The document discusses the importance of open-source software, system architecture, and appropriate methodologies for software design, emphasizing that good architecture enhances functionality, maintainability, and user experience. It critiques the historical challenges faced in software engineering and outlines evolving trends and future directions, including the need for formal methodologies and specifications before coding. The presentation introduces 'aha?wow!', a framework designed for higher efficiency and abstraction in software development, promising better control and ease of maintenance.

1. Honey, I shrunk the code !
JandBeyond 2014, Königstein, 30 May 2014
2004 - 20142004 - 2014

2. Hi ! :-)
2
Beat  Joomler since 12 years (ok, Mambo dinosaur ;-)
 Top-20 Joomla 1.0.15 and 3.2.0 contributor
(“App-Store” install from web + JUX team)
 Membre Joomla Security JSST and JBS
 ‘beat’ on forums, otherwise in Switzerland
 PhD Swiss Federal Institute ofTech. & Bell Labs
 Datacoms, Internet, Sécurité & web-apps
 “Make it as simple as possible, but no less”
I love open-source and work with the community

3. 30.05.14 © Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014 3
Today…
Why are…
●
Open-source…
●
Software System Architecture and Design…
●
Abstraction, Consistency, DRY…
●
Evolution of Software Engineering…
●
Methodology and specifcations before implementation…
…so important ?
●
2014: Introducing AHA!WOW?
●
Features, Examples from CB 2.0 and CBSubs GPL 3.0
●
Conclusions
3

4. 30.05.14 © Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014 4
Why Open-source ?
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Freedom 0. run for any purposes
●
Freedom 1. study & change to your wish
●
Freedom 2. redistribute to help your neighbor
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Freedom. 3. redistribute modifed copies
●
You control your computer. Not the other way around!
●
You own and control your own data: Open-data
●
The SaaS problem
●
Google Reader, Posterous, Google Wave, …
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The free SaaS problem
●
next: Google Mail ???

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Why Software System Architecture design ?
●
GoodArchitecture brings:
●
Beauty
●
Functionality
●
Consistency
●
Durability
●
Happyness !
●
Lack of architecture results in:
●
The reverse (unless you are very lucky !)
●
Good architects are hard to fnd and hard to keep.

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Why Software System Architecture design ?
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In software good architecture translates in:
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Clean vs messy code
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Re-usability of code and libraries vs dedicated purpose
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Consistent genericAPI vs unconsistent dedicatedAPI
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No copy-paste (DRY) vs copy-pasted redundant code
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Aspect-oriented code vs mixed-aspects code
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Independant parts vsTightly-coupled inter-dependant parts

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Why Software System Architecture design ?
●
Easy ?
●
Yes, in theory!
●
In practice, no! :
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History
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Can't rewrite all all the time
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Need for backwards-compatibility
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Lack of time
●
Large changes and refactorings needed
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To complicated to review (thus to be committed)
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But doable!
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Example: Observers and Mapper Pattern I introduced for Tags
●
Used without changes for Content History !

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Why Abstraction, Consistency, DRY ?
●
Abstraction is boring
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Requires understanding benefts of modelisation
●
But allows reuse in diferent, unexpected situations
●
Consistency is not easy
●
Requires understanding of the existing and examples
●
But is a big win for the user experience and new features
●
DRY is more work at the frst copy
●
Hard to understand for graduates of the
“Copy-Paste University”
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But brings maintenability and code-reduction
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Less code, Simpler code, Easier to maintain.

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Evolution of Software Engineering
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Pionneering eras
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Permanent Software crisis since the seventies:
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Budgets, schedule, productivity, quality, security
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Reaching limits of current paradigms and architectures
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Reaching limits of current software methodology
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80's and 90's: No silver bullet
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80's: Software maintenance = 2x development cost
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90's: Costs raised +30%
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95 survey: 50% of operational software not considered as successful
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Average software project overshoots by 50%
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75% of large software are unused or do not meet specs.

