We just launched our new Jivespace Plugin Directory for Clearspace plugins! You can now more easily find and download plugins from Jivespace, and if you are developing plugins, you can add your plugins to the new directory.
The really cool part is that we created the entire plugin directory as a plugin to Clearspace. Our web engineer, Tim, took our existing document content type and extended it to create a new plugin type with additional information relevant to plugins along with a new look and feel for the plugin directory. He also used the plugin jar to pull almost all of the metadata displayed with the plugins, including license, logo, readme, compatible versions, and much more. For developers, this means that you only need to enter the information in your plugin, instead of having to duplicate all of the information by filling out redundant forms. It also means that when you update your plugin jar file with a new release, the plugin information will be automatically updated.
Tim is currently working on polishing the code a bit, but he will be releasing this as a plugin for other people to use as a plugin marketplace. It also provides a very useful example of how to extend an existing Clearspace content type to create a new content type in Clearspace.
Keep in mind that this is just the first version of our Plugin Directory, and we plan to start making incremental improvements and enhancements. But first, we want to hear from you. Take a look at the new Jivespace Plugin Directory. What do you like? dislike? How can we make this even better in future revisions? Please leave comments with your ideas on this blog post!
Jim Tremlett just released, Member Map, a new plugin for Clearspace based on Google Maps.
The Member Map plugin builds on the Google Map plugin developed by Jay Allen. The plugin displays the location of members of a community based on their addresses. The plugin employs Google's Map API for both the display of the map as well as the geocoding of addresses. As such, the address may be as general as a zip code or state, or as specific as a full address including street address.
Appfire has just released the FlashCharts Plugin for Clearspace. The Appfire FlashCharts Plugin introduces "data visualization" to Clearspace through stunning XML-based Flash charts and graphs. 20 different flavors of animated charts are individually controlled through 'macro parameters' and a set of associated 'xml data structures' required by each chart type.
You can get all of the details about the FlashCharts plugin and download other cool Clearspace plugins on Jivespace.
We are tentatively planning to hold a Jive Developer Day event focused on the Clearspace 2.0 release. But before we make anything official, we wanted to make sure that people were interested in attending.
What I need to know
(See below for details)
Are you interested in attending?
If so, would you also attend an optional Saturday event?
Any suggestions to improve the event?
Target Audience
People writing plugins, customizing, or doing other development on Clearspace.
Tentative Logistics
Location: Jive's World HQ in lovely Portland Oregon
Date: April 10-11
Price: Maybe free or a very small registration fee.
Rough Agenda
4/10
6-8pm Happy hour with a presentation on New Technologies and Implications for Upgrading to Clearspace 2.0.
4/11
8-9: Breakfast / networking
9-9:15: Kickoff with Matt / Bill / Marty
9:15: Session 1 - Tips, Tricks & Best Practices for theming Clearspace 2.0
10-10:15: Break
10:15-11: Session 2 - Widgets to customize home and other pages in Clearspace 2.0
11-11:45: Session 3 - Lessons in upgrading the Google Maps plugin to 2.0
11:45-12:45: Lunch & networking (or working lunch)
12:45-1:30: Session 4 - Plugins and Macros in Clearspace 2.0
1:30-2:15: Session 5 - TBD
2:15-2:30: Break
2:30-3:15: Session 6 - Web Services - what you can do in CS 2.0
3:15-5:15: Coding workshop - Attendees bring their code, ask questions, & get tips from roving Jive engineers
5:15-??: Happy hour & Dinner with Jive developers and brainstorming ideas for improving Clearspace
4/12
If people are interested, we would be happy to organize a fun Saturday event like a wine tasting, bowling, beers of the NW, etc. We'd probably ask people to chip in to cover the costs of this event, but you would get to hang out with cool people from Jive
Having a tough issue with Clearspace? Curious about why we do things the way we do? Just want to learn more about customizing Clearspace?
On Thursday at 9am PST, we will be hosting our first Jivespace group chat. A few of us (including some of the people who wrote Clearspace) will be hanging out in the group chat, so it would be great if a few of you would join us!
You can ask us anything