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April 30, 2002

Media companies - the next

Media companies - the next Google?


New article posted on how media companies should be opening up their databases using XML.

Posted by Matthew at 02:38 PM | Comments (0)

Tech Editors I think it's

Tech Editors


I think it's time to give our great tech editors - Marcus Crafter and Torsten Curdt - a mention. They provided us with great feedback and tips on making the book even better. Thanks guys!

Posted by Matthew at 01:54 PM | Comments (0)

Radio woes Because of the

Radio woes


Because of the problems I am having with incomplete pages being upstreamed I am trying to move back to the normal cloud at userland. This is not proving so easy to do. I have had to go through Radio.root and replace the old need-a-cake.com links with the new URI. Still trying to sort out the links. Once everything works, need-a-cake will redirect here. I think I can already say that the problems I reported here have vanished, now that I am upstreaming to userland again. This seems to be some error in the ftp driver (I suspect).


Update: This also seems to have fixed the problem of the corrupted RSS feeds I had some weeks ago. Everything seems to work fine now.

Posted by Matthew at 12:37 PM | Comments (0)

April 27, 2002

Portal Ideas I will be

Portal Ideas


I will be presenting the Cocoon portal components at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention in July. The portal components are now part of Cocoon and being used in quite a few places. There is also a demo portal which shows how to integrate RSS based news feeds included in Cocoon.


Now I am looking for ideas on what we could integrate for the conference as part of the demo (i.e. add a new portlet - which is called coplet in Cocoon-speak). I am playing around with ideas such as an XML-RPC or SOAP based service, a configurable coplet that will allow me to configure and integrate RSS based weblogs, or or. If you have any ideas then let me know.

Posted by Matthew at 04:29 PM | Comments (0)

Guido feels he just has

Guido feels he just has to link to Sam, and Sam notices.

Posted by Matthew at 04:19 PM | Comments (0)

Be Blogging - Ugo Cei's

Be Blogging - Ugo Cei's Blog: "Cocoon is difficult to get the hang of. I really hope Matthew's and Carsten's book goes a long way towards easing the learning curve for newbies, when it is released.". Well Ugo, we hope so too. Release date is July 19 - so there is not that long to go. Check here for more information on what is in the book.

Posted by Matthew at 04:14 PM | Comments (0)

April 26, 2002

Welcome! Carsten and Guido now

Welcome!


Carsten and Guido now also have Radio weblogs. Check them out!

Posted by Matthew at 03:19 PM | Comments (0)

Pankaj speaks about Cocoon and

Pankaj speaks about Cocoon and web services at SD West 2002. You can find his presentation here.


Nicola points to the Struts flow proposal.


Berin picks up on migration paths from C1 to C2. This is a point that needs more attention as Cocoon gains more followers.


Cocoon goes into space (nearly). Andrew announces something really great. I have now changed the subtitle of the talk for Jax2002 and O'Reilly. It is now: "From an idea to the moon".


Edgar wants to know why Cocoon is used. Why does he want to know that?


Lots of new sites with Cocoon.

Posted by Matthew at 02:41 PM | Comments (0)

Chapter 12 - Weaving the

Chapter 12 - Weaving the Future


This chapter takes a look at what is currently going on in the Cocoon project and goes into details on what may soon appear in the software. Because it takes a while to write a book quite a few things happened during the process and this is the chapter that provides an outlook on Cocoon.

Posted by Matthew at 11:28 AM | Comments (0)

The Cocoon Portal goes into

The Cocoon Portal goes into Space


Well, nearly. Great news this week on the cocoon-dev mailing list. NASA will be buidling an Intranet portal using Cocoon and the portal componente we donated. How about that.

Posted by Matthew at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)

Amazon list has changed Hmmm,

Amazon list has changed


Hmmm, now if I enter "cocoon" on Amazon.com our book shows up first on the list. A few days ago our book was second on the list. Why has that changed? Our book does not yet have a sales ranking - so I am interested in why the order has changed.

Posted by Matthew at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)

April 18, 2002

Test für Wolfgang

Test für Wolfgang

Posted by Matthew at 02:43 PM | Comments (0)

Dave's with me! Dave heard

Dave's with me!


Dave heard that I will be speaking at the O'Reilly Open Source convention in July and decided he should be there too (no of course he didn't). Should be fun. The last time I was in San Diego was back in 1988. That was on vacation. This time it's business - yeah right.

Posted by Matthew at 10:02 AM | Comments (0)

April 17, 2002

No we can't! Sorry, but

No we can't!


Sorry, but we cannot provide anyone with advance copies! Even if you offer us large sums of money - yes you know who you are - we have a contract! Please check out the normal channels. If you are interested in a copy for reviewing then please go here. Thanks!