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Evolution of Software Engineering
●
Houston, we still have a problem:
A 10+ Million $ software project has
100% chances to:
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Run late
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Be over budget
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Be unproductive
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Unusable
●
Have quality issues
●
Have security (sometimes lethal) issues
IF it even succeeds one day !

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Evolution of Software Engineering
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Many trials to circumvent the crisis:
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Methods:
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Structured
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Object-oriented
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Unit-tests
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Output-tests
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Tools (IDE, lint, testing)
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Discipline and professionalism
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Formal methods
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Processes
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No Silver Bullet yet found!
●
And there is no single solution to the crisis.

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Evolution of Software Engineering
●
Current trends:
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Aspects (Aspect Oriented Programming)
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Entity – Relation - Processor
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Hierarchical Model – View - Controller
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Model-driven design
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Model transformation
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Code generation
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Dependency Injection Containers
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Agile
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Extreme Programming
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Lightweight coding
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Formal methods
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Code-generators

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Evolution of Software Engineering
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Next trends: (my own forecast)
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Formal Description Languages
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Specifcations-driven interpreters and code-generators
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Automated Dependency Injection Containers
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Lightweight coding
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Domain-specifc Languages
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And in Web User Experience:
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More natural interactions
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Simpler Uis, but more powerful
●
Workfow-oriented Uis
●
Mobile frst

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Why Methodology and specs before implementation ?
●
Well…
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It's like building a house without drawings !
●
Will it hold tight ?
●
Will workers be happy to frst build then go through a design
review process ?
●
Will it:
●
Look beautiful ?
●
Be functional ?
●
Be consistent ?
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Durable ?
●
Will its users be happy ?
●
With careful planning and specs:Yes !

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Enough with problems!… But is there a solution ?
●
Remember: There is no silver bullet…
●
But we can do much, much, much, much better !
●
How ?
●
Easy:
1. Specify functionality
2. Review specifcation
3. Design software
4. Review design to respect specs
3. Implement according to design
4. Verify that implementation respects design
●
Is that easy ?
●
Does it guarantee that implementation respects specs ?

16. More
Traditional design
●
Specify
●
Design
●
Implement
(in MVC)
16© Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014
…Unrelated !

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AHAWOW

18. More
Community Builder 2.0
 5Years of research
at Joomlapolis Labs!
18© Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014
Related !

19. 2012-05-20 19© Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014
NO Implementation!
No <?PHP ?> code!
No <script /> code!
No SQL queries!
Look Ma !

20. INTRODUCING…
AHA?
© Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014 20
Automatc
Homogenous
Applicatons
Web
Optmized
Workfows? !
WOW!™

21. AHA? …Compare… WOW!
Classical (H)MVC:
 Model+View+Controller
implementation
 + Helpers
 and Javascript helpers
 Nothierarchical
 Not agonistic (PHP)
 “COPY-PASTE” code
 Lot of layouting
 Notformal
AHA?WOW!™ MVC:
 Specifcation only
 Hierarchical – MVC
 Agonistic (portable)
 DRY, no specifc code
(or very little)
 Formal
© Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014 21

22. AHA?WOA!
So……?
…The 2’ Example:
Currency rates browser
© Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014 22

23. More
❶ Model:
<table name="#__currencies" class="Currency">
<columns>
<column name="id" type="sql:int(11)" label="Currency Id" />
<column name="base_currency" type="sql:varchar(3)" label="Base currency" />
<column name="currency" type="sql:varchar(3)" label="Target currency" />
<column name="rate" type="sql:foat" null="true" label="Exchange rate" />
</columns>
</table>
23© Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014
This installs / upgrades database !

24. More
❷ Controller:
<action name="show_currencies" request="view" requestparams="showcur" >
<showview view="showcurrencies" mode="show">
<data name="currencies" table="#__currencies">
</showview>
</action>
24© Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014
Controller links Model with View

25. More
❸ View:
<view name="showcurrencies" type="params" ui="admin" label="Currencies">
<tablebrowser name="currenciesbrowser" label="Currency exchange rates">
<listfelds>
<rows type="standard" height="auto" limit="15" >
<feld name="" type="rownumber" width="20px" align="right" label="#" />
<feld name="id" type="primarycheckbox" width="20px" />
<feld name="currency" type="string" width="10%" label="Currency" />
<feld name="base_currency" type="string" width="30%" label="Base currency" />
<feld name="rate" type="foat" width="30%" label="Exchange rate" />
<feld name="id" type="int" width="20%" label="Id" />
</rows>
</listfelds>
</tablebrowser>
</view>
25© Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014
Views defne Items to display & Layout

26. THERESULT
 The result:
© Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014 26

27. 27© Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014
CBSubs GPL 3.0
uses already
AHA?WOW!™
CB 2.0 now too !

