This file documents the contents of this module
-See devel/ for more devel-oriented doc.
+Last update 4 sept. 2013
-==================== 1st level subdirs
-* myslice:
- this is the sjango project', where to look for
- . settings
- . urls
- . common static files
+See the devel/ subdir for more devel-oriented doc.
-* insert_above:
- a third-party django app for adding on-the-fly mentions to css or js files that need to go in the header
- much like our past drupal_set_html_head()
+==================== 1 minute howto
+
+* REQUIREMENTS is to have python + django (1.5.2) installed django
+** should be straightforward
+** see devel/django-install.txt in case of trouble
+
+* git clone git://git.onelab.eu/myslice.git
+-- or --
+* git clone ssh://yourlogin@git.onelab.eu/git/myslice.git
+
+* edit myslice/config.py and enter the details of your manifold backend
+
+* init django
+$ manage.py syncdb
+
+* gather static files
+$ ./manage.py collectstatic (formerly, we used make static, which is deprecated)
+-- or --
+$ ./manage.py collectstatic --noinput
+$ make
+
+* run a local server:
+$ manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000
+-- or -- my advice:
+$ devel/server-loop.sh
+when you just need to hit ^C yourself when your static files need to be refreshed - see below
+
+* use it from your browser
+(See more notes on using the development server below)
+
+* install dependencies
+$ pip install -r path/to/requirements/file.txt
+Note. not quite sure what this is about, I could not spot this file..
+
+==================== Status
+
+*** Authentication ***
+
+Should be mostly fine
+Not quite sure if/how the user gets proper notifications when
+. his session has expired (i.e. his frontend is not logged into the backend any longer)
+. his credentials have expired (i.e. the uploaded credentials, e.g. SFA delegated cred)
+ expired and she needs to run e.g. sfi myslice again
+
+Hard-coded accounts (from a very early stage) are gone
+
+
+*** Packaging ***
+
+I've done a very rough attempt at packaging for rpm.
+The logic seems about right but needs more work, in particular in terms of installing myslice.conf
+in the httpd conf.d directory.
+It seems like our app won't work on f14 as is because Django is only 1.3.1 on f14
+Plan is to target f18 but I lack a test machine.
+Also of course I'll try to tackle debian/ubunti at some point.
-* auth:
- a django 'app' that deals with authentication
+There also is a working packaging for debian(s) and ubuntu(s) that we use
+on an almost daily basis to upgrade manifold.pl.sophia.inria.fr
-* slice:
- a django app for dealing with slice views
-* templates/
-* static/
- initially I had started to keep:
- * templates (html templates with embedded python-like django chunks)
- * static files (css, js, images..)
- locally in the app were they belong
- but I ended up with having the need to move up and down the tree endlessly
- so for the beginning at least, I have moved everything in a unique place
- this convention is subject to change
+====================
+
+Third party tools shipped:
+
+* jquery
+* datatables
+* spin
+* bootstrap
+
+Others are added as we build the system when they become needed
+Look in third-party/ for a more detailed list
+
+As a rule of thumb, please try to keep in mind that these will need to
+be upgraded over time I've tried to keep track of the version I picked
+and to have an easy upgrade path (depending on the way the original
+package is published)
+
+==================== Contents: 1st level subdirs
+
+========== code from git
+
+* myslice/
+ this is the django 'project', where to look for
+ . settings.py
+ . urls.py
+
+* manifold/
+ the code for dealing with queries, sending them to the backend, and offering the /manifold/proxy/ URL
+
+* unfold/
+ the code for building / rendering plugins
+
+* plugins/
+ the actual code for plugins
+
+* auth/
+ a django 'app' that deals with authentication; see especially
+ auth.backend.MyCustomBackend
+ for how to use a separate authentication system,
+ as well as settings.py for how to enable it
+
+* portal/
+ this is where the first implementation of myslice, with complete
+ user-management including registration, is taking place
+
+* trash/
+ rough/preliminary scaffolding views are in here
+ as the name suggests this is temporary
+
+* views/
+ will receive actual views over time
+ currently has some global html templates as well
+ + some global static files (css, js, images..)
