Deliverables for ICE cycle 2006-11-14
Summary
The previous cycle was a beauty, we resolved the performance issues with packages containing the hundreds of files you get with Breeze presentations and finish off the identified requirements for Books. We started work on the documentation and processes for handy maintenance over to support staff such as IMM's for the courseware and other skins and Network Services for installations. On top of that the required application features and bug fixes for ICE version 1.0 were completed. This means that ICE version 1.0 is to be released this cycle. Because the main programmer is on leave for most of this cycle there won't be any major development this cycle but rather documentation.
Achieved deliverables
performance issues were a package contains both single large files and lots of small files such Breeze presentations
documentation for maintenance handover:
how to update the skins and how they work - started
how to install ICE for USQ courseware and publications - started
begin implementing LaTeX
document flow for courseware books (page numbering, starting positions for modules)
updates and fixes for the Word and OOo to templates (including adding additional inline styles etc)
remaining tickets for ICE version 1.0, see http://ice.usq.edu.au/trac/wiki/IceOpenSource/Ver1.0Tickets
Outstanding deliverables
installation documentation
skin maintenance documentation
Proposed deliverables
ICE Version 1.0
Windows installer
Mac disk image
release notes
documentation updates
ICE guide
Installation instructions
creating skins
Questions/Discussions for stakeholders
- Replace odt to xhtml stylesheet with python before implementing LaTex?
- Because of the flat nature of the open document xml used by OpenOffice.org we feel the xsl styleseeht for doing the transformation from odt to xhtml has reached a limit. Replacing the xsl stylesheet with python we get the following benefits:
much improved performance for transforming documents
known transformation faults will be easier to resolve, eg issues with nested tables
new transformation features easier to implement e.g. LaTex
the bug with libxslt library causing ICE to crash will become non applicable
- This will come at a development cost where it was decided to implement LaTex first. It would take approx 40 work units (1 cycle of new features) to get to a stage we we can start on user testing.
- Support for list starting values
- It has been brought up before and again recently that we may need support starting values on lists (other than 1). As well structured documents shouldn't require such a feature this may not be the case in practice and need to look at examples were it is felt it is required.
- MathType
- Ron has found Libraries that should be able to convert MathType in LaTex or MathML however, there are licensing issues in that they won't be able to be distributed with ICE and can only be used by those who have a MathType license. This means we need to either find an open source library or work out another process that is allowed using the License such as a web service to do the conversion.
Demo of features for stakeholders
A simple demo of annotations using the document notes.
Example of an annotation using the notes feature in OpenOffice.org.
About the cycle notes
The cycle notes are used to summarize the outcomes of the completed cycle and provide stakeholders with an overview of the deliverables for the next cycle. They are also used to raise any issues for discussion and provide other information for those who are unable to attend the meetings. Specific information on tasks to be completed are available in the ticketing system, see below.
More information
USQ staff members please see:
http://sds.dec.usq.edu.au/projects/sdt/roadmap
Non USQ staff please see the ICE open source site:
http://ice.usq.edu.au/trac/roadmap
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