Shipment Charges Update.

My day job has been keeping me extremely busy. The project I'm currently working on has some aggressive deadlines and for the last month and a half I had to put on the side working on Overactive Logistics and just doing some little stuff from time to time.

However the shipment charges module is moving on, slowly but moving forward. Here is an screenshoot.

Shipment Charges.

Time to take the road again!. I'm currently working on income and expense shipment and freight shipment charges. Stay tunned for updates.

Overactive Logistics Pre Alpha 1.2 released

WHAT IS OVERACTIVE LOGISTICS
Overactive Logistics is a freight forwarding open source software solution being developed for the cargo transportation industry.
It runs in both web based or stand alone modes and provides a graphical user interface with rich client capabilities.

UNDER WHAT OPEN SOURCE LICENSE IS OVERACTIVE LOGISTICS RELEASED
Overactive Logistics is being release under the Overactive Source Public License which is a derivative from the Mozilla Public License.

WHAT ARE THE GOALS FOR THE FIRST BETA VERSION
The initial Beta version aims to provide the following modules:

-Outgoing Shipments (Air, Ground, Ocean)
-Incoming Shipments (Air, Ground, Ocean)
-SCAC maintenance
-IATA maintenance
-FMC maintenance
-Vendor maintenance
-Carrier maintenace (Air, Land, Ocean)
-Forwarding Agent maintenance
-Ports maintenance
-Schedule D maintenance
-Schedule K maintenance
-Customer maintenance
-Security roles maintenance
-Users maintenance
-Company maintenance
-Reports

WHAT TO EXPECT IN THIS VERSION (PRE ALPHA 1.2)
This version was refactored to implement the latest and official version of EJB 3.0. The Carrier maintenance module was also refactore so the
three types of Carriers (Air, Land, Ocean) are now mapped to a single CARRIER database table.
This version also includes the release of the Shipment maintenance module (work in progress) that is capable of creating Air, Land and Ocean
shipments.

-Vendor maintenance
-SCAC maintenance
-IATA maintenance
-FMC maintenance
-Carrier maintenace (Air, Land, Ocean)
-Forwarding Agent maintenance
-Ports maintenance
-Schedule D maintenance
-Schedule K maintenance
-Customer maintenance
-Security roles maintenance
-Users maintenance
-Company maintenance
-An snapshoot of Outgoing Shipments (Air, Ground, Ocean)

HOW TO INSTALL

Please note that this section lists a high level overview of the installation. For a more detailed guide please visit the following link: Overactive Logistics Installation

Software requirements
-JBoss 4.0.4 GA
-MySQL Server 5.0
-MySQL Administrator 1.1.4
-MySQL Connector/J 5.0
-Web browser with Java Plug-in 1.4.0 or higher

Database creation (using MySQL Administrator)
-Create a new database schema (catalog) called LOGISTICS
-Do a "Restore" using the "logistics.sql" backup file in the newly created "Target Schema" LOGISTICS

Application deployment (in JBoss)
-Type the database user name and password where required inside the file mysql-ds.xml and deploy it in JBoss
-Deploy the mysql-connector-java-5.0.3-bin.jar driver in JBoss
-Deploy the overactive-logistics.ear in JBoss

Running the aplication
-Open your web browser and type the following link:
http://localhost:8080/logistics/
-Once the login screen shows up access the application using the following:
User : admin
Password: admin

WHERE TO GET UP TO DATE INFORMATION ABOUT PROJECT STATUS
You can get information about the project current status and development efforts in our blog located at:
http://overactive-logistics.blogspot.com/

HOW TO CONTACT US
You can contact us sending us an email to:
overactive.source@gmail.com

Added formatted textfield capabilities.

The Overactive Renderer has been enchanced to support formatted textfields by producing JFormattedTextField components with specific mask formats.

The formats supported are String, Integer, Time, Float, Short, Double, Long, Byte, Currency, Phone and Character.

During the past few weeks I implemented the necesary changes in Overactive Logistics to make use of this feature.