28. CBSubs Administration: 0 lines of specifc code
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 6900 lines of specifcations (core CBSubs CB plugin) only
– 41 controllers
– 50 views
– 56 models
– 397 “queries”
– 650 settings

29. `ONE’ MORE THING…
 AHA?WOW DOES MUCH MORE:
 includes:
– Database-agonistic query-compiler and schema
– Formal dataset query specifcations
– Inheritence
– Permissions &View Access Levels handling
 Handles 100% of the Admin interface
– Toolbar, Menus
– Online Help
– All feldTypes
– Tables, Graphs, Widgets, …
 And is event-driven and event-triggering
2012-05-20 © Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014 29

30. Database scheme description
●
Handles:
●
Creation
●
Checks
●
Upgrades
●
Downgrades
automaticaly
<table name="#__comprofiler_tabs" class="" strict="false" drop="never">
<columns>
<column name="tabid" type="sql:int(11)" auto_increment="23" />
<column name="title" type="sql:varchar(50)" />
<column name="description" type="sql:text" null="true" />
<column name="ordering" type="sql:int(11)" />
<column name="ordering_register" type="sql:int(11)" default="10" />
<column name="width" type="sql:varchar(10)" default=".5" />
<column name="enabled" type="sql:tinyint(1)" default="1" />
<column name="pluginclass" type="sql:varchar(255)" null="true" />
<column name="pluginid" type="sql:int(11)" null="true" />
<column name="fields" type="sql:tinyint(1)" default="1" />
<column name="params" type="sql:mediumtext" null="true" />
<column name="sys" type="sql:tinyint(4)" />
<column name="displaytype" type="sql:varchar(255)" />
<column name="position" type="sql:varchar(255)" />
<column name="viewaccesslevel" type="sql:int(10)" unsigned="true" initialvalue="1" initialvaluetype="int" />
<column name="useraccessgroupid" type="sql:int(9)" default="-2" mandatory="false" />
<column name="cssclass" type="sql:varchar(255)" null="true" />
</columns>
<indexes>
<index name="PRIMARY" type="primary">
<column name="tabid" />
</index>
<index name="enabled_position_ordering">
<column name="enabled" />
<column name="position" />
<column name="ordering" />
</index>
<index name="orderreg_enabled_pos_order">
<column name="enabled" />
<column name="ordering_register" />
<column name="position" />
<column name="ordering" />
</index>
</indexes>
</table>
© Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014

31. Database queries compiler
Handles automatically:
• SQL queries • Mix-ins • Searches • Filters
<filter name="tabid" value="tabid" valuetype="sql:string" type="data">
<data name="tab" type="sql:multiplerows" table="#__comprofiler_tabs" key="id">
<rows>
<field name="tabid" as="value" />
<field name="title" as="text" />
</rows>
<orderby>
<field name="position" ordering="ASC" />
<field name="ordering" ordering="ASC" />
</orderby>
<where>
<column name="fields" operator="=" value="1" type="sql:field" valuetype="const:int" />
</where>
</data>
</filter>

32. XML Query can be used inTableBrowser:
Example: CB 2.0 Tab Manager, with “Tools”
JDAY-FR-2014 © Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014 32

33. 3/4/2011 © Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014 33
More
XML TableBrowser example: CBSubs™ plans
 Presentation:
– Hierarchieswithsub-plans
– Yes-noradios/clickabletoggles
– Links
– Cssclasses
– Textformatting
– Hiddencolumns
– Permissions
– Dynamicattributes
33

