RE: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities
Let me know which clients this file works on and which ones it doesn’t. I’m particularly interested in the description field. Most clients ignore the html formatting and I’m not worried about that * I am interested in missing text. The commas and semicolons are escaped * hopefully the clients properly process that and show non-escaped commas and semicolons. (See the Feb 2 event, for an example.) pete _ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 3:07 PM To: LDS Open Source Software ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org Subject: Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities Pete Whiting wrote: I am aware that the ical file doesn’t cleanly import into outlook * a quick search of the error message on the web leads me to believe others are having similar problems * if you can modify the file such that outlook will accept it and then provide me that file I might be able to get the ical export to match it. Parenthetically, upon reviewing rfc 2445 it appears that commas, semi colons, and slashes need to be escaped in the description text. This fixes the koffice import problem but doesn’t seem to help the outlook import. I still need to verify it doesn’t break the mac ical import. Just post test files to the list... I am sure we would all be willing to try them with our favorite calendaring application and maybe even read the RFC to help figure out what is wrong. Regarding the ward directory, I’m hopeful this calendar export will prove useful enough to convince those who own the decision to allow the same for the ward list. Hopeful as well... Then I can get rid of another screen scraper and the support that goes along with it. I assume the concern is the evil mormon, multiple-level marketeer that uses this data to push his latest skin products and vitamins. Of course, the data would be limited to members of his own ward (who know where to find him) and members have the option keeping their data private. -stacey. ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss -- NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message. -- ward-export.ics Description: Binary data ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities
Agree with Stacey -- the privacy concern seems unfounded since the data is available to them in human readable form (which is what most would use for evil purposes anyway). MLS already provides the .csv export feature for leaders (I can take that file and import into Outlook). But having that feature tied to the ward computer is a big (and unnecessary) hassle. I keep all ward records on my home machine as well as my smartphone. This greatly helps me in my work but keeping everything in sync with changes is far from convenient. I know you don't own the decision...I'm just trying to provide extra fodder if you can help influence those who do. -aaron Regarding the ward directory, I'm hopeful this calendar export will prove useful enough to convince those who own the decision to allow the same for the ward list.Hopeful as well...Then I can get rid of another screen scraper and thesupport that goes along with it.I assume the concern is the evilmormon, multiple-level marketeer that uses this data to push his latest skin products and vitamins.Of course, the data would be limited tomembers of his own ward (who know where to find him) and members havethe option keeping their data private.-stacey.___ Ldsoss mailing listLdsoss@lists.ldsoss.orghttp://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities
Check out Scout Tracker: http://www.jaynorth.net/?view=scouttracker I set up Scout Tracker for my brother to use with his troop, and he has been very happy with it. The author used to also distribute a web application to track Duty to God progress, but he felt like there wasn't much interest in it. Scout Tracker, on the other hand, is under active development. Richard Esplin On Tuesday 07 February 2006 12:33, Gary Thornock wrote: --- TJ Hunter [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The church might also get into legal trouble with creating the software. The BSA is pretty strict with their copyrights and I would imagine they have their own software available to leaders for a price. As it happens, the BSA doesn't produce software like that. They have a data interchange specification that software developers can use to interact with the systems at the council offices, but from there, it's up to third party developers to produce unit management programs. There are a number of good ones available, albeit most if not all of them are Windows-only, which isn't the best way to make Mac and Linux users (am I the only one?) happy. ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
RE: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities
I’m not aware of a validator * if someone is please point me at it. _ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 9:06 AM To: LDS Open Source Software ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org Subject: RE: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities That's awesome Pete! I will definitely start using that as a regular tool on the Ward websites. Interfaces/APIs are always good. Just curious, is there a validator anywhere you can use to test the ical files just to ensure they are meeting standards? I would think as long as they meet established standards, it should be up to the individual clients to follow those standards. (we're running into similar problems at work with Zimbra following standards, but not all clients supporting those standards) Jesse -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Peter Whiting Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 6:33 AM To: LDS