Here are some screenshoots showing the Phone and Time formats.

Shipments update.

Shipments is moving forward and getting in good shape, some delays to work on this module were caused by refactoring in the code and adjustments in the entity beans after the migration to the JBoss 4.0.4 version.

I'm still planning to create a release of Overactive Logistics before the end of this month, in the meantime here is an screen shoot of the shipments module.

JBoss 4.0.4

Finally last night I decided to migrate from JBoss 4.0.3 to JBoss 4.0.4. I'm so glad I did! since the EJB3.0 implementation has changed in the new version and it was much better having to deal with it now than later!.

EJB3.0 has made small changes in the entity bean notations and in the way references to sesision beans are acquired out of the InitialContext class. For example now the name that it is bound is the one of the class and not the interface and it should be appended with "/remote" or "/local" respectively.

Also it was very nice to found that JBoss 4.0.4 starts faster while in debug mode and that an existing bug that happened when deploying .par and .ejb3 at the same time has been fixed.

Refactoring done!

I'm done refactoring Overactive Logistics to support automatic data conversion on post invocation in a form. This refactoring eliminated about 40% total of the application's code which was every single line of code written in the Web Commands to take the parameter out of the HttpServletRequest, convert it to the right type and set it in the collection to be sent to the EJBCommand.

Now I'm back with shipments which I calculate is about 70% done, the gui is in place as well as its web and ejb commands plus its ejb maintenance and domain classes. The pieces still to be completed are the notations to map the entitybeans and the database tables.

Significant refactoring comming up.

I'm putting the development of the shipments module temporarily on hold since I came up with a very cool idea that will reduce a lot of the amount of code required in the web commands.

One of the tasks for a web command is to convert the values of the parameters that are comming out from the HttpServletRequest object to their right types. For example a textfield element in a screen module my prompt for a number, when the form is submitted this value is sent to the server side component as an String due to HTTP. The web command then gets this value using the method getParameter(String) and converts it to Integer placing it later in a collection that will contain all the parameters for the required ejb command. This results in writing a lot of code to convert all the non String values to their right types.

By modifying the xsd definition for the input elements to require a type property, their values can be sent in the following way:

Integer:1
String:hello
Boolean:True
Float:5.912

Then a single method can parse all the value and convert them using the information provided.

This refactoring effort will eliminate up to 30% of the code that has already been written however it will require modify all the stylesheets to provide the type property in the definition of each input element.

Shipment module update.

The shipments module progress is moving slowly mainly because I'm trying to avoid the need for any future refactoring as much as possible. As I move forward I've been making improvements and refining the core framework that will minimize the amount of code written in the web commands.

If possible I'll try to have a release at the end of this month.

Moving forward.

I've been making a lot of progress with the gui for the shipments module. So far I need to finish some tedious but important details before moving to work on the shipment domain model.
Stay tunned for more updates.

Shipments.

Slowly I'm making progress on the shipments module. This module will support incoming and outgoing air, land and ocean shipments. Here is a preview of it.

Overactive Logistics installation guide.

Updated on November 14 2007

Software Requirements.
-Java SE Development Kit 6
-JBoss 4.2.2 GA
-MySQL Server 5.0
-MySQL Administrator
-MySQL Connector/J
-Web browser with Java Plug-in 1.4.0 or higher

1. Install Java
-Go to http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads
-Download and install the "Java SE Development Kit 6" (JDK 6).
For specific instructions on how to install the Java SE Development Kit 6 go to http://java.sun.com/javase/6/webnotes/install/index.html

2. Install MySql
-Go to http://dev.mysql.com/downloads
-Download and install "MySQL 5.0"
-Download and install "MySQL GUI Tools"
-Also download "MySQL Connector/J 5.0" and extract the archive "mysql-connector-java-5.0.4-bin.jar" this will be later deployed into JBoss.
For more detailed information about MySQL 5.0 go to http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/index.html