Posted by Matthew at 04:48 PM | Comments (0)

Cocoon now has a Documentation

Cocoon now has a Documentation Coordinator! Wow - is this a first for an open source project - or what?


Michael announces a pending donation of components that will let Cocoon hook up to SAP. This is what we need!


Matthieu starts work on changing the I18nTransformer. Bonjour!


The first offer of Cocoon traning courses appears here. Beat us to the announcement by a pip. Documentation, books and training - those are the ingredients.


KrysalIDE - an (upcoming?) IDE for Cocoon projects.

Posted by Matthew at 04:34 PM | Comments (0)

Over 10000! Missed it -

Over 10000!


Missed it - damn. Only today did I see that the total number of hits my weblog has received has jumped over the 10000 mark.

Posted by Matthew at 04:22 PM | Comments (0)

RSS woes I have not

RSS woes


I have not yet been able to fix this. Perhaps it will just go away if I keep on weblogging :-).

Posted by Matthew at 04:17 PM | Comments (0)

Chapter 11 - Designing Cocoon

Chapter 11 - Designing Cocoon Applications


In this chapter we provide insight into actually buildling applications using Cocoon. We provide an overview of the steps you will need to take to design and implement the different types of applications, such as publishing systems or portals.

Posted by Matthew at 04:10 PM | Comments (0)

April 15, 2002

Author revision complete! That's it

Author revision complete!


That's it we have finished revising the chapters - so we are now well on our way into production.

Posted by Matthew at 04:28 PM | Comments (0)

Test

Test

Posted by Matthew at 11:54 AM | Comments (0)

Castle In case you were

Castle


In case you were wondering which castle is depicted on the cover - it is Arundel Castle in England. And as I was born in England - that is great! So next time I'm back there I will have to go and see the castle!

Posted by Matthew at 08:59 AM | Comments (0)

Problems The RSS feed seems

Problems


The RSS feed seems to be broken. I wonder if posting a new article will fix it.


Nope - this seems to be something for the Radio gurus.


The event log says:














Upstream Can't upstream because "Can't find a sub-table named "488"." 8:49:58 AM 2.566
Upstream Can't upstream because "Can't find a sub-table named "9442"." 8:49:50 AM 2.015

Posted by Matthew at 08:49 AM | Comments (0)

April 12, 2002

Publishing date moved up Amazon.com:

Publishing date moved up


Amazon.com: buying info: Cocoon: Building XML Applications: "This item will be published on July 19, 2002. You may order it now and we will ship it to you when it arrives."

Posted by Matthew at 02:47 PM | Comments (0)

Google via SOAP Yesterday, Google

Google via SOAP


Yesterday, Google "officialy" released their API and it is already integrated into Radio as described here. I have added a Google box to the Cocoon Weblog here.

Posted by Matthew at 10:49 AM | Comments (1)

Added a Google Box and

Added a Google Box and changed the theme so the box fits better.

Posted by Matthew at 10:34 AM | Comments (1)

April 11, 2002

Reason: "Stephen likes the tug

Reason: "Stephen likes the tug of the philosophical, and he seemed amused by the notion that universes are simply one of those things that happen from time to time."

Posted by Matthew at 03:53 PM | Comments (0)

Chapter 10 - Cocoon News

Chapter 10 - Cocoon News Portal - Advanced Version


Here is the advanced version of the news portal. One of the main topics in this chapter is XSP and what you can use it for. We create a portal that has a session and stores information in the session. The portal also provides additional features to "just" fetching the XML news feeds - such as a random message taken from the Cocoon documentation.

Posted by Matthew at 03:31 PM | Comments (0)

April 10, 2002

Dave Winer's Scripting News Weblog:

Dave Winer's Scripting News Weblog: "How did we do it? I can't tell you" Methinks the SOAP interface to Google is "coming real soon now".

Posted by Matthew at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)

April 09, 2002

Weblogging implications Esther Dyson writes

Weblogging implications


Esther Dyson writes about the implications of weblogging for public conferences etc. The whole subject of what this means is really mind-blowing. Imagine press-conferences, stock-holder meetings even company meetings where the audience blogs, connects and communicates.


Let's imagine I attend a conference - such as this one. I am a speaker. So, before I start I will ask the audience: "Ok, guys who's blogging this - hands up - where is the blog?" That would make it easier for others in the audience to find it.


Even better I could post an outline of my presentation before I go to San Diego - and then people could subscribe to it and prepare themselves beforehand. They would see how I work on the presentation and could blog additional ideas before I finalize it. This way audiences could participate in presentations - before they take place.

