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I need to create a simple document assembly application to create Word files. We work with multiple templates, some derivated from others. So, instead of having tons of templates I would like to create something that uses a standard template and allowes me to change the header, footer and different other sections in the document based on my needs.
For example: I will choose a template, then a different introductory paragraph, then a secondary paragraph and so on.
I tried a solution in Infopath, but not sure if this is the simplest one. If you have any suggestions please let me know! (and another thing I am new to this, so no programming clue, but learn quickly)
Thanks,
If your question were programming-related then a tutorial like the following might be relevent: Word automation using C#.
However, because you have "no programing clue" I don't understand what kind of solution you're looking for (and, "Word automation using C#" is probably not it, because it requires a knowledge of programming).
Word automation using Office Interop (COM) is not recommened for server side scenarios (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/257757).
If you have to create solution for several users, then you will need a toolkit which supports server side installation. You will probably soon realize that free libraries won't meet your needs and will start looking for 3rd party products.
I have experience with one of such toolkits that can solve your document requirements by using subdocuments or by using conditional content. Since you don't have programming experience you can use MS Word for template layout and conditional logic.
You could turn to a program that already allows for that. Pathagoras offers a monthly subscription to lower the need for a large amount of capital upfront.
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I would like to create a website similar like imdb.com. Whether imdb.com uses any framework? if so which framework it uses? Otherwise are they developing on their own? Is it easy for a normal PHP developer to create my own php framework?
As a PHP developer:
I have my own php framework, So you can say it's not so hard; But you must first learn how other frameworks work... And decide what your framework need to do... Which design patters you agree with...
Most of big websites didn't use famous frameworks, Or even their own frameworks... Mostly using a plenty of libraries... Because when you use a framework you code faster but you waste resources as RAM, CPU IO/Disk...
A well programmed application is this one that use 100% of its code source, It's good to go OOP, MVC... But not in the way most of frameworks works... This what is life less working time cause a less quality project.
There are two reasons why you would want to create your own framework:
Learning purposes, it's a great learning opportunity because you
will learn a lot.
This one I highly doubt is a issue for you, but
If you believe your framework can be different and better in some
way than those already existing, go for it.
A framework isn't the application, a framework is a tool set that lets you get straight on the application itself, instead of writing a database abstraction layer you learn how built-in in works and writes the busniess logic your application needs.
Developing a new framework is not a trivial or easy work at all. Even for a team is difficult to handle, so be extremely sure you need to create yet another one before starting.
Instead, use open source, well known solutions, so that bugs are likely to be triaged and fixed. There are many which are available even for commercial use. Just choose your favourite one: Symfony, Code Igniter or Kohana or whatever and start building your application on top.
As of IMDB, probably they are using a framework, but there is no way to tell what if any.
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A project that a group of mine is starting is going to be focused around the use of plug-ins which are extremely specific to the user. We are trying to essentially create an application that without the plug-ins is nothing more then a running environment, and hence will be driven by the addition of the user-specific plugins.
I am not too experienced in this area of designing the application around plug-ins. How should I go about this process of creating a basic, essentially abstract application, and then creating these "dynamic" user-specific plugins to be used by the application?
As 'hobbs' pointed out, knowing the language would be beneficial to getting a better answer!
But regardless, I'll give you details on the Command Design Pattern which is frequently used in Java or any other object oriented languages.
See Command Design Pattern - Wikipedia and
Command Design Pattern - Java Tip 68 (for implementation details)
I use this pattern frequently when I know I will want to run 'plugins' in a generic manner (sometimes when I don't have all the details at that point in time). With more specs and/or security constrains you would want to alter this pattern respective of such constraints and include sandbox limitations, etc. That is all up to you!
Your client would begin by writing plugins using the interface you provide them (see links above). With a compiled class, your clients would then be able to drop their plugins into a folder for example.
When your application is ready to run the plugins, you would load a list of plugin candidates (either an xml file or scan the class files within a specific directory) and load each class in order to execute them one by one.
You can decide if you want to run these plugins in a specific sequence or in parallel (threaded design).
Note that if your plugins must access a specific state or API, you can provide it as a parameter to your plugin.
All of this works beautifully and I'm sure it can easily be adapted to fit almost any language.
Good luck,
Jeach!
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If you have worked with DotNetNuke, what are advantages and disadvantages that you have come across? What are alternative Content Management Systems that you have used that you find are better or worst. I'm trying to get a feel of what Content Management System Frameworks people are using and the advantages and disadvantages of them.
Thanks,
XaiSoft
This post may help as it has covered some of this info!
DotNetNuke works well, and has a wide variety of addins that are available for purchase from various vendors. It is also open source which is nice, as it allows you to troubleshoot issues to a deeper level then if it was closed source.
We didn't spend a lot of time researching CMS systems but this past summer we couldn't find anything with the functionality of DotNetNuke which targets the .net framework. If your not tied to .net then there are a ton of options available.
DNN is very very dynamic in terms of functionality, features and security. There's is nothing like it. However there are a few drawbacks that i felt while using it.