Open Source Software Subject: Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities On Mon, Feb 06, 2006 at 02:36:25PM -0600, Stacey wrote: Given that an almost working calendar export feature is available from the ldschurch guys I am planning to replace my script with an instruction page on how to export calendars directly. We pushed a change to production that should make the calendars usable in ical (needed a carriage return on the last line of the file.) I've been told there are some issues with import into koffice (apparently with commas in the body of the text) but I don't think it makes sense for us to start mangling the content of the description to accommodate the idiosyncrasies of different calendar applications - rather we'll leave those for filters executed by the end-user. Please provide feedback, especially if you see areas where the ical and/or vcal outputs don't adhere to their specs. pete ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss -- NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message. -- ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities
Sorry for top-posting here, but my comment is a general response to the interaction I'm seeing here. I'm encouraged to see this openness between the development efforts of the church and the LDS tech community here. My feeling is that the perception earlier of many was that trying to get any feedback or suggestions into church software development was a big black box. It seems that is changing, which is very refreshing. I've thought to myself that the church unlike other business entities doesn't really have any trade secrets it needs to be hiding so I would hope that development processes could be a bit more transparent, and open to the community. It seems like that is happening. Woohoo! As a suggestion to those developing the stake and ward websites, I would love to see a system integrated into those websites that would allow for the tracking of YM Duty to God and YW Personal Progress tracking. Such a system would allow YM and YW and their parents to login and update which requirements they have completed. It would allow stake and ward youth leaders to login and see progress being made. When the Deacons quorum advisor would login he would be able to see the young men under his stewardship and their progress. Bishoprics would be able to see all the information for thier wards, and likewise stake presidencies for their stakes. On a larger scale, such a system could potentially provide the General Authorities with a lot of useful information on how these programs are funtioning church-wide. -- Dan On Tue, 7 Feb 2006, Peter Whiting wrote: On Mon, Feb 06, 2006 at 02:36:25PM -0600, Stacey wrote: Given that an almost working calendar export feature is available from the ldschurch guys I am planning to replace my script with an instruction page on how to export calendars directly. We pushed a change to production that should make the calendars usable in ical (needed a carriage return on the last line of the file.) I've been told there are some issues with import into koffice (apparently with commas in the body of the text) but I don't think it makes sense for us to start mangling the content of the description to accommodate the idiosyncrasies of different calendar applications - rather we'll leave those for filters executed by the end-user. Please provide feedback, especially if you see areas where the ical and/or vcal outputs don't adhere to their specs. pete ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities
Pete Whiting wrote: I’m not aware of a validator * if someone is please point me at it. Pete, I don't know of one either but I was thinking of testing your iCal output with the iCal perl module but haven't found the time yet. FYI, it works great now with Apple iCal. Maybe others could report on other calendaring apps that support ical import. Regards, -stacey. ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
Re: Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities
On Tue, 7 Feb 2006, TJ Hunter wrote: The church might also get into legal trouble with creating the software. The BSA is pretty strict with their copyrights and I would imagine they have their own software available to leaders for a price. I don't think this would be too much of an issue. There are a large number of software programs out there already that allow you to track scouting progress. -- Dan ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
RE: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities
Thanks for the feedback. I am aware that the ical file doesnt cleanly import into outlook a quick search of the error message on the web leads me to believe others are having similar problems if you can modify the file such that outlook will accept it and then provide me that file I might be able to get the ical export to match it. Parenthetically, upon reviewing rfc 2445 it appears that commas, semi colons, and slashes need to be escaped in the description text. This fixes the koffice import problem but doesnt seem to help the outlook import. I still need to verify it doesnt break the mac ical import. Regarding the vcal format, I need to review the spec to make sure I understand how to deal with events that do not have an associated time (only a date). If you can post a sample of what the vcal vevent should look like it may save some work. Also, it would be nice to understand how to properly handle an event that has a start date but not a stop date. In ical Im using a stop time of midnight and in vcal Im not including the DTEND at all. Finally, if someone wants to verify that timezones in vcal work the same as in ical I can then add them to the vcal export for church-wide events. Regarding the ward