Posted by Matthew at 05:24 PM | Comments (0)

Torsten posts an overview of

Torsten posts an overview of the current form handling status. This should get the discussions going - and hopefully lead to some great additions to Cocoon.


Carsten posts a problem with the StreamGenerator when using the HTTPClient library from here.


A new branch for 2.0.3 is created.


Nicola starts "Adopt a patch-bug". Great comments!


Ovidiu posts information about Anteater and why we should be using it to test Cocoon releases.

Posted by Matthew at 05:12 PM | Comments (0)

April 08, 2002

Up on Amazon Our Cocoon

Up on Amazon


Our Cocoon book is now available on Amazon for pre-order. Jippeeeee!

Posted by Matthew at 03:16 PM | Comments (0)

April 05, 2002

Cocoon and the Real World

Cocoon and the Real World


Interesting thread on cocoon-users as to why Cocoon "is not making it in the real world". And Andrew thinks that lack of documentation is one of the reasons. Well, that problem will hopefully be solved soon. You know writing documentation is a POA as any developer will tell you. And as I have ranted on about before: You can't win. It also takes time - lots of time - to write good documentation. Carsten and I have spent 6 months of real private time writing our book.


Also, I would disagree with the thread anyway. Cocoon is making it in the real world. There are many major (!) companies both in Europe and the US working with Cocoon. You may not read a lot about them using the Open Source - but they are. The problem is that some companies do not like to be thought of as using Open Source, so they are very quiet about it. Too quiet if you ask me. And if you read this you will know that I am talking about you - but smiling :-).

Posted by Matthew at 05:15 PM | Comments (0)

The integration of forms handling

The integration of forms handling into Cocoon picks up speed


Ivelin and Konstantin are now "real" committers to the Cocoon project


We struggle to get Cocoon running on Bea 6.1 - but it seems to run now

Posted by Matthew at 05:05 PM | Comments (0)

For your diaries: O'Reilly Open

For your diaries:


O'Reilly Open Source Convention in San Diego, California, July 22-26, 2002:



There is also "talk" of me doing book signings .... more later.

Posted by Matthew at 04:57 PM | Comments (0)

Chapter 9 - Developing Components

Chapter 9 - Developing Components for Cocoon


One of the great advantages of Cocoon is that is allows you to develop and add your own components and in doing so extend the functionality as needed. In this chapter we take a look at what "you need to know" and show how to develop new components. These are components not yet contained in Cocoon so we hope they will be useful. Apart from developing our own Action or Transformer we also show how to add a new protocol to Cocoon.

Posted by Matthew at 04:51 PM | Comments (0)

Biz answers my question. Biz

Biz answers my question. Biz Stone: Rocking Natick: "Rocking Natick An explanation of the phrase 'Rock Natick,' (sort of)." Thanks!

Posted by Matthew at 11:09 AM | Comments (0)

April 03, 2002

Biz writes: Weblog: The New

Biz writes:


Weblog: The New Home Page: "There's been a title change and we're getting some serious work done. This book is gonna be great. Monsur and Matthew rock Natick, as do Kate and Laura." Ok, so what does "rock Natick" mean exactly?

Posted by Matthew at 10:50 AM | Comments (0)

April 02, 2002

MARC: msg 'Re: XSLTC question':

MARC: msg 'Re: XSLTC question': "If you don't feel you're getting appropriate response from the xalan venues, write a nasty note directly to me (sometimes it works)." Scott Boag.

Posted by Matthew at 05:37 PM | Comments (0)

Blogging on Vacation Well I

Blogging on Vacation


Well I am back on Radio today after over a week using Blogger Pro. Actually I found it very easy to use and it still needles me that I can't maintain my Radio blog from home or while away. But Radio offers things that Blogger doesn't so in the end using both is sort of a win-win situation.

Posted by Matthew at 03:52 PM | Comments (0)

Update We are currently revising

Update


We are currently revising the last few chapters.


Hopefully the book will be available on Amazon from 5/1 (that's 01.05 - to you and me on this side of the pond :-)).


If all goes well the first copies may show up around the 22nd of July...I wonder where :-).


 

Posted by Matthew at 03:48 PM | Comments (0)

Back from my Easter vacation

Back from my Easter vacation and a lot has been happening in Cocoon land. Here a couple of the major points:


Stefano posts an interesting RT (Random Thought) that will hopefully get the "blocks" concept going. To me this would seem to be the way to a Cocoon that can serve Web services.


Carsten announces Cocoon 2.0.2 release.


Sylvain adds internal "redirect" capabilities to Cocoon.


 

Posted by Matthew at 03:45 PM | Comments (0)