Ideas for future versions "com_opensim"

This thread is for function ideas for future versions of com_opensim. Post your ideas.

I\'ll start with a couple.

1) Ability to allow users to cancel accounts from the front end.
This will remove a user from the site, including the Joomla user tables. A warning popup with the account cancellation button within a new window.

2) Map update that allows names of the simulators to be displayed at the top
of the map. A click view that opens into detailed information with settings for
such information to be configurable in the admin.

Examples:
a: Avatar Pic of the user
b: Information about the simulator. This would be input from the admin via an input box. You could write anything about the simulator you like.
c: X Y coords
d: Owner, Estate, Group information - owner and estate wouldn\'t be to bad, but the group information that the simulator is deeded to would have to be able to tie in to an alternate database as well.

3) Built in money() system (or front end) of some sort? Or hooks for existing money system? I\'ve seen some of the code that suggests that this may be the a possibility. (although this might be out of reach for the core ideas.)

4) Instant Messaging concierge - concierge to groups, users or vice versa for support request type concepts. (or some form of inworld help requests that get sent to joomla to store and work with. Like an internal IM helpdesk of sorts, the user submits IM to a specific user account, and that account is setup to handle support requests.

5) This one is important and slated already to be on the todo list. Fixed avatar last names that can be configured via the admin, displayed in a drop down on the registration page. The user will not be able to use \"any\" last name desired, but selects from pre configured set of last avatar names.

6) Last but not least... An upgraded opensim user registration that allows one to choose between a \"number\" of pre configured avatars. Where the admin creates three or four default avatars that can be selected on registration.

Just some ideas... Of course, ideas are the easy part. <img src=\"{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif\" alt=\"\" title=\"Smile\" />

hi
(sorry my en-GB is a little bit bad <img src=\"{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_redface.gif\" alt=\"\" title=\"Embarrassed\" /> ( translated by google) )
whether in ethics or philosophy of the OpenSim DevTeam, or by the features of a license, or by aliens ^ ^. the absence of an economic module operating at 100% is a serious mistake that can cost the opensim project\'s future and open metaverse in general. is what prevents and delays the explosion that may have open metaverse via opensim.
We all know that things! all work well when there is money behind, the business model for Second Life is the greatest proof : to develop and maintain a park of over 8000 servers hosting more than 31,400 regions need an unlimited financial resources and it is possible that the development of a currency and a local economy whose dividends will pay the expenses ...
Unfortunately the DevTeam\'s opensim had completely abolished the modules managing money transactions and purchase / sale between avatars on versions 0.7.0.x to licensing incompatibilities and technical issues such as delivery of purchases and inventory .. . BUT they left the sources on SVN forge for those who want to develop stuff out DevTeam ...
( Http://gwala.net/blog/2008/07/opensim-is-not-a-virtual-world/ )

Tokyo Univ. Science of Information published a modified version of the module DTL Currency Processing 0.7.0.1(2) ONLY for Linux / Unix, but the problem is too branched to a simple adjustment and correction of 1 module can provide a stable solution...
http://www.nsl.tuis.ac.jp/xoops/modules/d3downloads/index.php?page=singlefile&cid=8&lid=15

personally I would encourage any initiative for the creation and development of components that can be used to manage an economy on the OpenSim server. I even contacted ssm2017 ( http://ssm2017.free.fr/index.php/mes-extensions ) asking for help on this point, unfortunately they also have same problems at this level and they chose stay on 0.6.9 (FrancoGrid) ..

