[sakai2-tcc] Review 2.8.0 property documentation

[Matthew Jones]

Yea, the problem as John said was knowing what the properties are and
especially what they represent, which is still mostly a manual process.

There was the idea back last year or so to move all of the config viewer
data out into either xml or properties files in each individual projects
webapp/tools directory, so when the tools are registered the properties file
are read. This seems easier than requiring some type of code or annotation
for each property all over the code base since config-viewer already has
some 1000 items separated as property file elements.

I agree that it is very similar to the message bundle database fix. Ideally
like that, some properties would be read from disk and others from the
database (including values). This pre-population could also be done via sql
scripts to insert property configuration data into a database table, then
developers would *only* have to provide to update their properties. It's
just a few columns columns of metadata plus a description. But it would also
be nice to provide for internationalization on the descriptions (which it
doesn't right now), so that starts to make it complex and really time
consuming.

I think developers are more likely to edit a text file than a conversion
script though. I was never allocated any time to work on this project
specifically so we kept doing it the wiki way. Thanks for collecting up the
2.8 properties though Megan. Maybe for 2.9!

On Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 2:17 AM, John Bush <john.bush at rsmart.com> wrote:

> That is not a simple problem, we've tried a few ways to attempt this
> in the past internally via scripts that scrub the codebase.  Those
> approaches failed.  A think a runtime method would have more success.
> The issue is sakai properties are handled a few different ways, some
> via the ServerConfigurationService, and others via Spring injection.
> The ServerConfigurationService one's could be introspected fairly
> easily, once they are accessed.  The Spring ones potentially could be
> introspected at runtime via looking for setters, but I imagine this
> list would become very long.
>
> Its quite similar to the problem I had to deal with in respect to
> message bundle data, until the data is actually accessed at runtime,
> its not a simple problem.  Because there isn't any type of universal
> registration that makes it straightforward.
>
> Its not so much of a problem with the config viewer, but more a
> fallout from how configuration is handled in sakai in general.
>
> On Tue, Apr 19, 2011 at 11:03 PM, Nate Angell <nangell at rsmart.com> wrote:
> > Matthew:
> >
> > Your post reminded me of a question I had. From what you say here and
> > my understanding, it appears like properties must be hardcoded in the
> > config viewer in order to appear in it at all, which seems like a very
> > brittle and error-prone arrangement, as the tool doesn't really
> > indicate that one will be able to view only such specific properties.
> >
> > Forgive my ignorance on the history of this tool and/or its technical
> > design, but what are the barriers to having it actually register ALL
> > properties set on a local instance, whether it knows about them in
> > advance or not?
> >
> > --
> > Nate Angell
> > Sakai Product Manager
> > rSmart
> > http://www.rsmart.com
> > http://twitter.com/xolotl
> > http://xolotl.org
> >
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Apr 18, 2011 at 8:32 AM, Matthew Jones <jonespm at umich.edu>
> wrote:
> >> Added one more that I knew of. It would be nice to get these updated in
> >> config viewer. I never even added the 2.7 properties yet. :/
> >> https://jira.sakaiproject.org/browse/CNFV-17
> >> https://jira.sakaiproject.org/browse/CNFV-20
> >> On Sun, Apr 17, 2011 at 9:22 PM, May, Megan Marie <mmmay at indiana.edu>
> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Hi All,
> >>>
> >>>    I have been pulling together property changes/addition documentation
> at
> >>>
> https://confluence.sakaiproject.org/display/DOC/Sakai+CLE+2.8+new+properties+and+permissions
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> It would be wonderful if you could take  a moment to review it for
> >>> accuracy and completeness. Please  feel free to make changes to it
> directly
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Thanks,
> >>>
> >>> Megan
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Megan May
> >>>
> >>> Interim Manager, Oncourse
> >>>
> >>> UITS Enterprise Academic Software Division
> >>>
> >>> Indiana University
> >>>
> >>> Office:  317-274-4528
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
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> >>> sakai2-tcc at collab.sakaiproject.org
> >>> http://collab.sakaiproject.org/mailman/listinfo/sakai2-tcc
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >>
> >>
> > _______________________________________________
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>
>
>
> --
> John Bush
> 602-490-0470
>
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