In an effort to remove the dependency on Ant, the Java-based build tool we have been using to build, test, and produce distribution packages of MODx Revolution, I spent the last week learning Phing, refactoring the xPDO and MODx Revolution build processes to use it, and writing a custom Phing Task to handle our YUICompressor requirements.
I recently published a new Snippet for quickly caching the output of any MODx Element for a configurable amount of time. By default, it uses the Resource caching mechanism and stores it's data uniquely by Resource, properties, and additional REQUEST parameters. So anytime the page is requested and the cache has expired, the Element will be processed fresh. And that's just the simplest application…
I've created a quick utility Snippet for MODx Revolution that logs how long it takes to execute a Snippet (or Chunk) you wrap with it. Makes it easy to find out if a particular tag is creating a performance bottleneck in your MODx Resources.
I was terribly anxious for the inaugural MODxpo event in Dallas. I had not given a presentation in front of anyone since 2000, when I was a Knowledge Management Analyst for an Enterprise Portal startup called Viador. Back then I did training sessions for the Technical Field Agents, and I remember how much I hated giving presentations. In fact, I think that's why I quit that job, because they had just informed me that would be my full time gig. But I digress.
Despite the anxiety, I was the one who needed to present xPDO, so I was going and I was presenting. Now, to even get to Dallas, I had to travel 11 hours from my home in Taos, New Mexico. I only recently moved to the Taos area, and my knowledge of the roads is, well, inadequate at best. And combined with Google Maps, life threatening at worst, as I found out Sunday morning shortly after 6am.
MODx Evolution's Snippet Parameters were reinvented in Revolution as Element Properties: any Element can now have them, not just Snippets. And in addition, Property Sets. Groups of properties that any number of Elements can share, in a variety of ways. Cool, huh!?
I've restarted work on SQLite support for xPDO, and things are looking good so far. This will be targeted at PHP 5.2's PDO driver for SQLite3, not the older sqlite2 PDO driver included with PHP 5.1.x that is no longer available via PECL. It may be easily adaptable however.
Shaun and I are working hard to complete 2.0.0-RC2, making key optimizations and taking care of as many loose ends as possible. Everyone that is interested, please get involved; test, use, and create with RC1 (or the latest in SVN). The more feedback we get, the better chance we'll have of making this our last Release Candidate.
After a few weeks of discovering Git, I have stopped using my Subversion clients altogether. In fact, I now use git-svn as my SVN client, and could not be happier about it. Git really is an amazing set of tools. Here's why I am suddenly so addicted to the Git…