for the future I have tons of ideas but I prefer to ask questions whose answers will help highlight the real needs of the community opensim / joomla:
DEV:
1: is it wise to develop a component based on the new version of opensim servers (0.7.0.x), knowing that the economy was partly abandoned?
2: is it possible to create 2 components (1) compatible OS 0.6.9 + shop and rentals of lands integrated and (2) component OS 7.0.x for member management and basic functions? a review of how the 2 will have better success? (X2 = working)

is it possible to create an joomla account creation + login module who can create and automatically insert all values (PrincipalID / Firstname / Lastname / Password ....) in the tables jos_users and UserAccounts + auth ...? O, o
hmmm exp:
Create an account:
Form = form to enter data (Firstname Lastname pass email ...) and sends the data to F.PHP1+2
=> F.PHP1 generates and inserts the data into standard joomla\'s tables format
=> F.PHP2 generates and inserts the data into opensim\'s tables format (UUID PasswordHash, PasswordSalt ,Services...)
=> F.PHP3 control and display results ( account creation/Login OK or NO )
Login:
Login Joomla = Firstname + Lastname
PassWord = pass

Viewer Login
Firstname = Firstname (same!)
Lastname = lastname (same!)
Password = pass (same!)


Good luck ^ ^
@ +

Sorry for my delayed response. 2 wonderful days hiking in the mountains and important projects in my RL company (that still makes my income) have been the reason ... <img src=\"{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif\" alt=\"\" title=\"Smile\" />

rjspence: Thanks for your ideas. My next step would be your point (5), ability to make an \"allow/deny\" list for avatar last names.

I\'m not sure how to understand

\rjspence\:3tyspt0i wrote: 2) Map update that allows names of the simulators to be displayed at the top
of the map...

Web Rain: there are several discussions already about currency and if it will be good or bad for OpenSim. But for my part, I totally agree with you - if Opensim wants to reach a wider public, a currency and all involved economic aspects are absolutely needed. Otherwise it will stay what it is now - a playground just for enthusiasts like us <img src=\"{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_wink.gif\" alt=\"\" title=\"Wink\" />

I was asked more than once to make my component working for 0.6.x as well. But to be honest, the difference in the database structure is just to big that it would make sense. I hear/read now the first time that 0.7.x does not have the same support for it anymore (in the OpenSim.ini there is still a line ... <img src=\"{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif\" alt=\"\" title=\"Laughing\" /> ) but I will definately have a closer look to it.

Greetz
FoTo50

\FoTo50\:2mqvavoy wrote: Sorry for my delayed response. 2 wonderful days hiking in the mountains and important projects in my RL company (that still makes my income) have been the reason ... <img src=\"{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif\" alt=\"\" title=\"Smile\" />

Well the hiking sounds fun. Healthy too! Not sure about the work projects. I suppose it\'s healthy to eat as well. <img src=\"{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif\" alt=\"\" title=\"Smile\" />

rjspence: Thanks for your ideas. My next step would be your point (5), ability to make an \"allow/deny\" list for avatar last names.

Yeah. This is certainly needed. Glad it\'s already on the todo list. Yay.

I\'m not sure how to understand

\rjspence\:2mqvavoy wrote: 2) Map update that allows names of the simulators to be displayed at the top
of the map...

Yeah. I didn\'t know you could hover over the map tile for the name information. Scratch that one. I just made a note on the page to hover over the tiles for the name information. Does the job. <img src=\"{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_razz.gif\" alt=\"\" title=\"Razz\" /> Still like the ideas of a popup for each map that gives detailed information.

Web Rain: there are several discussions already about currency and if it will be good or bad for OpenSim. But for my part, I totally agree with you - if Opensim wants to reach a wider public, a currency and all involved economic aspects are absolutely needed. Otherwise it will stay what it is now - a playground just for enthusiasts like us <img src=\"{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_wink.gif\" alt=\"\" title=\"Wink\" />

I was asked more than once to make my component working for 0.6.x as well. But to be honest, the difference in the database structure is just to big that it would make sense. I hear/read now the first time that 0.7.x does not have the same support for it anymore (in the OpenSim.ini there is still a line ... <img src=\"{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif\" alt=\"\" title=\"Laughing\" /> ) but I will definately have a closer look to it.