34. Extending and Inheriting
Two-way inherience: Extend and inherit:
• Explicit (<extend>) • Implicit (<inherit>)
<extend toxpathnode="/cbxml/types" fromxpathnode="/*/types/type" file="xml/models/model.blogs" />
<extend toxpathnode="../following-sibling::*[1]/params/fieldset"
fromxpathnode="/cbxml/views/view[@name=&quot;radiosettings&quot;]/*"
file="xml/admin.lib.processors" mode="prepend">
<inherit name="editgatewayinherit" from="/*/views/view[@name='editgenericgateway']">

35. Extension example 1: CB Privacy on CB Field

36. 3/4/2011 © Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014 36
More
Extension example 2: CBSubs™ integrations
 CBSubs™ plan edit is automatically extended with available
integrations. By pure XML AHAWOW magic:
36

37. Extension example 3: CB 2.0 plugins can extend Joomla menus
© Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014 37

38. Permissions andView Access Levels
Handles:
●
Confguring
●
Enforcing
<actions ui="admin" permission="core.manage" permissionasset="com_comprofiler">
<action name="users" request="task" action="showusers" permission="core.manage"
permissionasset="com_users">
<showview view="showusers" mode="show" />
</action>
</actions>
<tablebrowser name="fieldsbrowser" table="#__comprofiler_fields"
class="CBDatabaseTableFieldsTable" permissionasset="com_comprofiler.fields">
<param name="permissions_fields" type="permissions" assetname="com_comprofiler.fields" label="" display="2lines">
<permission name="core.manage" label="Manage" description="Allows viewing of Fields Management." />
<permission name="core.delete" label="Delete" description="Allows deleting of fields." />
<permission name="core.create" label="Create" description="Allows creating new fields." />
<permission name="core.edit" label="Edit" description="Allows editing existing fields and editing the state of existing fields." />
<permission name="core.edit.state" label="Edit State" description="Allows editing the state of existing fields." />
</param>

39. Toolbars and online Help
<toolbarmenu>:
<toolbarmenu>
<menu name="apply" action="apply" task="act=apply" label="Save" />
<menu name="save" action="save" task="act=save" label="Save &amp; Close" />
<menu name="cancel" action="linkAction" task="cancel" link="cb_action:fields" label="Cancel" />
<menu name="help" action="help" ref="https://www.joomlapolis.com/help/cb/2/permissions"
label="Help" />
</toolbarmenu>

40. Example XML toolbars: CB 2.0 Field edit
© Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014 40

41. Menu buttons
<menugroup>:
<menugroup name="mailersettingsmenu" type="buttonMenu" label="Mailer menu" description="">
<menu name="mailers" action="cb_action:show_mailers" label="Mailers" description="Configure Mailers">
<fields>
<field name="mailers_count" label="active mailers" type="int">
<data name="mailers_count" type="sql:count" table="#__cbsubs_mailer_automessages" key="published" value="1" valuetype="const:int" />
</field>
</fields>
</menu>
<menu name="mailerautomation" action="cb_action:mailer_sendmail" label="Automation Settings" description="Configure Automation for Mailers">
</menu>
<menu name="mailersentmessages" action="cb_action:show_mailersentmessages" label="Sent Messages" description="Show mailer sent
messages">
<fields>
<field name="mailer_used_count" label="messages sent" type="int">
<data name="mailer_used_count" type="sql:count" table="#__cbsubs_mailer_sentmails" key="state" value="A" valuetype="const:string" />
</field>
</fields>
</menu>
<showview name="integrationsglobals" mode="edit" type="plugins" groups="user/plug_cbpaidsubscriptions/plugin,user[cbsubs.]" action=""
path="payintegrationmailersettingsmenu" />
</menugroup>

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Example menus: CBSubs™ Panel
42
DEMO

