siwapp - Free online invoice system

04 DEC 2009

New system requirements for 0.3 release

12:12 c: Important, Siwapp t: 0.3, alpha, development by: Carlos Escribano

As we have said many times, we like things simple both for the user as for the rest of developers. To simplify programming and improve the performance of siwapp, we added the use of triggers in the database. What does this mean? It means that when a figure changes, the database automatically updates the total bill calculations.

The problem is that in MySQL 5.0, although the user has full permissions on her database, she can not create or run triggers on its database. The triggers execute permission is global to the system and no database administrator would agree to grant it.

Therefore, the minimum version of MySQL where this functionality is feasible is MySQL 5.1.6. For technical information you can consult the MySQL documentation.

Please remember to check again the specifications of your web hosting to make sure you install siwapp correctly.

Comments (9)

28 OCT 2009

New templating system adopted

11:51 c: Siwapp, Templates t: 0.3, development, Templates, twig by: Carlos Escribano

It’s wonderful to see how the community of developers is producing high quality tools that can be used in our projects.

Today I would like to announce the use of Twig, a template system redesigned by Fabien Potencier and based on the original code by Armin Ronacher. It is a robust, fast and flexible system that will make very easy the task of creating templates for invoices and any printable item in the application.

Templates will be stored in the database so you will can edit them directly from the application. We will try to make all the process as easy and flexible as we can.

Comments (7)

30 SEP 2009

Feature Requests Forum

18:16 c: Siwapp by: enrique

Today we launch a feature requests forum, thanks to the awesome service of UserVoice. This will guide our future development based on your needs, but don’t forget the main philosophy of Siwapp: “Do invoices, simple and straightforward”. So please, don’t write request out of the scope of siwapp. Everything related to invoices, will be ok.

About the development, we have concluded the Doctrine migration. It has been a hard work, but it’s worthwhile. We are writing a lot of tests, that we think will be very valuable in the future of the development. And finally, we have to revise the template-printing-pdf system. If everything goes ok, I think the next release could be beta. But we will test this version previously in our own business, to be sure that the systems works. So, be patience.

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31 AUG 2009

0.2 Final Release

18:17 c: Siwapp by: enrique

After 3 release candidates, today we release finally the 0.2 version of siwapp. I think only one bug has been found on the installer application, so we can say we have reached the target of this release: the easy installation process.

Some people have reported another bugs, problems, wishes, and so on. Well, be patience… We are working now on the doctrine migration, and we’ll write a lot of unit and functional tests in order to save time in future improvements and refactorings. And please, don’t use it in any production environment yet.

If you have the 0.2.RC3 and don’t want a portuguese translation, don’t waste your time upgrading. The only added feature has been that.

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19 AUG 2009

0.2 alpha RC3

12:34 c: Releases t: 0.2, 0.3, alpha, development, release by: Carlos Escribano

We have updated the 0.2 alpha with a few new bug fixes and without the ability of managing templates (you will see a notice if you attemp to access that section). Read More »

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11 AUG 2009

One step at the time, one more version for our joy

18:48 c: Releases, Siwapp t: 0.2, installer, release by: jzarate

We’re releasing today the first release candidate of the 0.2 version of SIWAPP. Lots of bug fixes, some new features, some brand new refactoring and a little bit of pride

We’ve focused mainly on the install process. We are aware the former install-through-wiki-and-you’re-on-you-own-buddy method was not what you would call “simple”.

This time we’ve developed an web interface for the install process. We have tried hard to make it as simple as possible, making savings on time and confusion, and we also have taken into account that there are quite a few of you -our brave alpha testers- who does not have more than a cheap shared hosting provider which won’t let you much of an access to the server machine, so we’ve assumed you’ve got only ftp access to the server and nothing more.

In this version we’ve made a zip file available for download for those of you that use windows.

We’ve also made two new wiki pages: one of them, with instructions on how to switch the page to a debugger-friendly status for those of you who are courageous enough to not only test it, but debug it! The other one is a simple installation guide.

We plan to create several release candidates, as long as bug reports keep coming and we keep (I hope) fixing it. This brings me to the last topic to mention in this post; the community:

Ok, now that’s me talking. My name is Jose Zarate. I’m a developer at MARKHAUS and I’ve been working for quite a while in SIWAPP.

I’ve always heard about the “community”, and how it helps improve software, and all that stuff, but I hadn’t experienced it untill now. I’m completely astonished on the response. It’s not being like playing world of warcraft, ok, but still it’s been a lot of fun to receive tips, bug reports, help, translations from people all around the world! I’m loving this thing, guys! Seriously, the project is being driven by your suggestions and tips, so please, please keep it coming.

Last but not least, we’re still alpha!

Last but not least, please do join us!

Comments (1)

17 JUN 2009

Demo updated

17:22 c: Siwapp t: demo by: enrique

Today we have updated the demo application with the latest code. You can review our last improvements and changes. A lot of work is still to be done, specially on the installer, but a first approach has been done by Albert, and it promises very good results.

The main changes on version 0.2 actually are:

New translations: catalan (thanks to Albert), and portuguese (thanks to Carlos Cardoso). A french translation is coming soon (thanks to Gael).
A lot of fixed bugs.
CSS has been completely refactored, so we can in the future offer different templates and skins.
Some inputs now have autocompletion features. The customers data is autofilled when it detects the customer match. Invoice items are also autocompleted.

As allways, every feedback will be welcome, we’ll be glad to hear from you!

Comments (10)

11 JUN 2009

0.2 alpha version is coming soon

10:49 c: Siwapp t: alpha by: Carlos Escribano

At this moment we have completed the 76% of the all 54 new tickets we opened for the 0.2 alpha version of siwapp. Our friend Albert is currently working in a first approximation to an installation system, a first step to help you (courageous man with a web server in your hands) to install an alpha version with fewer headaches.

- Remember, If you don’t know what are you doing, please, don’t press the big red button…
- This butt…? (click)

See you soon…

Comments (10)

20 MAY 2009

Did I say that it is an unstable version?

16:26 c: Siwapp t: alpha by: Carlos Escribano

Is not a very interesting story, but you can save some time if you read it: this software is in alpha stage! What does this mean? Take a look at this wikipedia entry for more information.

In short, this means that if you are not a geek and you are not familiar with the world of PHP development, it’s better for you to only test the application demo. In the near future we will develop an installation process similar to Wordpress install script but, as I commented before with one person who had spent its precious time testing the app, we can not start the cart before the horse.

If anyway you want to install the app, we will still be here to get your feedback. Good night and good luck (or something similar).

Comments (8)

19 MAY 2009

Testing Tripoli

21:31 c: Siwapp t: css, development, layout, tripoli by: Carlos Escribano

That’s my new task. I think Yahoo! YUI Library is too large and complicated to use only the CSS reset and fonts files, and it does not provide a flexible way of measuring items for layout in em’s. But it was the best we found until now. Read More »