3. Install JBoss
-Go to http://labs.jboss.com/jbossas/downloads
-Click "Download" for the 4.2.2 GA version.
-Download the file "jboss-4.2.2.GA.zip"
-To install JBoss just unzip "jboss-4.2.2.GA.zip"

For more detailed information about JBoss go to http://labs.jboss.com/portal/jbossas/docs (registration required)

4. Download Overactive Logistics
-Go to http://sourceforge.net/projects/overactive
-Download the distribution "overactive-logistics-pre-alpha1.5"

5. Generate the Overactive Logistics Database
-Extract from the "overactive-logistics-pre-alpha1.5.zip" the "logistics.sql" file.
-Run MySQL Administrator
-Select Catalogs and create a new schema called LOGISTICS
-Select Restore and open the "logistics.sql" back up file.
-Select the Target Schema LOGISTICS
-Start Restore

6. Deploy the Datasource
-Extract from the "overactive-logistics-pre-alpha1.5.zip" the "mysql-ds.xml" file.
-Open the "mysql-ds.xml" file.
-Provide the username and password for the database where indicated. These could be the ones used to log on to "MySQL Administrator"


-Copy the "mysql-ds.xml" file into the "deploy" folder in your JBoss installation.

7. Deploy the Database Driver
-Copy the "mysql-connector-java-5.0.4-bin.jar" into the "deploy" folder in your JBoss installation.

8. Deploy Overactive Logistics
-Extract from the "overactive-logistics-pre-alpha1.4.zip" the "overactive-logistics.ear" file.
-Copy the "overactive-logistics.ear" into the "deploy" folder in your JBoss installation.

At the end the "deploy" folder in your JBoss installation should look like this:
















9. Run Overactive Logistics
-Open your web browser and type the following link:
http://localhost:8080/logistics/

Note: Your web browser should have the Java Plug-in 1.4.0 or higher installed. This is normally done as part of the
"Java SE Development Kit 6" installation.

-Once the login screen shows up access the application using the following:
User : admin
Password: admin

Vacation time!

Ok... the time to strech my legs, get some nice sun tan and get away from the monitor has come once again!. I'll be back on line in two weeks, in the meantime thanks so much to all the people that has gotten in contact with me to in regard of the latest version of Overactive Logistics.

Got a JCalendar!

The Overactive Logistics project has decided to make use of the JCalendar component which is part of the FLib open source library created by Antonio Freixas.

His outstanding work can be found at http://flib.sourceforge.net

Kuddos Tony!

Here is an screenshoot of JCalendar

Screenshoots! Screenshoots!

With the new Pre Alpha 1.1 release I thought it would be a good idea to publish some screenshoots. Here they are:

Overactive Logistics Version Pre Alpha 1.1 released

WHAT IS OVERACTIVE LOGISTICS
Overactive Logistics is a freight forwarding open source software solution being developed for the cargo transportation industry.
It runs in both web based or stand alone modes and provides a graphical user interface with rich client capabilities.

UNDER WHAT OPEN SOURCE LICENSE IS OVERACTIVE LOGISTICS RELEASED
Overactive Logistics is being release under the Overactive Source Public License which is a derivative from the Mozilla Public License.

WHAT ARE THE GOALS FOR THE FIRST BETA VERSION
The initial Beta version aims to provide the following modules:

-Outgoing Shipments (Air, Ground, Ocean)
-Incoming Shipments (Air, Ground, Ocean)
-SCAC maintenance
-IATA maintenance
-FMC maintenance
-Vendor maintenance
-Carrier maintenace (Air, Land, Ocean)
-Forwarding Agent maintenance
-Ports maintenance
-Schedule D maintenance
-Schedule K maintenance
-Customer maintenance
-Security roles maintenance
-Users maintenance
-Company maintenance
-Reports

WHAT TO EXPECT IN THIS VERSION (PRE ALPHA 1.1)
This version went under a heavy refactoring to make use of inheritance which was not possible before the EJB 3.0 port. Also the Overactive Renderer
was refactored to implement an improved mechanism for gui component reuse and event handling plus a better way to reference parent window callers.
The Overactive Logistics code had to be refactored as well to make use of these new features.
This version Pre Alpha 1.1 contains the definite release of the arquitecture that will be used during the rest of the project, no major changes are expected.