43. Bar graphs and graphs
<feld type=”bargraph”> and <plot>:
<field name="graph_paid_amounts" type="bargraph" key="paid_mc_gross_total" width="10%" label="Completed" description="Relative amount to other days displayed."
align="left">
<data name="0" type="const:int" />
</field>
<field name="id" type="plot" rowspan="all" class="cbregAdminTotalGraph" width="50%" label="Graph" description="This graph shows the table content in a graphical way">
<plot name="front_plot">
<series>
<serie label="New">
<data missing="0">
<y name="newregs" type="int" />
<x name="time_paid_date" type="date" />
</data>
<lines show="true" />
<points show="true" />
</serie>
<serie label="Upgrades">
<data missing="0">
<y name="upgrades" type="int" />
<x name="time_paid_date" type="date" />
</data>
<lines show="true" />
<points show="true" />
</serie>
</series>
<format>
<yaxis min="0" tickDecimals="0" />
<xaxis mode="time" timeformat="%d %b %y" />
<grid markings="cbPlotWeekends" />
<legend noColumns="4" position="nw" container="th.cbregAdminTotalGraph" />
</format>
</plot>
</field>

44. 30.05.14 © Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014 44
Example Bargraphs and graphs: CBSubs™ panel
 Shows detailed weekly activities:
●
In numbers, bar-graph and graphs,
●
Transactions, Payments, Registrations, Upgrades, renewals
44

45. Events generation
<trigger>:
<trigger group="user/plug_cbpaidsubscriptions/plugin"
event="onxmlBeforeCbSubsDisplayOrSaveInvoice" results="extend" toxpathnode="../fieldset"
mode="replaceorappend" keyattribute="name" />

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Community Builder 2.0 uses AHAWOW
●
Community Builder handles site members:
100 % Libre GPL !
●
Registration process,user profles, lists, photos, videos, ...

47. 30.05.14 © Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014 47
CBSubs™ GPL 3.0 uses AHAWOW
47
DEMO

48. 30.05.14 © Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014 48
CB 2.0 Software Architecture
Joomla!
CBLib 2.0 = CB Framework (Joomla library)
CB 2.0 (Joomla component, modules)
CB Plugin 2.0 (Joomla plugin)

49. 30.05.14 © Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014 49
CB 2.0 Software Architecture
Joomla!
CBLibCms
CBLibCBLib
CBLibCB
CB 2.0 (component, modules)
CBLib
Composer
CB Plugin
Libraries
AhaWow

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CBLib 2.0 Software principles
●
CBLib 2.0 has a modern software architecture:
●
Leightweight (“Small is beautifull”, completely modular
●
Uses the new PHP 5.3 functionalities, in particular:
●
Namespacing
●
Interfaces
●
Closures and function variables
●
Uses extensively:
●
Depedency Injection Containers
●
Class Interfaces
●
Inversion of Control
●
Aspect Oriented Programming
●
Entity-Relation-Processor
●
Model-View-Controller

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CBLib 2.0 namespaced packages
●
CBLib 2.0 includes mostly independent packages:
●
AhaWow™ : Specifcation-based execution
●
Dependency Injection (DI) Containers
●
Observers+Mappers
●
Languages (incl. Pluralizations + Multi-keys)
●
Auto-loaders for PHP, XML and languages
●
Permissions and Access handler
●
Database Schema checker and upgrader
●
Database Query Compiler
●
Image Library
●
LESS + Bootstrap 3
●
Legacy Compatibility Layer

52. 30.05.14 © Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014 53
Conclusion
Using a formal approach it is possible to specify software
instead of implementing it.
This has many advantages:
●
Beautiful
●
Functional
●
Consistent
●
Durable
●
Verifable
●
Auditable
And AHA?WOW! ™ is now here after 5 years of research!
Rings a bell ?

53. 30.05.14 © Joomlapolis.com 2004-2014 54
Why Software System Architecture design ?
●
GoodArchitecture brings:
●
Beauty
●
Functionality
●
Consistency
●
Durability
●
Happyness !
●
Lack of architecture results in:
●
The reverse (unless you are very lucky !)
●
Good architects are hard to fnd and hard to keep.
Remember that slide ?

54. 30.05.14 © Joomlapolis – 2004 - 2014 55
Thanks !
CBLibAhaWow and Community Builder 2.0:
An exciting software architecture!