Mango Framework

Mango 0.01000_13 Released

2008-06-02T02:17:49Z

Making some progress. Added RSS/Atom tests and have local fixes for making XML::Feed validate until I work my way into that dist too. :-) I finally have some idea of how checkout is going to work, and have Class::Workflow integrated enough to automate GET/POST/Plugin mapping between pages, allowing the various steps to be tweaked without touching controller code.

0.01000_13 Sun June 1 21:29:24 2008
    - Added redirect_to_login/redirect_from_login
    - Added start of Checkout including plugin loading from core, catalyst and
       then MyApp
    - Added Catalyst Initialize plugin, Checkout and Checkout::Stash classes
    - Now requires Handel 1.00011 for stash->clear fix
    - Start migration from CGI::FormBuilder to HTML::FormFu
    - Added W3C HTML/Atom/RSS validation checks to all live cat tests
    - Started checkout workflow using Class::Workflow

Mango 0.01000_12 Released

2008-05-13T20:25:55Z

I'm still plugging away. Mostly fixes for feeds and whole lot of live catalyst tests using Test::Class. I really really need to get checkout rolling. I just made it through a Google Checkout integration elsewhere and it would be nice to add that while it's still fresh in my head.

0.01000_12 Mon May 12 21:18:25 2008
    - Fixed various controllers to use Chained instead of index : Private
    - Converted Live Catalyst tests to Test::Class and added tests for path config option and subclass renames
    - Added RSS tests to live tests
    - Added Admin tests

0.01000_11 Sun Apr 13 20:39:27 2008
    - Added just enough pod to get spelling/coverage happy. Needs serious cleanup.
    - Added critic tests and set perltidy standard for dist
    - Refactor View::Feed. Needs more tests.

Mango 0.01000_10 Released

2008-01-19T03:29:48Z

You know the routine. Release [crap] early. Release [crap] often. It's going to be a while till the next update.The Catalyst checkout controller code is going to eat my brain for most of the weekend. After that, it's onward to refactoring, cleaning up templates and adding a buttload of fluff columns to the schema.

0.01000_10 Fri Jan 18 22:27:19 2008
    - Added Atom/RSS Feeds to Wishlists
    - Added Atom/RSS Feeds to Products(tags)
    - Added Feed() action attribute and enable_(feeds|atom|rss)_feed
    - Fixed REST->entity() to use new config
    - Stop importing blessed in Feed View

Mango 0.01000_09 Released

2008-01-16T03:57:31Z

Finishing Mango a little bit at a time. Browse/view products via tags now that I got them working.

0.01000_09 Tue Jan 15 22:51:56 2008
    - Added related_tags to Products Provider
    - Products controller now works for tag browsing, view, with tests

Mango 0.01000_08 Released

2008-01-13T03:26:58Z

Another weekend, another update. More pages. More tests. Uglier templates. :-/

0.01000_08 Sat Jan 12 22:20:37 2008
    - Added wishlist restore plus tests
    - Added Users/Wishlists public views with tests
    - Renamed resource names
    - mango.pl adds profile to go with 'admin' user
    - Split Cart into Cart/Items just like Wishlists/Items
    - Added sign up page and tests

Mango 0.01000_07 Released

2008-01-09T18:14:06Z

It's ugly. It's incomplete. It sucks. But a release is a release and progess is progress. My only goal for a while is to keep myself from bogging down in details and thoughts of refactoring and just get things functional. A store in a box has a buttload of pieces to it (user pages, public pages, admin pages, core, etc) and Mango isn't even a one-solution-fits-all-does-everything type of app. But I digress. It seems that going back to writing live (Test::WWW::Mech) tests seems to better spur productivity, tests I will most definitely need later when refactoring.

0.01000_07 Mon Jan 7 19:07:23 2008
    - Added Catalyst::View::TT/Session/Cookie/Store to PREREQ
    - Fixed problem in tests with latest Error.pm
    - Updated XML::Atom PREREQ and test
    - Mango->share now uses module_dir and falls back to ../../share when using
        local INC files
    - Added mango.pl to create app/config/data/components/database
    - Moved users specific controller/form/templates into Users/users namespace
    - Fixed urls to deal with not ending in /
    - Updating an Attribute wasn't setting update()
    - Converted admin to RESTish access
    - Controllers now inherit from M::Catalyst:Controller (which does REST/Form
    - Merge plugins into Plugin::Application
    - Added Auth helpers is_admin/unauthorized
    - Added REST helpers want_html/browser/yaml/feed, etc
    - Form I18N is now FIELD_LABEL_$FIELD instead of LABEL_$FIELD
    - Form I18N is now BUTTON_LABEL_$FIELD instead of LABEL_$FIELD
    - Form I18N is now CONSTRAINT_$CONSTRAINT instead of $FIELD_$CONTSTRAINT
    - Wishlist admin works mostly, with tests

New Year. New Progress.

2008-01-02T16:39:20Z

Time to get rolling again. I started writing 'live' (Test::WWW::Mechanize::Catalyst) tests for force myself to focus on the web side of things and get my nose out of the base class details. I was bogging myself down with all of the things to remember and the possibilities of re factoring. Spent some time patching Catalyst::Action::REST to deal with some issues that were biting me in the ass. My goal this week is to get an _07 out the door by the end of the weekend that at least has a working quickstart, cart, wishlists and the admin stuff tested. Still way behind. :-(

Mango 0.01000_06 Released

2007-09-10T00:15:44Z

Back on the wagon again.