+
+* insert_above:
+ a third-party django app for adding on-the-fly mentions to css or js files that need to go in the header
+
+* third-party/
+ * third party javascript and css stuff (bootstrapfs, jquery, this kind of things)
+ see more about that below too
----
* devel:
no code in there, only various notes and other scripts useful for developers
+========== automatically generated
+
* all-static: (generated, no need to source-control)
- this is where 'manage.py collectstatic' will gather all your static contents if you run a local server
+ this is where 'make static' will gather all your static contents if you run a local server
make has convenience targets to refresh this area
- $ make clean-static
$ make static
+ $ make clean-static
+
+* django-static
+
+* myslice.sqlite3
+ this is where django stores its own stuff, as per settings.py
+
+==================== conventions for templates & static files
+==================== and NOTES on using the development server
+
+. first off, running manage.py runserver is provided by django as a development convenience but
+ SHOULD NOT be used in production
+
+. second, when you do use it for developement purposes, please be aware that:
-==================== initial conventions for templates and static
+.. the recommended layout for the various files and pieces (py, html, js and css) with django is
+ IMHO really painful; we *SHOULD* use e.g.
+ plugins/simplelist.py,
+ plugins/templates/plugins.html,
+ plugins/static/js/simplelist.js
+ plugins/static/css/simplelist.css
+ which I have tried doing for a while but I found myself just hopping around in the file tree all
+ day long, wasting cycles big time
+
+.. as that does not make sense IMHO, I've rewritten the tool for gathering these pieces (this is in
+ the Makefile). Bottom line is we can essentially store this wherever we want.
+ The only restriction being that if you have a template that is *not* html, then it *has to* sit
+ in a templates/ directory, otherwise it gets shipped as a static file.
+
+.. as a result, we can now store all the files building a plugin in a single (git) directory; like e.g.
+ plugins/quickfilter/quickfilter.py
+ plugins/quickfilter/quickfilter.html
+ plugins/quickfilter/quickfilter.js
+ plugins/quickfilter/quickfilter.css
+
+ Of course it's a completely different matter once the service is packaged and installed, these
+ files of course get properly separated.
+
+.. as a result it is a little bit less convenient to use the development server when you change the
+ layout of your static and template files, you might need to re-run 'make static', so it is
+ recommended to use devel/server-loop.sh instead
+
+
+All this being said, here are our current conventions for storing templates and static files
* templates:
we store this under templates/ within the corresponding app, e.g.
- auth/templates/login.html
- for now this is only about html, but the engine can be used for rendering anything including json or whatever..
+ auth/templates/login.html
+ for now this is mostly about html, but the engine can be used for rendering anything
+ including js(on) or whatever (in which case, as stated above, this *must* have /templates/ in its path.
* static files:
we chose to have all static files (images, but also javascript and stylesheets) in the various
- proj or app where they belong, under a static/ subdir that has this structure:
+ proj or app where they belong, with a layout like:
where-it-belongs/
- static/
img/
css/
js/
- the stuff I have so far is in myslice/ because it looks common to all apps..
+ Honestly it's not yet very clear sometimes what 'where-it-belongs' should be sometimes, and it
+ does not matter too much anyway, given that the code doesn't need to change when we move things
+ around. So in particular it's fuzzy between myslice/ (where the logo could fit e.g.) views/ and
+ even trash/
+
+Makefile has a few convenience targets to list all kinds of stuff; the 2 major targets are
+
+$ make static templates
+
+that would reset all-static/ and all-templates/ for you from the other contents
+
+* third-party
+ please note that the set of files that actually get exposed in all-static from third-party is
+ hand-coded in Makefile because we tried to preserve the original codebase layout from mainstream,
+ and there's only so much in common between 2 differents js libraries at this point.
+
+
+
+======== update django database to reflect changes in existing models without any migration system (e.g., south) =========
+
+# older version
+$python manage.py reset <your_app>
+
+#Django 1.5.1 or later
+$python manage.py flush
+
+This will update the database tables for your app, but will completely destroy any data that existed in those tables.
+If the changes you made to your app model do not break your old schema (for instance, you added a new, optional field)
+you can simply dump the data before and reload it afterwards, like so:
+
+$python manage.py syncdb
+$python manage.py dumpdata <your_app> > temp_data.json
+$python manage.py flush
+$python manage.py loaddata temp_data.json
+
+If your changes break your old schema this won't work - in which case tools like south or django evolution are great.
+
+======== update django database to reflect changes in existing models with migration system (e.g., south) =========
+
+As south is already installed , you just have to do:
+
+$./manage.py migrate
+
+if it fails:
+
+1. go to myslice directory
+2. do sqlite3 myslice.sqlite3 [if sqlite3: command not found, do $apt-get install sqlite3]
+3. check the list of tables with sqlite> .tables
+4. if you find those tables that was mentioned in the failure message while running $./manage.py migrate
+ do sqlite> DROP TABLE mentioned_table
+ [mentioned_table = the tables that was explicity mentioned in the failure message of $./manage.py migrate]
+5. sqlite> .quit
+6. $./manage.py migrate
+