Moqui Framework 1.1.0 Now Available

Version 1.1.0 includes various bug fixes and library updates. It is also a minor new feature release with added functionality for anonymous authz, enhanced JSON and REST web service support, XML Form extension with database records (DbForm* entities) for all users or particular users, and an Apache Camel integration with Camel running embedded. This version also replaces the only LGPL library (Restone XML-RPC) in Moqui Framework with an Apache licensed library (Apache XML-RPC). This makes Moqui compatible with licensing requirements for projects that are part of the Apache Software Foundation (including Apache OFBiz).

Moqui Framework 1.0.0 Now Available

The initial production-ready version of the Moqui Framework was released on 21 Nov 2011. This release includes various fixes and new features to facilitate easy use based on more extensive testing and real-world development using the framework.

More examples of different recommended and useful patterns now exist in Moqui Framework itself, and in add-on projects including Mantle, POP Commerce, and others.

To download this release, and for Release Notes with more details about this and previous releases, go to:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/moqui/files

Moqui Framework Release 1.0-rc1 Now Available

The first 1.0 release candidate of the Moqui Framework (version 1.0-rc1) was released on 3 August 2011.

This release includes various small new features based on feedback and actual use, including Apache Shiro for security (authc and authz), build using Gradle which supports Maven repositories and with directory layout changed to follow Maven conventions, the ability to run arbitrary SQL and get the results back in an EntityListIterator, and the Data View tool that allows users to build queries and data exports on the fly.

This release candidate also includes improvements based on more testing, including performance testing and profiling to dramatically increase the speed of various operations, especially those done frequently.

As a release candidate from this point only minor changes are expected before the 1.0 final production-ready release.

Release download files are available on SourceForge:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/moqui/files

Note that there is a file that also incudes a preview release of the Mantle Universal Data Model running on Moqui Framework.

Moqui Demo Site on Amazon Elastic Beanstalk

There is now a demo site for Moqui Framework at:

http://demo.moqui.org

This site is running on Amazon Web Service's Elastic Beanstalk service (as a war file in Tomcat 7) and uses the AWS RDS database (MySQL 5.5.12).

Deploying this demo site involved a couple of bug fixes for running on Apache Tomcat and on MySQL, and both are working well now.

Moqui also now includes some features to make it easier to create a war file with the runtime directory included, even if you just have the war file from the Moqui binary release and the new wartools.xml Ant build file. Just run "ant -f wartools.xml add-runtime" and a new war file will be created from the existing moqui-1.0.war file, your MoquiInit.properties file, and your runtime directory.

Enjoy the demo, and enjoy this new and easy way to deploy apps built on Moqui Framework.

Also, moqui.org and my business site dejc.com are now also running on Moqui Framework in another AWS Elastic Beanstalk instance.

Moqui Framework Release 1.0-beta1 Now Available

The first feature-complete release of the Moqui Framework version 1.0 is now in beta and available for download. This release represents a major milestone for Moqui Framework as it is ready to be used in development of web-based applications ranging from simple sites and applications with a few forms and some content to comprehensive corporate ERP, CRM, and eCommerce systems.

For details about what this release includes, and what has been implemented in previous releases, see the Release Notes here:

https://github.com/jonesde/moqui/blob/master/ReleaseNotes.txt

For general information about Moqui and the Moqui Framework see:

http://www.moqui.org/

To try Moqui Framework download it through SourceForge, and read the instructions in the RunDeploy.txt file included in the download:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/moqui/files

Why would someone contribute to an open source project?

There is an interesting thread in the Open Source group on LinkedIn that started with the message: "why would someone contribute to open source project? what would programmer get in return?" Here is my response to this:

This question is a good one because it goes to the core of how open source software gets created. The fact that there have been so many replies to this question demonstrates its importance (even to those who seem offended by the idea that an individual needs a reason to contribute).

The factors of satisfaction, building skills, and better employment opportunities (for certain types of companies anyway) are, IMO, more symptoms of the underlying reason rather than the reason itself.

What is implied by the question and many of the answers is that intellectual property protection is the only way to earn a living making software. It seems clear to just about everyone the IP law is not good for innovation, which is best recognized by symptoms like satisfaction and greater value in a market.

Along with this IP law is also not in the best interest of software creators, and does not result in greater income for those of us who create software professionally. When we create software for an employer we get a salary and unless we're really lucky the salary is the minimum they can get away with paying for what is often considered a worldwide commodity skill that isn't worth much in the market.

IP law is great for investors, but bad for the software itself and bad for software creators. Open source and free software are the answers to that.

Those who give up on IP protection to make a living will make more money and have more opportunities for satisfying and skill-building work.

I like to consider myself a good example of that, so much so that after a decade of working on what is now Apache OFBiz all of my free time is going into the next generation of free software tools and applications for business use with Moqui and the projects based on it.

In all of this I've made 2-3 times as much over the last decade as I would have by working as an employee, unless perhaps I had hit a C-level position in a larger company by now (which I'm not sure I'm really that interested in anyway).

Moqui Release 1.0-preview2 Now Available

With release 1.0-preview2 the Moqui Framework is now nearly complete and has sufficient functionality to build a wide variety of functional and useful enterprise, or less formal, applications. This release includes a functional example application with various screens demonstrating features of the framework and recommended practices and patterns to use when developing with Moqui.

While not feature-complete for the planned 1.0 feature set, the 1.0-preview2 release is ready for early adopters. For those interested, this is a great time to try out Moqui for a pet project or even a more formal project that is just getting started and won't be deployed in production for at least a few months.

Feedback on functionality and bugs by early adopters would be extremely helpful for the project at this point, both to validate (or invalidate...) designs and to more extensively test the implementation.

The release and release notes are available here:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/moqui/files