The biggest drawback in my opinion is the response time of a DNN using sites. The code itself is very obsolete and you need to lock yourself and scour on each and every coding details before using DNN. One more is the URL dependency, if you need to change your domain name to another your old database will be of no use.
There are a lot of new promising CMS extension in Dot NET market and Sageframe, in my opinion, is the best of them. I have been using this extension for quite a time now and I am quite fascinated by its features though still in beta.
DotNetNuke is quite powerful. It's biggest advantage is the inline editing of site content, in my opinion. It's biggest disadvantage is that it is pretty resource intensive compared to other CMS systems.
Here's a comparison I wrote last month:
http://www.logicalvue.com/blog/2009/01/cms-shootout-dotnetnuke-vs-joomla-vs-wordpress/
The biggest disadvantage is the missing support for multiple languages.
Yes, you can install multiple languages but you can't write seperate content for each installed language...
It's not hard to write such a module yourself but the other problem is the URLs.
You can use the 'Human Friendly' option but yet again, this does not support multiple languages.
For instance /Products/tabid/57/language/en-US/Default.aspx becomes products.aspx but there isn't a possibility to include the language like this /en-US/products.aspx
I know there are 3th party tools like UrlMaster which covers this up but still I think this should be available in such a framework.
The biggest advantage is the ease of developing your own modules! If a functionality isn't available, you can write your own module without any problems!
.Net Nuke is not good for developing projects.
Microsoft is releasing lot of versiond and including lot of lauguages.
So how developers will learn all the things...
This is very bad for developers.....
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Does anyone know of a good Aspose.Word alternative (or similar) product?
Can you mention any pro/con for using either?
I am currently evaluating Aspose.Word, and although it works like a charm, it's missing some of the functionalities that I require.
UPDATE: We ended up writing our own DOCX generator. We are still using Aspose.Word to convert to DOC/HTML when needed.
Our team is using Docentric Toolkit Professional Edition. One of the most important reasons for our decision was also it's relatively affordable price for teams of up to 5 developers.
The toolkit works nice with MS Office 2007/2010/2013. In our scenario, reports are produced centrally on the server, using our custom developed reporting engine, which uses Docentric api calls. Because Docentric uses OpenXML, no Word installation is needed on the server.
We have several hundreds different templates, which are ordinary Word documents, enhanced with placeholders which Docentric recognizes and fills with data at runtime during report creation.
Other features which we are using extensively are tables (included nested ones), images, graphs, conditional content and Header/Footer dynamic content.
I don't know if it's suited for your purpose but you might want to have a look at the b2xtranslator project on SourceForge:
http://b2xtranslator.sourceforge.net/
TX Text Control has an express version, but it doesn't have all the features the full version has. The express is free, and I've used it, and if your sole purpose is to create a word processor, it will not provide all of the features. Like Aspose.Words, buying the full version is REALLY expensive ($2,398.00!), and in my opinion, a ripoff.
The pros and cons are evaluating the free version
Cons:
No spell check in the free version
Cannot read .docx or .doc in the free version
No headers, footers, or dragable textboxes (like there are in Word) in the free version
Pros:
Free
Page breaks
Basic Document editing features
Our company used it for a bit, but got sick of the lack of features, and ended up just ditching it.
If Java is an option (or a preference), you could try docx4j
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As a long time World of Warcraft player, and a passionate developer I have decided that I would like to combine the two and set about developing some addins. Not only to improve my gameplay experience but as a great opportunity to learn something new.
Does anyone have any advice on how to go about starting out?
Is there an IDE one can use? How does one go about testing? Are there any ready made libraries available? Or would I get a better learning experience by ignoring the libraries and building from scratch? How do I oneshot Hogger?
Would love to hear your advice, experiences and views.
This article explains how to start pretty well.
Your first bookmark is possibly the US Interface Forum, especially the Stickies for that:
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/1011693/
Then, grab some simple addons to learn how XML and LUA interacts. The WoWWiki HOWTO List is a good point here as well.
One important thing to keep in mind: World of Warcraft is available in many languages. If you have a EU Account, you got an excellent testing bed by simply downloading the language Packs for Spanish, German and French. If you're an US Guy, check if you can get the Latin America version. That way, you can test it against another language version.
Once you made 1 or 2 really small and simple addons just to learn how to use it, have a look at the various frameworks. WowAce is a popular one, but there are others.
Just keep one thing in mind: Making an Addon is work. Maintaining one is even more work. With each new Patch, there may be breaking changes, and the next Addon will surely cause a big Exodus of Addons, just like Patch 2.0.1 did.
Another useful tools you might like is WarcraftAddOnStudio which lets you make plugins in the visual studio environment.
I learned the art of add-ons primarily by looking at the code of Blizzard's UI. You can see that code by extracting the default UI or finding a copy of the default UI online. Add-on developers sometimes like to over-engineer their pet projects (who doesn't?), while Blizzard's code is usually pretty no-nonsense and straightforward. In addition, Programming in Lua is a pretty useful (if slightly out-of-date) reference for the actual Lua language.
The best way to start is with the book World of Warcraft Programming. It covers LUA, XML, WarcraftAddOnStudio and the WoW API. The book also has sections on best practices and avoiding common mistakes.