directory, Im hopeful this calendar export will prove useful enough to convince those who own the decision to allow the same for the ward list. pete From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 11:53 AM To: LDS Open Source Software ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org Subject: Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities Peter, I tried using this feature yesterday to do an import into Outlook 2003. I got an error with the iCal format saying it was an invalid file so I used the vCal format instead. The import seemed to work but many of the events actually showed up a day early in Outlook (than the day the appear on the online calendar) -- it doesn't happen with every event, just some of them -- it may just be with events that don't have a time associated with them (at least the time doesn't show up on the month view). Are you aware of this bug? Has the church also considered making a ward directory download available as well? Making it easy to import the ward list into electronic devices would also be a big win. -aaron On 2/7/06, Peter Whiting [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Mon, Feb 06, 2006 at 02:36:25PM -0600, Stacey wrote: Given that an almost working calendar export feature is available from the ldschurch guys I am planning to replace my script with an instruction page on how to export calendars directly. We pushed a change to production that should make the calendars usable in ical (needed a carriage return on the last line of the file.) I've been told there are some issues with import into koffice (apparently with commas in the body of the text) but I don't think it makes sense for us to start mangling the content of the description to accommodate the idiosyncrasies of different calendar applications - rather we'll leave those for filters executed by the end-user. Please provide feedback, especially if you see areas where the ical and/or vcal outputs don't adhere to their specs. pete ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss --
Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities
Pete Whiting wrote: I am aware that the ical file doesn’t cleanly import into outlook – a quick search of the error message on the web leads me to believe others are having similar problems – if you can modify the file such that outlook will accept it and then provide me that file I might be able to get the ical export to match it. Parenthetically, upon reviewing rfc 2445 it appears that commas, semi colons, and slashes need to be escaped in the description text. This fixes the koffice import problem but doesn’t seem to help the outlook import. I still need to verify it doesn’t break the mac ical import. Just post test files to the list... I am sure we would all be willing to try them with our favorite calendaring application and maybe even read the RFC to help figure out what is wrong. Regarding the ward directory, I’m hopeful this calendar export will prove useful enough to convince those who own the decision to allow the same for the ward list. Hopeful as well... Then I can get rid of another screen scraper and the support that goes along with it. I assume the concern is the evil mormon, multiple-level marketeer that uses this data to push his latest skin products and vitamins. Of course, the data would be limited to members of his own ward (who know where to find him) and members have the option keeping their data private. -stacey. ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities
Regarding the ward directory, Im hopeful this calendar export will prove useful enough to convince those who own the decision to allow the same for the ward list. Hopeful as well... Then I can get rid of another screen scraper and the support that goes along with it. I assume the concern is the evil mormon, multiple-level marketeer that uses this data to push his latest skin products and vitamins. Of course, the data would be limited to members of his own ward (who know where to find him) and members have the option keeping their data private. This is promising. Our ward has found that it is only the ward leaders who are interested in a ward directory in their desktop address book and portable device. The default lds.org membership directory has sufficed for everyone else. Because it is only ward leaders, we've justified providing them with additional information in the vCards notes section such as callings, birthday, home teachers, and membership numbers (for filling out recommends). We generate this from the MLS .csv ecports, but some MLS/lds.org built-in functionality would be swell. -Greg ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
scouting software (Re: Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities)
On 2/7/06, Gary Thornock [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- TJ Hunter [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The church might also get into legal trouble with creating the software. The BSA is pretty strict with their copyrights and I would imagine they have their own software available to leaders for a price. As it happens, the BSA doesn't produce software like that. They have a data interchange specification that software developers can use to interact with the systems at the council offices, but from there, it's up to third party developers to produce unit management programs. There are a number of good ones available, albeit most if not all of them are Windows-only, which isn't the best way to make Mac and Linux users (am I the only one?) happy. You are not the only one! Do you know where someone could get ahold of those data interchange specifications? I've seen software that claims to be Scoutnet Certified, or something like that, but google hasn't yet shown me what that means how one would go about becoming such. Bryan ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