Fixed Template->share when Mango has never been installed
Stripped action from yml forms, now get path_prefix on the fly
Base Controllers have form_directory set to cope with subclass rename
Cart Controller works with add/update/clear/save/delete
Added Forms plugin companion to Forms controller
Cart forms is not build from sub-forms

Form->render now localizes field labels/submit
Views now fall back to auto/Mango/templates
Added Form/FormFile attributes to Form controller

In general, I think I finally have things the way I want them in terms of forms, base controllers and the various plugins and custom authentication. Next step is wishlist view/restore support and merging the various plugins into on [thing to load] Mango::Catalyst::Plugin::Application.

Top Ten Mistakes of Shopping Cart Design Revisited

2007-08-10T20:34:09Z

While surfing around, I stumbled across this article: Top Ten Mistakes of Shopping Cart Design Revisited.

Summary: A list of common mistakes with e-commerce shopping cart design were identified in a previous issue of Usability News. This article revisits that list and reviews how 500 of the top Internet retail sites of today implemented their shopping cart design.

Some good stuff in there. I'll have to give it some more time later.

Catalyst Integration: Day 99

2007-08-03T01:55:04Z

Day 99? Yeah, I'm a damn slacker. What can I say. But, I'm back to making progress again it seems. I've been spending most of the time lately on the admin controllers and such, which means I had to get the generic stuff somewhat solid. That mostly consisted of:

Base Controller for Mango::Form loading/mapping/validating
Models wrapping Providers
Plugin for I18N merging Mango+MyApp Lexicons
Plugin for Authorization+user carts/profiles using new Auth API
Views for XHTML/HTML/Text/Atom/RSS
File::ShareDir directory with base forms/templates
Template views use share first, then fallback to MyApp local templates

Now that most of the busy work is done, I'm back to converting what I'd hacked together for Handel back into Mango. It looks ugly as hell, but the admin user/roles/profiles/products/attribute CRUD works and the cart load/update works using the custom auth user objects. I'll probably finish fixing the cart tomorrow and move on to the wishlists.

Mango 0.01000_04 Released

2007-05-28T14:20:09Z

I figured now was a good time to commit everything and release something before I head to Canad for the week. I present Mango 0.01000_04 with fresh new Catalyst base controllers, models, views,plugins and tests even! :-)

Added Mango::Form/Results for form file config parsing/validation
Added base Catalyst Models/Views/Controllers/Plugins
Added tests/pod for new Catalyst base modules

Catalyst Integration: Day 26

2007-05-21T00:37:06Z

Yeah, day 26. Long time no post, but at least I have been working on Mango. At some point, I had enough untested, undocumented Catalyst code floating around Mango that it was time get that under control. With a little help from Chuck Norris Controller Testing and some ideas from Angerwhale, I managed to throw together some test context classes and whip up some model/view/plugin tests. Now that those are done, time to move on to the base controller code. After that, the last big piece left will be the 'mango MyApp' Module::Starter parts, and of course some "live" catalyst Mech tests. I may be slow. I maybe be late. But when it's finished, it will certainly be very well tested.

Catalyst Integration: Day 4

2007-04-28T23:20:44Z

After a lot of cursing, tinkering, fixing, breaking, fixing, breaking and fixing, I've finally got most of the Auth/User bits converted to the new Catalyst Authentication API. when it's working, it means that people can reference common user elements for both authenticated and anonymous users in the same way:

## current users cart pre/post authenticate()
$c->user->cart;

## 'anonymous' before authenticate()
$c->user->username;

## 'Anonymous' before authenticate()
$c->user->profile->first_name;

## 'claco' after authenticate()
$c->authenticate(...);
$c->user->username;

## 'Christopher' after authenticate()
$c->user->profile->first_name;

In addition to a common way to reference user information, the Mango store also takes care of caching that user information, including roles, in session after authentication so we're no hitting the database every time we check roles, display profile information, etc.

The one thing I seem to be constantly fighting is that either Catalyst, or Authentication bits just eat errors in certain situations. Things like misnamed classes, classes not loading due to syntax errors, errors down in DBI just go into the ether. I'd say it's some SIG{DIE}/Error/Exception stuff somewhere just being too greedy. I don't think I'm alone either.

Catalyst Integration: Day 1

2007-04-26T02:46:14Z

Now that the core api is "done", time to start working on the Catalyst bits. I've re added what I started with to trunk and I've started converting it to a name namespace and to the as yet released updated Catalyst::Plugin::Authorization. Hopefully I can get everything back to a working state with pod by the end of the weekend.

Mango 0.01000_03 Released

2007-04-22T23:11:15Z

Another release escapes from the side hatch.

Updated/reviewed all pod
Changed throwing exceptions away from indirect syntax
Added Mango::Object::Meta to store non-column information
Added Object->meta_class
Reworked tests/providers/objects to put data first, and other in meta
Added Object->get_columns

This should be the last of the core API futzing for now. Time to start re adding Catalyst base classes.