Greetz
FoTo50

As far as I know, there are no intentions not to provide \"hooks\" for creating economy modules or front end code. What the dev team has discussed at length and agreed on in my understanding is that they will never_allow or work on a full fledged economy plug for os that would be incorporated into the core code. I agree with the decision myself as I don\'t think the liability is worth it to have it as a set of core functions. I do agree that we absolutely need to interface with version .0.7.1/.0.7.2 hooks that are already supplied (to my understanding) in some form or fashion. I agree that the whole refactoring from the 0.6.9 core has been rather a large change from the older versions. The standalone, R.O.B.U.S.T, etc.. are much easier to work with than earlier versions of os with U.G.A.I.M.

If nothing else, I think it would be great to interface a paypal module into joomla/os that allowed Joomla back-end admin. There are a couple such modules written already.

And again, all easier said than done. <img src=\"{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_cry.gif\" alt=\"\" title=\"Crying or Very Sad\" />

Regards,
rjspence

As I step deeper into OpenSim modules and see what is not implemented from the beginning and what could be done, I think an easy way of offline message delivery would be a nice part of the component <img src=\"{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_mrgreen.gif\" alt=\"\" title=\"Mr. Green\" />

Handling groups could also be done by the component. But in this case, I think, lots of users already have the flotsam XmlRpcGroups implemented (like me) and that makes a converting a bit tricky <img src=\"{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_confused.gif\" alt=\"\" title=\"Confused\" />

Greetz
FoTo50

Yes there are groups and also the profile module, research and inventory management ...

edit: Note also that in the SL Viewer 2 there is only one field for First Name Last Name ...

... in the upcoming 0.1.4 I\'ll add an experimental function for offline messages - not documented in the readme.pdf yet since it is just a start for this. I\'ll post more about it as soon as I get that version online <img src=\"{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_cool.gif\" alt=\"\" title=\"Cool\" />

Greetz
FoTo50

I had another idea to add. Instead of storing the password etc.. for the config in the admin in plain text, anyway we could store that in the db hashed? or in a conf out of admin? I think stored in the db is fine, but plain text probably isn\'t the greatest idea. Just some thoughts.

Thanks
rjspence

I agree totally. I always wasnt 100% happy with this solution that the passwords are visible in plain text. Sometimes you have other admins (not super administrators) passing by in the admin area who might not nessesarily need to know that sensitive data.

Maybe changing the fields from type=\'text\' to type=\'password\' would do the job. It then will only show ******* instead of the password. Not even a \"retype password\" would be required since you do not set any password here but only provide the component with access to the OpenSim DB, what do you think?

Greetz
FoTo50

\FoTo50\:1rz4nlb6 wrote: Maybe changing the fields from type=\'text\' to type=\'password\' would do the job. It then will only show ******* instead of the password. Not even a \"retype password\" would be required since you do not set any password here but only provide the component with access to the OpenSim DB, what do you think?

Greetz
FoTo50

This would most likely be a step in the right direction. I like the idea of allowing users to re-type the passwords on the front end during registration. This keeps the errors down. I like this for both email and password checking. I think the re-type should be there for the front, not really necessary as you say for the back-end. But I do think the ideas you have for at least obfuscating the password on the back end is good. If stored in the db instead of plain text in the panel, I don\'t see why it couldn\'t just be hashed. Even md5 is better than nothing, salt or no salt. And have the panel display the ........... hashed password to super admin? The only other thing I could think of, and I\'m really not super fond of it, is storing the information in a text file out of the web root. Honestly, the best for this type purpose would have it so that an administrator could not change this information, not an input box to admins, but to super administrators they would be able to change it. Something on the order of what you have done with setting the permissions for front end users so that when you don\'t allow something to be changed, it just \"shows\" the information, doesn\'t place it in an input.

Yeah, these are just ideas. If we could hash, obfuscate, and not allow anyone but a super admin access to being able to alter this information, I think it would be a plus. Only other alternative is moving the config out to a file and I\'m not at all positive this would be necessary. If one doesn\'t have the proper super admin credentials, they should not be able to alter this info? or yes?

Again, just some ideas. I was never overly content on the way joomla stores the open plain text passwords in the configuration php either (or any other php web prog), but at least this can be moved out of the web root to other locations which suits the purpose.

Regards,
rjspence