uwosh.northstar 0.7rc2

Workflow management and application generation tool for Plone.

Introduction

Our vision for uwosh.northstar is as a complete through-the-web (TTW) tool for generating workflow applications, ie. a custom content type combined with an assigned custom workflow.

Right now it adds a control panel entry Workflow Manager where you can access the workflow tool. It also adds a Workflow App Generator control panel entry where you can generate your workflow app products.

Creating content types is easily done by using Dexterity. The tool will simply dump your dexterity content type. If you can not use dexterity, the tool also supports using PloneFormGen as your modeling tool in which it’ll create a corresponding Archetype for the PloneFormGen form you’ve created.

uwosh.northstar is strictly for add-on product workflows and content types. By design, the tool cannot be used to edit default Plone workflows.

It provides all the functionality you need to manipulate workflows easily through the web, using an AJAX-powered interface and to generate the products of the content types and workflows you’ve created TTW.

Tested with

• Firefox

• Google Chrome

• Safari

• Opera

Check out the youtube video of the workflow manager in action. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-Cks1zeHXc

Installation

Just add uwosh.northstar to your buildout eggs sections and then install the “North * “ product in the add/remove products control panel. In order for the workflow application generator to work, you’ll need to also add ZopeSkel, PasteScript and Paste to the eggs section in your buildout. Additionally, you’ll need to activate PloneFormGen or Dexterity in your site.

In older versions of Plone, you might need to add plone.app.jquerytools to your zcml section also.

Produced by Secret Laboratory Number 1 at UW Oshkosh.

Changelog

0.7rc2

• missed error with permissions table on previous release

0.7rc1

• fixed add new workflow not working all the time with the popup on the workflow selection screen.

• better display of column headers for groups and roles permissions tables

• added tooltip for permissions table

• fixed transition guard permissions weren’t getting updated properly

0.7b2

• fixed menu not doing fixed position correctly in safari and chrome

0.7b1

• moved delete button to header of transition and state and removed “Save all” button from states and transitions

• Changed toolbar “Save all” button to read “Save”

• Made the arrow in the header of state and transitions be where you choose to make it slide down–direct the user.

• moved “Add new state” and “Add new transition” buttons to toolbar

• have a workflow selection screen now.

• asks you to save unsaved changes before doing certain actions.

• added checkboxes for site owner and authenticated user in email setup.

• groups guard is moved to advanced mode

• more substitution values for email actions–such as time.

• moved menus into form tabs list and restyled it a bit – much easier for the user to see and understand.

0.6b1 ~ May 4, 2010

• Sanity check now takes initial state into account and checks if transition is used by state, not just if it has a new_state_id. Also, it now checks for an initial state being set. [vangheem]

• added go to state/transition links for the definitions of the states and transitions so it is much easier to go to and from transitions that are connected to states and visa versa. [vangheem]

• when adding a state from a transitions or a transition from a state, it’ll automatically set the related values respectively since it’ll assume you want to activate it for that item. [vangheem]

• unsaved info text doesn’t show up after adding a mail action anymore. [vangheem]

0.5b3

• added jquery 1.4.2 source to include if older version of plone. [vangheem]

• fixed issues for Plone 3.2 and lower [vangheem]

• removed logo–messes up on some skins. [vangheem]

• fixed some json parsing issues [vangheem]

• cloning workflows now handles CopyErrors that can occur from reserved ids trying to be used. [vangheem]

0.5b2 ~ April 15, 2010

• fixed zopeskel being imported when it shouldn’t be [Nathan Van Gheem]

• table row was omitted from workflow application generator table so it showed up in one row. [Nathan Van Gheem]

• generated product now generates a bit more correctly according to the archetype zopeskel template [Nathan Van Gheem]

• remove locales declaration from generated product configure.zcml since it doesn’t actually include a locales directory [Nathan Van Gheem]

• better documentation about enabled the workflow application generator functionality. [Nathan Van Gheem]

0.5b1 ~ April 14, 2010

• can now export products with content types generated TTW using PloneFormGen or Dexterity [Nathan Van Gheem]

0.4 ~ March 30, 2010

• tightened up everything [Nathan Van Gheem]

• fixed Plone 4 support [Nathan Van Gheem]

• better toolbar and layout [Nathan Van Gheem]

0.3 ~ March 25, 2010

• fixed bug for firefox where you’d get a “script stack space quota is exhausted” error if you had a lot of transitions and states. [Nathan Van Gheem]

• now slides to newly created transition or state [Nathan Van Gheem]

• added icon for control panel [Nathan Van Gheem]

• reorganization and a little better styles [Nathan Van Gheem]

• more transition properties [Nathan Van Gheem]

• added advanced mode checkbox [Nathan Van Gheem]

• js wasn’t working correctly for everything in non-firefox browsers [Nathan Van Gheem]

• added ability to assign workflows to a type [Nathan Van Gheem]

• improved uninstall profile [Nathan Van Gheem]

0.2 ~ March 22, 2010 r1942

• fixed error message showing up in two places [Nathan Van Gheem]

• better testing [Nathan Van Gheem]

• Now have mail actions [Nathan Van Gheem]

• various html output improvements [Nathan Van Gheem]

• added sanity check button [Nathan Van Gheem]

• handles deleting states, transitions and workflows in a smarter way [Nathan Van Gheem]

0.1 ~ March 17, 2010

• Initial Release