-Vendor maintenance
-SCAC maintenance
-IATA maintenance
-FMC maintenance
-Carrier maintenace (Air, Land, Ocean)
-Forwarding Agent maintenance
-Ports maintenance
-Schedule D maintenance
-Schedule K maintenance
-Customer maintenance
-Security roles maintenance
-Users maintenance
-Company maintenance
-An snapshoot of Outgoing Shipments (Air, Ground, Ocean)

WHERE TO GET UP TO DATE INFORMATION ABOUT PROJECT STATUS
You can get information about the project current status and development efforts in our blog located at:
http://overactive-logistics.blogspot.com

And you can download the project from Sourceforge at:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/overactive

HOW TO CONTACT US
You can contact us sending us an email to:
overactive.source@gmail.com

Guts and glory!

I spent some time today updating the class diagrams to reflect the latest refactoring efforts. I'll be publishing a new Pre Alpha 1.1 release before the end of this week before heading for the construction of the shipments module.

Got vendors maintenance module!

For the last few months Overactive Logistcs went through a heavy refactoring first to support EJB3.0 in order to make effective use of inheritance and second to implement an improved mechanism for gui component reuse and event handling plus a better way to reference parent window callers.

The refactoring is completely done! and Overactive Logistics is now back on track.
One of the latest additions is the implementation of the vendors maintenance module, here are some screenshoots.

Here we have opened the vendors module and have pressed the search button.
The vendors list window shows the vendors that have been created.



















After selecting the vendor it is displayed in the module.



















This module and other refactorings that have been made to the company maintenance will support the creation of shipments.

A new version Overactive Logistics Pre Alpha 1.1 will be released this week.

The Overactive Manifiesto.

First of all this is not a will-be-dead project, meaning that it is not one of the thousands of projects that are started by a group of highly motivated individuals only to be abandoned somewhere in SourceForge a couple of months later.

Certainly the development of Overactive Logistics has been at small pace but this is mainly because I'm the only developer, I do not have any sort of funding and all my work is done during my spare time. Like many Open Source software enthusiasts I have a day job as a Software Developer plus wife and kids.

The Overactive Logistics solution is being developed on top of two frameworks Overactive Core which I built after finding Struts way to robust to fit my needs and Overactive Renderer which is my way to provide a solution for adding rich client capabilities to web based applications.

The development of these two frameworks took me nearly 2 years before I decided to embark on the trek to develop Overactive Logistics.

So why Overactive Logistics?

Most Open Source software efforts nowadays are focused on the creation of programming languages, development environments, frameworks, application servers and operating systems. In comparison enterprise business software solutions like Compiere and SugarCRM are not as many.

Overactive Logistics is an effort to create a robust enterprise Open Source solution for the cargo transportation industry that fits in that category and that freight forwarders can use to manage their logistic operations.

The way I'm heading is that eventually when Overactive Logistics gets mature enough and the right moment arrives, I'll be looking to create an start-up that provides support, training and software implementation services around the product. This company will use only the Open Source business model and will focus initially on Overactive Logistics with later plans to develop more solutions.

Any questions or comments can be sent to the following email address:

overactive.source@gmail.com

"this" and "parent"

During the ongoing refactoring efforts I found necesary to improve the way screens can be reused after being renderer by the Overactive Renderer. This issue was partially fixed in the current demos by the introduction of a "key" attribute in the spec for each component description. This key was randomly generated and managed in the web commands of the application making the code low cohesive that what it should be.

During the last week I worked to come up with a model that promotes reusability by delegating the management of the key to the Overactive Renderer eliminating the need to manage the key in the code of the application making the stylesheets and web command easier to read and maintain.

With this model the introduction of two prefixes have been intruduced: "this" and "parent".

