connectors in Webtop, using the D2 config facilities so it's about 95% .NET and D2FS, the last 5% will be plugins integrated inthe D2 client. So far, I don't think we'll need widgest (Keep my fingers crossed, we've got enough work like that)

Julien.Fontaine

Ok.... Good luck and go back at work

jeremyprioux

We developed a very simple external widget using a gadget server and that is working pretty well. But we didn't tried to use the communication channel (event channel) so I'm not sure about the possibilities or limitations yet !

One question : how the gadget server leverage our widget ? I totally understand that it is a simple way to use existing gadgets, but is there a point to use it for new specific requirements (can't we just use simple webapps) ?

Francois Dauberlieu

Sorry can't jelp on this one, as I said, I didn't build any widgets yet. I suggest yo ucreate a new thread about this because you might miss a lot of exposure on this one

Julien.Fontaine

Hello Jeremy,

I'm developing an external widget at the moment. My external widget is based on a simple jsp page with JQuery inside. I also use the Open Ajax Hub to enable bi-directional communication and it works pretty well !

jeremyprioux

So.. almost everything OK then ! (at least for the external widget part )

Francois Dauberlieu

And besides the 'weakness' of the doc

MaxB

Hi,

I'm very interested to test a 'simple' sample plugin (i.e to override the check-in/ check-out service).

Do You have a project You can share?

Thanks

Francois Dauberlieu

No I don't, all our developments are part of our software on top of D2 so as you can understand, we don;t give away the code