Re: Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities
On 2/7/06, Gary Thornock [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: albeit most if not all of them are Windows-only, which isn't the best way to make Mac and Linux users (am I the only one?) happy. Nope, you're not the only one. I'm a Mac and Linux user too, which makes at least two! ~ Nathan ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
scouting software (Re: Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities)
On 2/7/06, TJ Hunter [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 2/7/06, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I would love you forever if you could incorporate this information into the website. I would love to see scouting incorporated as well - but Duty to God would be my first priority as a YMs President and that would be a HUGE help. I can see the church moving VERY slowly on integrating scouting. Remember a few years ago when the church was threatening to discontinue their support for the Boy Scout program because the BSA was considering allowing homosexuals to be Boy Scout leaders? Worse case scenario, I can imagine the church doing all that work for the scouting program, then the BSA does something like that again, and the church ends creating their own organization to replace it. Boy Scouts != LDS Church. This myth really needs to die already. The BSA never threatened to change who they allowed to be leaders. Maybe the ACLU threatened to force them, but the BSA never wanted it, and won the court case. The Church plays a huge part in the BSA. Besides being a large sponsor of BSA troops/packs/crews/teams, many of the professional scouters and scouting executives are members of The Church. It is incredibly unlikely that the BSA could make a decision that would alienate us. Bryan ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
RE: scouting software (Re: Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities)
Hi Bryan, I meant it as an example, correct. You migth want to ask the authors of this program how they became ScoutNet certified. Since it is a free program they might be more willing to tell you than the commercial ones. Regards, Manfred. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bryan Murdock Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 5:34 PM To: LDS Open Source Software Subject: Re: scouting software (Re: Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities) On 2/7/06, Manfred Riem [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi there, You mean http://www.scoutsoft.net/? Um, not quite. That is just one example of a ScoutNet certified application (see http://www.scoutsoft.net/sb01001.htm#snet), but I'm curious as to how one becomes ScoutNet certified. Bryan ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities
Pete Whiting wrote: Let me know which clients this file works on and which ones it doesn’t. I’m particularly interested in the description field. Most clients ignore the html formatting and I’m not worried about that * I am interested in missing text. The commas and semicolons are escaped * hopefully the clients properly process that and show non-escaped commas and semicolons. (See the Feb 2 event, for an example.) Works fine for Apple iCal and I don't see any escaped characters in the descriptions. Looking at RFC 2445 it looks like the value type for Description is TEXT which is defined as: text = *(TSAFE-CHAR / : / DQUOTE / ESCAPED-CHAR) TSAFE-CHARs (type safe characters) are: Space 0x20 '!' 0x21 (Skipping double quote) '#' to '+' 0x23 to 0x2B (Skipping commas) '-' to '9' 0x2D to 0x39 (Skipping ':' and ';') '' to '[' 0x3C to 0x5B (Skipping '\') ']' to '~' 0x5D to 0x7E : and DQUOTE (double quote) are added. ESCAPED-CHAR (escaped characters are: '\' escaped by \\ ';' escaped by \; ',' escaped by \, (new line) escaped by \n or \N So it looks like you may need to escape '\' and newlines as well (if there are any). -stacey. ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
RE: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities
On 7 Feb 2006 at 14:24, Pete Whiting wrote: Regarding the vcal format, I need to review the spec to make sure I understand how to deal with events that do not have an associated time (only a date). If you can post a sample of what the vcal vevent should look like it may save some work. The vCal I downloaded for our ward calendar bombs importing into Palm Desktop. First, I run out of virtual memory (good heavens, the file is only 200K), and then it pops up a message that the file is corrupt. Unfortunately, the only way Palm Desktop will export a vCal is through email and I don't have an email program set up to use with Palm Desktop. --Richard ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
RE: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities
I can verify the Outlook 2003 bug with events that dont have an assigned time. They import as the day before the actual event. Ditto on the ward directory import Aaron. Jeff From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Aaron Skonnard Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 11:53 AM To: LDS Open Source Software Subject: Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities Peter, I tried using this feature yesterday to do an import into Outlook 2003. I got an error with the iCal format saying it was an invalid file so I used the vCal format instead. The import seemed to work but many of the events actually showed up a day early in Outlook (than the day the appear on the online calendar) -- it doesn't happen with every event, just some of them -- it may just be with events that don't have a time associated with them (at least the time doesn't show up on the month view). Are you aware of this bug? Has the church also considered making a ward directory download available as well? Making it easy to import the ward list into electronic devices would also be a big win. -aaron ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities
