[Kolab-devel] IM and document store applications

[Mailingliste TBits.net GmbH]

(I'll just go crazy and cross-post this, hope no-one minds...)

The higher-ups commanded that I implement two more Horde applications.  
Maybe something to that effect already exists somewhere in the depth  
of the repository?

One is a 'messaging module', i.e. something akin to e-mail, only with  
some of the properties of SMS and the likes. The basic ideas seem to  
be that
     * a window pops up when a new message is received
     * the user may 'reply' after reading it
     * the 'conversation' is kept in the archive and can be reviewed later
This shall be reserved for 'internal' communication, i.e. a message  
should never leave the company network.
Perhaps the messages could be internally mapped to actual e-mail,  
'delivered' by injecting them into an appropriate (world writable?)  
IMAP folder in the recipient's inbox. The thread of conversation could  
be tracked via 'In-Reply-To' header. Now to just find a way to  
periodically check for new IMs, regardless of which application is  
currently being used...

The other is a 'document management module', where users can  
(basically) upload files everyone else can then download when needed.  
This sounds suspiciously like Gollem could be used as a base, only  
with some sort of tagging mechanism added to it in order to link files  
to projects, customers and whatnot. However, the version of Gollem  
from git cannot seem to work with the Horde/PHP/whatever distribution  
provided by Kolab (at least I didn't manage to get it running and the  
code looks like it wants H4). I suspect some hacking needs to be done  
for it to fit the environment? Since Gollem isn't in the Kolab distro,  
there must be something like that. At any rate, the bosses (and  
probably the whole Kolab crowd as well) will want the files stored in  
IMAP (insert snide remark here), so an appropriate backend would need  
to be implemented whether Gollem can be used or not.

Once again, the image in the Boss Man(tm)'s head is very likely that  
he will get something that is essentially a clone of what we are using  
now (i.e. of the system sold by the guys at www.infra-struktur.de). On  
the other hand, of course, I must insist that abstraction not be lost  
and the results of development work independently of both the notions  
established within our company the whole Kolab dealie (I figure this  
should sit well with the Horde crowd).

Bottom line:
     * If such applications already exist without us knowing, perhaps  
they could be adjusted to meet the big-wig's expectations.
     * If there are concepts or ways of doing things that would lend  
themselves well for this, feel free to point them out.
     * If such applications are actually wanted, they could be merged  
(or somesuch) when we come up with some code. If they are not,  
nevermind.

Sincerely,
Simon Bausch,
currently with TBits.net GmbH


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