NYCPHP Meetup

[Allen Shaw]

Hi All,

I have an Open Source PHP/MySQL project I've been doing solo for quite a 
while, and I need some opinions on the value of continuing it.  Any 
comments you can make on the following situation are greatly 
appreciated.  I explain the situation first, and then some details on 
the project.

Some time ago (two or three years by now) I was looking for a package 
that would let me move my existing MS-Access database to an online 
system, preferably using PHP and MySQL.  I didn't find anything 
existing, so I started making my own.  (It was around that time that I 
subscribed to NYPHP-Talk.)

For a long time I've thought of this as an Open Source project, even 
gave it a name and got a spot on Sourceforge a few months ago, started a 
blog and a wiki to organize and publicize my thoughts on it, and spent a 
good deal of energy trying to separate the generic reusable parts from 
the "my database app" parts. So now I actually have a project that is 
self-contained and could be used to create Web-based database apps 
similar to what you might create with MS-Access.

I personally think it's pretty neat, and I keep using it because I like 
it and I couldn't find anything better.  But the effort of using it 
myself is significantly less than what it takes to make sure it's 
acceptable as a public project.  And recently I've started to think that 
maybe the PHP communitye doesn't need a package like this.  So I have to 
assess whether to keep investing in the public angle or just go back to 
doing it for myself.  I'd like you're opinion.

Here's what the thing does:
As I mentioned above, this was originally meant to be a PHP/MySQL 
replacement for MS-Access.  It mostly keeps the same  concepts of forms 
and reports (using Smarty templates), queries, and modules, so it gives 
a pretty nicely structured environment for creating an application.  
It's not meant for typical online publishing applications like blogging 
or similar jobs that could be handled well by most CMS packages, but 
primarily for data input and retrieval systems, like databases for 
membership, personnel, inventory, etc.  One of the best features, I 
think, is the ability to control access to different sections of your 
app based on the user's membership in different permission groups.  With 
this package, I can get a database app running pretty quickly, by 
creating a few tables and a few templates, then assigning the 
navigational links ("actions") to different permission groups, and 
setting up whatever users there are.

Pros and Cons:
There are a few things I really like about this package, and some things 
I think are going to limit it.  To keep this email less long, I'll link 
to the list here: http://polymerdb.org/wiki/doku.php?id=pros_and_cons

My Questions:
1. Is there something already out there that's better?
2. Is this kind of project even interesting to the PHP community?
3. If it's worth continuing, I'll take any recommendations on best ways 
to move it forward.

Other links:
Blog: http://polymerdb.org
About: http://polymerdb.org/?postid=1
Wiki: http://polymerdb.org/wiki
Sourceforge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/polymer

Thanks for your time and input.

- Allen

-- 
Allen Shaw
Polymer (http://polymerdb.org)