On Mon, Feb 06, 2006 at 08:56:24AM -0800, Carl Youngblood wrote: I appreciate your concerns Pete, but I don't think that the analogy holds. This script resides on someone's local computer and does not publish the user's username or password anywhere. based on this comment from the original post: The script is set up as a web application (perl CGI). They go to a form that is hosted on a web site. I assume the script is not residing on the user's computer - rather on some external site. If this assumption is correct than it could be a phishing attack. (For the record, I know Stacey and am definitely not accusing him of phishing.) pete ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
RE: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities
Sorry for taking a week before replying to this note. We were in the process of approving the release of similar functionality on the unit web sites and I chose to delay my reply until I was sure the new code was going to be deployed. In general I applaud the effort to offer tools and features to help the rest of us better manage our ecclesiastical responsibilities. My concern with what Stacey has released is related to the pass-through of login information. Giving your username and password to a script is effectively the same thing as giving it to a person. Giving your username and password to someone you know is bad. Giving it to someone you don't know is worse. While the information on a calendar may be harmless, increasingly critical and confidential workflows are going to be available on the web (for example, currently missionary applications can be processed and approved online - other similar efforts are in the works.) We need each person's login credentials to be secure - as they effectively represent their signature. Please help train our leaders how to properly protect those credentials. On the topic of exporting a more usable format from the unit web sites, there should be three new options on the monthly calendar view: csv, ical, and vcal. Take a look and let me know what is broken. For the ical version there is an attempt to deal with the fact that none of the times have timezone information. All times are assumed to be in the local timezone. This is probably a reasonable assumption for most stakes and wards (although I'm sure there are some that span timezones.) The assumption is most likely wrong for church-wide events: those are generally scheduled by someone in SLC and amazingly, there are members of the church living outside of the mountain time-zone. For ical there is a VTIMEZONE definition for US-Mountain at the head of the file and all church-wide events are tagged with that timezone. Let me know if this seems to work properly - it didn't get much testing. The same feature wasn't added to vcal, but can be easily added if someone can verify the format is the same. The repeating events present a unique problem. The format used to store the repetitions is a little convoluted and repetitions are expanded at submission time - so if your event repeats 52 times in a year there are 52 rows created for it in a table. Thankfully, this table only tracks dates and associates them with the event, so the entire event isn't duplicated 52 times... The original expression of the recurrence is stored in the main table so given enough brilliance that could probably be translated into a proper rrule for ical/vcal exports. If people are interested in helping out with this let me know and I'll provide some additional information. I realize it would be nice to add better import functionality... cheers, pete _ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, January 27, 2006 1:26 PM To: ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org Subject:[Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities Hi Y'all: I just found out about this list and recently joined so let me introduce myself first... My name is Stacey and my family and I live in the great state of Texas just north of Dallas. I have been using open source pretty much since the 80's when I was a student and systems programmer running BSD 4.2 Tahoe on VAX 11/780's. Today, some things have not changed... I still use BSD (Mac OS X) on my personal laptop, Gentoo Linux on my MythTV (Tivo-like) box, and use Linux and FreeBSD for work. So let's just say I have been leveraging open source to make my life easier for a long time. I was happy to hear from a friend (Matt Probst) about this list. I hold callings as Stake and Ward Clerks here in Texas. As part of my assignment I keep our stake and ward web pages up to date. This includes the calendar, leadership directories, etc. I also track the usage and schedule our stake building which is a job in itself given we have four but soon to be five wards using the building, not to mention the stake meetings that are scheduled there. In addition, I create programs to help our stake leaders do their jobs. Our stake is very large in both the number of wards and geography. We have 15 wards (after Sunday this will be 16) and our stake boundaries reaches from North of Dallas up and into Oklahoma. Therefore, I stake does not publish a paper stake calendar nor do we publish a stake directory of any sort. We rely totally on the Stake/Ward web sites that the church has provided for this information. (Needless to say, we have saved a lot of money in printing costs.) If you have used the administrator screen on the stake/ward web site that the Church provides you may notice it lacks some features that would be desired. One such feature is the ability to upload a calendar that has been created, with say, outlook. Every year, when we do our planning, our executive