The key as I mentioned is generated and managed internally now by the Overactive Renderer. Now we can only invoke actions on components that are defined in the same form by using "this". When invoking an action on a component of a parent window the use of the prefix parent "parent" has been introduced.

My efforts during the comming days will be to cleanup all the stylesheets to make use of this new model.

Refactoring progress.

The Carrier, Agent and Customer domain classes now extend ShipperEntity, some extra refactoring effort was needed to the xml stylesheets for the carrier maintenance module since we no longer have a Carrier standing for itself but have Air, Ocean and Land subtypes.

Some refactoring is needed in the web command and ejb command classes too, once they are done I'll proceed with the vendor maintenance module who will also be extending from ShipperEntity.

Carrier, Agent and Customer refactoring.

Ok. It's official! Certifications are cleared and now I'm back at full speed once again!.
I'm currently refactoring the Carrier, Agent and Customer domains to inherit from a new ShipperEntity superclass which is a requirement for the shipments module construction.
This would not have been possible without the lengthy but necesary porting to EJB3.0.
Also I found that a module for vendor maintenance is necesary and it is already in my todo list.

Shipments.

I started working on the analysis and design to implement shipments. This will make use of all the details entered in each of the maintenance modules (customer, carrier, agent, scac, etc, etc...).
Carriers, customers and agents will require a little refactoring which is now possible to achieve with the EJB 3.0 porting. So far everything is looking good.

If nothing gets on my way I'm planning to clear my pending certifications next week. Once done I'll be able to come back on track and full speed to the project.

Getting certified.

During the following days Overactive Logistics will be in a temporary state of suspended animation while this author has to earn some credentials by clearing out some certification exams.

What I thought it was going to be a 2 week study process suddenly became hardened by the presence of two little individuals climbing over my back and running all over the place while I desperately was looking for some peaceful corner in the apartment to settle down.

It won't be too long, I promise. So comeback in the next few weeks for updates.

Overactive Logistics Pre Alpha 1.0 (EJB 3.0 port) released

VERSION
overactive-logistics-pre-alpha1.0

WHAT IS OVERACTIVE LOGISTICS
Overactive Logistics is a freight forwarding open source software solution being developed entirely on J2EE for the cargo transportation industry. It runs in both web based or stand alone modes and provides a graphical user interface with rich client capabilities.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN THIS DEMO
This is a port of the previous demo release to EJB 3.0 and is an snapshoot of the work been done so far, there is still a long way to go, however this little sample aims to give you a hands on experience with the application. This demo has the following maintenance modules:

-SCAC maintenance
-IATA maintenance
-FMC maintenance
-Carrier maintenace (Air, Land, Ocean)
-Forwarding Agent maintenance
-Ports maintenance
-Schedule D maintenance
-Schedule K maintenance
-Customer maintenance
-Security roles maintenance
-Users maintenance
-Company maintenance

UNDER WHAT OPEN SOURCE LICENSE IS OVERACTIVE LOGISTICS RELEASED
Overactive Logistics is being release under the Overactive Source Public License which is a derivative from the Mozilla Public License.

WHERE TO GET UP TO DATE INFORMATION ABOUT PROJECT STATUS
You can downoload Overactive Logistics from Source Forge at:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/overactive

You can get information about the project current status and development efforts in our blog located at:
http://overactive-logistics.blogspot.com/

HOW TO CONTACT US
You can contact us sending us an email to:
overactive.source@gmail.com

Overactive Logistics ported to EJB 3.0

Overactive Logistics has completely been ported to EJB 3.0 and is on a heavy regression test. Once the test is done and any bugs found are fixed I will be creating a new release. This release will not contain any new features than the previous one other than the fact that is a port of the current application, however it exposes a cleaner and better architecture.

EJB 3.0 port update.

70 % of the project has been ported to EJB 3.0. I'm currently working on carrier maintenance and once done I will go for customer and agent maintenance modules. My plan is to make a release as soon as I'm done with the porting. I'll keep you posted.