Important things to know about the API and the dev mailing list
This is a reminder of important things to know about the API and the [email protected] mailing list. *** ==================================================================== *** Contents *** -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Appropriate Mailing List 2. SDK + Developers Guide 3. Form of your Messages 4. Support Questions 5. Reporting Defects 6. Contributions 7. Newsletter *** ==================================================================== *** 1. Appropriate Mailing List *** -------------------------------------------------------------------- Not all questions are really API issues. That said the former projects of OOo are now collapsed to the Apache OpenOffice project. [email protected] is always appropriate. http://udk.openoffice.org for questions about UNO bridges and language bindings including StarBASIC/OOoBASIC http://framework.openoffice.org/scripting/ for questions about the scripting framework http://xml.openoffice.org for questions regarding our XML file formats *** ==================================================================== *** 2. SDK + Developers Guide *** -------------------------------------------------------------------- Please install the SDK from the OOo download area and read at least the chapters First Steps and the chapter your question is about of the Developers Guide. This is a list of volunteers, not a support forum. We like to help you, but we cannot do the footwork for you. An online version of the Developers Guide can be found here: http://api.openoffice.org/DevelopersGuide/DevelopersGuide.html *** ==================================================================== *** 3. Form of your Messages *** -------------------------------------------------------------------- Please use an appropriate form for your messages: - quote as much as is necessary to make context understandable, NOT more - do NOT put a full quote below your message - do NOT use HTML mails - do NOT attach documents - do NOT ask NEW questions in reply to existing threads By breaking these rules, do not wonder if your question remains unanswered, most likely even unseen due to mail filters. If you have additional data, like a document or a longer source code, please provide us a link where we can download these. You might upload such documents to the file area: http://api.openoffice.org/servlets/ProjectDownloadList As far as I know, everybody can do that, you might need an OpenOffice.org account. As the responsible project lead, I just have to approve the files to get published. But keep in mind: the more a volunteer has to read to grab your question, the lesser the change for an answer. *** ==================================================================== *** 4. Support Questions *** -------------------------------------------------------------------- Please keep in mind that we developers cannot always answer specific questions or even implement features for your application. This is NOT a support forum in the sense of guaranteed help. If we have a solution in mind, we will help you. But if it costs us too much time, and it is a specific problem, we might not be able to spend the time on your issue. On the other hand, we try to answer all questions. And we need the support of other community members. But even as somebody who has only questions yet, you can already contribute to OOo: If you had a question and it was answered to your satisfaction it would be great if you post a summary in our standardized form: http://api.openoffice.org/SDK/snippets/index.html This avoids using up the time of the volunteers to answer the same questions over and over again. Thanks for your contribution! If your question is related to your application code, please include a minimalistic version of your source code with your question. And please add all important information. This includes mostly the concrete component which you are using, the platform, version of OOo and OOo SDK your programming language. There might be a big difference, if your problem is with a Text object in OOo/Writer or a Text object in a OOo/Draw shape. But keep your information as short as possible. Do not post complete programs! The better you cut it down, to the issue, the higher the change for an volunteer who picks your question up and answers. IMPORTANT: Please avoid sending mails personally to the project developers, unless you are explicitly asked to do so. We do not offer direct support by personal email. *** ==================================================================== *** 5. Reporting Defects *** -------------------------------------------------------------------- If you are pretty sure that you found a defect in either the documentation or implementation, please file this issue on OOos IssueZilla: https://www.openoffice.org/project_issues.html Implementation bugs which do not only occur by API usage can be reported directly to the appropriate project (like sw, sd, sc or framework), API specification an documentation issues or missing interfaces you can file to the API project. StarBASIC/OOoBASIC issues actually belong to the UDK project. If you choose the wrong project, your issue might be delayed. Please do not misuse IssueZilla as a support tool. It is not and your issue will simply be rejected. *** ==================================================================== *** 6. Contributions *** -------------------------------------------------------------------- There are plenty possibilities of contributions to OOo, even for "absolute beginners". Here some ideas: - Read the documentation and report issues if you find any (-> 5. Reporting Defects) - Use the applications and API and report issues if you find any (-> 5. Reporting Defects) - Summarize answers which were given to your questions (-> 4. Support questions) - Contribute your larger API examples to our example collection (http://api.openoffice.org/SDK/example_collection.html) If you want to provide us with source code or documentation, we need a copyright assignment: http://www.openoffice.org/contributing.html Please read this document to learn about how and why.