RE: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities
Hi Stacey, If you are asking for permission to distribute software with the endorsement of the church you will have to take it up with Church Headquarters ;) Regards, Manfred Riem [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.manorrock.org/ -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Stacey Sent: Friday, January 27, 2006 12:26 PM To: ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org Subject: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities Hi Y'all: I just found out about this list and recently joined so let me introduce myself first... My name is Stacey and my family and I live in the great state of Texas just north of Dallas. I have been using open source pretty much since the 80's when I was a student and systems programmer running BSD 4.2 Tahoe on VAX 11/780's. Today, some things have not changed... I still use BSD (Mac OS X) on my personal laptop, Gentoo Linux on my MythTV (Tivo-like) box, and use Linux and FreeBSD for work. So let's just say I have been leveraging open source to make my life easier for a long time. I was happy to hear from a friend (Matt Probst) about this list. I hold callings as Stake and Ward Clerks here in Texas. As part of my assignment I keep our stake and ward web pages up to date. This includes the calendar, leadership directories, etc. I also track the usage and schedule our stake building which is a job in itself given we have four but soon to be five wards using the building, not to mention the stake meetings that are scheduled there. In addition, I create programs to help our stake leaders do their jobs. Our stake is very large in both the number of wards and geography. We have 15 wards (after Sunday this will be 16) and our stake boundaries reaches from North of Dallas up and into Oklahoma. Therefore, I stake does not publish a paper stake calendar nor do we publish a stake directory of any sort. We rely totally on the Stake/Ward web sites that the church has provided for this information. (Needless to say, we have saved a lot of money in printing costs.) If you have used the administrator screen on the stake/ward web site that the Church provides you may notice it lacks some features that would be desired. One such feature is the ability to upload a calendar that has been created, with say, outlook. Every year, when we do our planning, our executive secretary creates the calendar in outlook and then hands me the data to upload to the web site. After using the limited input interface on the Church web site provides I decided to create a better way. I wrote a simply perl script that uploads the data from a CSV file. The script acts as web client and inputs the data into the HTML/HTTP forms. This makes publishing a ward/stake calendar a snap. In addition, at the request of our stake presidency, I created software that allows our stake presidency, bishops, and other leaders to download the calendar data to their computers in iCal, vCal, or CSV formats. This allows them to have the calendar in their palm pilots, etc. The script is set up as a web application (perl CGI). They go to a form that is hosted on a web site. Enter in what month they want, which events (Ward, Stake, Churchwide), and what format they would like (iCal, vCal, CSV). In addition, I require them to enter their LDS.org login information. The script uses their login information to access the Church web site so it knows they have access permission to do so. I also created a similar web application for downloading ward directory information. I don't know how the Church office would feel about this kind of software but would like to share the code with the folks subscribed to this list. Be warned, I am not a perl programmer by trade and do most of my programming in the kernel and system level. Therefore, it could use the talents of a real perl programmer to be cleaned up a bit. However, it works great to make my job as a stake/ward clerk easier. I have read on the archive of this list that the Church office doesn't like the idea of screen scrapers given the risk of folks using, say, the membership data for something like multi-level marketing campaigns (largely an Utah thing, it seems). Therefore, if the Church doesn't like the idea of me distributing software that does this then I will just keep it for myself and my local leaders to benefit from. If they don't care then I will make it available to the members of this list. Please let me know the offical word about such software. Thanks in advance. Best Regards, -stacey. ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities
I've got the same underlying question. How does the Church feel about us passing these screen scraping tools around? That calendar importer sounds very useful. Members of our ward have also written several utilities to help us get more out of the Stake and Ward websites and MLS. Two possibly worth noting (and sharing) are: A diff tool that compares registered LDS.org members' preferred names and email addresses with the same fields in MLS. Unfortunately, MLS and the Local Unit Web Sites (LUWS) don't share Preferred Names and Email Addresses. Members can update their 'Profile' on LDS.org, but none of those changes get shared with the Ward/Stake clerks and MLS. This tool points out the discrepancies. A script that generates vCard's (.vcf files) from MLS's Membership.csv, Organization.csv and HomeTeaching.csv exports. Our ward leaders use this to import Members' contact info into their favorite address book and sync it with their favorite mobile device (phone, Palm, BlackBerry, iPod, etc...). MLS comes with a Palm export, but these vCards are a bit more versatile. There are a couple other handy utilities we use too, but I'll let their authors offer them up. Like Stacey, I'm no professional perl scripter, so these could also use some clean-up by someone who really knows what they're doing. How does the Church feel about us passing these type of tools around? Thanks, -Greg Hi Y'all: I just found out about this list and recently joined so let me introduce myself first... My name is Stacey and my family and I live in the great state of Texas just north of Dallas. I have been using open source pretty much since the 80's when I was a student and systems programmer running BSD 4.2 Tahoe on VAX 11/780's. Today, some things have not changed... I still use BSD (Mac OS X) on my personal laptop, Gentoo Linux on my MythTV (Tivo-like) box, and use Linux and FreeBSD for work. So let's just say I have been leveraging open source to make my life easier for a long time. I was happy to hear from a friend (Matt Probst) about this list. I hold callings as Stake and Ward Clerks here in Texas. As part of my assignment I keep our stake and ward web pages up to date. This includes the calendar, leadership directories, etc. I also track the usage and schedule our stake building which is a job in itself given we have four but soon to be five wards using the building, not to mention the stake meetings that are scheduled there. In addition, I create programs to help our stake leaders do their jobs. Our stake is very large in both the number of wards and geography. We have 15 wards (after Sunday this will be 16) and our stake boundaries reaches from North of Dallas up and into Oklahoma. Therefore, I stake does not publish a paper stake calendar nor do we publish a stake directory of any sort. We rely totally on the Stake/Ward web sites that the church has provided for this information. (Needless to say, we have saved a lot of money in printing costs.) If you have used the administrator screen on the stake/ward web site that the Church provides you may notice it lacks some features that would be desired. One such feature is the ability to upload a calendar that has been created, with say, outlook. Every year, when we do our planning, our executive secretary creates the calendar in outlook and then hands me the data to upload to the web site. After using the limited input interface on the Church web site provides I decided to create a better way. I wrote a simply perl script that uploads the data from a CSV file. The script acts as web client and inputs the data into the HTML/HTTP forms. This makes publishing a ward/stake calendar a snap. In addition, at the request of our stake presidency, I created software that allows our stake presidency, bishops, and other leaders to download the calendar data to their computers in iCal, vCal, or CSV formats. This allows them to have the calendar in their palm pilots, etc. The script is set up as a web application (perl CGI). They go to a form that is hosted on a web site. Enter in what month they want, which events (Ward, Stake, Churchwide), and what format they would like (iCal, vCal, CSV). In addition, I require them to enter their LDS.org login information. The script uses their login information to access the Church web site so it knows they have access permission to do so. I also created a similar web application for downloading ward directory information. I don't know how the Church office would feel about this kind of software but would like to share the code with the folks subscribed to this list. Be warned, I am not a perl programmer by trade and do most of my programming in the kernel and system level. Therefore, it could use the talents of a real perl programmer to be cleaned up a bit. However, it works great to make my job as a stake/ward clerk easier. I have read on the archive of
Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities
Stacey, Hello. Long time no see. I recently joined this list myself. I'd be happy to help in the perl clean-up area if you'd like. I can do perl. I've just quit my job to become a stay-at-home mom, and am in the middle of relocating.It might be slow work, but I'll help where I can. I think you'd have to ask the Church directly about their position on a wrapper to their stake ward web sites. It could be good, and it could be problematic. On the one hand, the enhanced functionality could be incorporated quickly. On the other hand, the code hosting is out of the Church's hands and that could be a concern for the IT folks there. Also, since Perl isn't their language of choice, it couldn't ultimately be incorporated into their stake ward web site offering. It's tricky for thembecause they may not want to squelch our interest in helping Build The Kingdom. Take care- Mary Shaw On 1/27/06, Stacey [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi Y'all:I just found out about this list and recently joined so let me introducemyself first... My name is Stacey and my family and I live in the great state of Texasjust north of Dallas.I have been using open source pretty much sincethe 80's when I was a student and systems programmer running BSD 4.2Tahoe on VAX 11/780's.Today, some things have not changed...I stilluse BSD (Mac OS X) on my personal laptop, Gentoo Linux on my MythTV(Tivo-like) box, and use Linux and FreeBSD for work.So let's just say I have been leveraging open source to make my life easier for a longtime. I was happy to hear from a friend (Matt Probst) about this list.I hold callings as Stake and Ward Clerks here in Texas.As part of my assignment I keep our stake and ward web pages up to date.Thisincludes the calendar, leadership directories, etc. I also track theusage and schedule our stake building which is a job in itself given we have four but soon to be five wards using the building, not to mentionthe stake meetings that are scheduled there.In addition, I createprograms to help our stake leaders do their jobs.Our stake is verylarge in both the number of wards and geography.We have 15 wards (after Sunday this will be 16) and our stake boundaries reaches fromNorth of Dallas up and into Oklahoma.Therefore, I stake does notpublish a paper stake calendar nor do we publish a stake directory ofany sort.We rely totally on the Stake/Ward web sites that the church has provided for this information.(Needless to say, we have saved alot of money in printing costs.)If you have used the administrator screen on the stake/ward web sitethat the Church provides you may notice it lacks some features that would be desired.One such feature is the ability to upload a calendarthat has been created, with say, outlook.Every year, when we do ourplanning, our executive secretary creates the calendar in outlook and then hands me the data to upload to the web site.After using thelimited input interface on the Church web site provides I decided tocreate a better way.I wrote a simply perl script that uploads the data from a CSV file.The script acts as web client and inputs the data intothe HTML/HTTP forms.This makes publishing a ward/stake calendar a snap.In addition, at the request of our stake presidency, I created software that allows our stake presidency, bishops, and other leaders to downloadthe calendar data to their computers in iCal, vCal, or CSV formats.This allows them to have the calendar in their palm pilots, etc.The script is set up as a web application (perl CGI).They go to a formthat is hosted on a web site.Enter in what month they want,which events (Ward, Stake, Churchwide), and what format they would like(iCal, vCal, CSV).In addition, I require them to enter their LDS.orglogin information.The script uses their login information to accessthe Church web site so it knows they have access permission to do so. Ialso created a similar web application for downloading ward directory information.I don't know how the Church office would feel about this kind ofsoftware but would like to share the code with the folks subscribed tothis list.Be warned, I am not a perl programmer by trade and do most of my programming in the kernel and system level.Therefore, it coulduse the talents of a real perl programmer to be cleaned up a bit.However, it works great to make my job as a stake/ward clerk easier.I have read on the archive of this list that the Church office doesn'tlike the idea of screen scrapers given the risk of folks using, say,the membership data for something like multi-level marketing campaigns (largely an Utah thing, it seems). Therefore, if the Church doesn't likethe idea of me distributing software that does this then I will justkeep it for myself and my local leaders to benefit from.If they don't care then I will make it available to the members of this list.Pleaselet me know the offical word about such software.Thanks in advance.Best Regards,-stacey.___ Ldsoss mailing
Re: [Ldsoss] Stake/Ward Web Site Utilities
I wonder if you could call the church support number for ward and stake clerks and ask them. Even if they can't answer your question maybe they can get you in touch with the right people. A buddy of mine and I wrote a search engine for the church magazines and we asked permission from the church to publish our software. Our experience was very good in talking with the church. Our question was more of an intellectual property issue so we sent an email to an email address on the church website. The email was forwarded onto the right people and we ended up eventuallytalking to someone who could answer our question. While I'm speaking of that,we will more than likely open source our app and I'll send a link to this list. We've got some work to do before it's ready for the public though, and I've got to many things on my plate at this point in time to finish it. Jay On 1/27/06, Stacey [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hey Mary,It is good to hear from you again...I hope things are going well.Yes, it sounds like I would need to ask the Church directly. I was hoping that someone a little closer to SLC would have a contact orsomeone that works at the Church office was listening on this list. Ifsomeone has a contact to the right person (other than the generalsupport email address) to ask please send me the contact info. Best Regards,-stacey.Mary Shaw wrote: Stacey, Hello.Long time no see.I recently joined this list myself. I'd be happy to help in the perl clean-up area if you'd like.I can do perl. I've just quit my job to become a stay-at-home mom, and am in the middle of relocating.It might be slow work, but I'll help where I can. I think you'd have to ask the Church directly about their position on a wrapper to their stake ward web sites.It could be good, and it could be problematic.On the one hand, the enhanced functionality could be incorporated quickly.On the other hand, the code hosting is out of the Church's hands and that could be a concern for the IT folks there. Also, since Perl isn't their language of choice, it couldn't ultimately be incorporated into their stake ward web site offering. It's tricky for them because they may not want to squelch our interest in helping Build The Kingdom. Take care- Mary Shaw___ Ldsoss mailing listLdsoss@lists.ldsoss.orghttp://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss ___ Ldsoss mailing list Ldsoss@lists.ldsoss.org http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
