Introduction
The ofbiz framework is an enterprise framework for creating ERP/CRM applications. The project includes several different applications but the primary application is an online ecommerce application. OFBiz has the capability of creating any business application for the web.
The framework is very large and it will take some time to become productive in the framework. This project will help you learn the framework as well as the applications in the framework. The project will focus on testing which is an excellent way to learn the internals of any open source project. In particular, we will be working on functional testing of the OFBiz applications using Selenium.
Getting Setup
OFBiz has a few different release branches but for this project we will be working from the trunk. The following links are good references to help you get setup with the latest OFBiz source.
http://kenfuse.com/rsrc/ofbiz-getting-started
http://kenfuse.com/rsrc/ofbiz-getting-ready-development
http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBTECH/Apache+OFBiz+Technical+Production+...
http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBADMIN/Demo+and+Test+Setup+Guide
Here are the high level steps you will need to complete. Please read the above links before starting so you will know what to do. Remember we will be using the OFBiz "trunk" so don't check out a different release.
1. Install the Java JDK (1.5 or newer) on your system
2. Install the latest copy of Ant
3. Checkout the OFBiz source using subversion into a development directory
For example on Windows you might create a directory like c:/dev/ and then run the following subversion command
svn co http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/ofbiz/trunk ofbiz
The above command will create a new directory called "ofbiz"
4. Build and setup the OFBiz seed data
OFBiz comes with a derby database. This is the easiest to setup because you just have to run a build. You can then view the data through the OFBiz "webtools" application. If you are familiar with MySQL or Postgres you can create a database in them and point your ofbiz build instance to the database. I recommend you stay with derby until you are more comfortable with OFBiz.
Here is the command to build and setup the seed data for OFBiz.
ant run-install
5. Start up OFBiz
run the following command:
Windows: startofbiz.bat
Linux: startofbiz.sh
6. Login to the applications
username: admin
password: ofbiz
http://localhost:8080/ecommerce
http://localhost:8080/webtools
Getting Help
If you have questions about any of my instructions or about specific assignments please post them to the forum.
If you have problems running OFBiz the project's mailing lists are an excellent source for help. The community is usually quick to respond to questions and this will be a good exercise to start working with the community. I would recommend you subscribe to the user's mailing list at first (user@ofbiz.apache.org).
You can subscribe from the following link:
http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBADMIN/Mailing+Lists
You probably won't need to subscribe to the development list until later in the project.
Tips for working with the community
As with most open source project, the support for the project comes from developers and users in the community. OFBiz doesn't have a paid support staff so it is important when asking the community for help to keep this in mind. Here are a few tips for sending questions to the user mailing list.
1. Do some research before you post your question.
The community appreciates it when a user has taken the initiative to try to find the answer themselves. This would include reading the documentation and searching the mailing list archives. Often the question you are asking has been answered many times before. You can usually do a simple google search to find the answer you are seeking.
2. When posting a question to the user mailing list always include a short description of your question in the subject line. For example:
Subject: Server complains about port unavailable at start up
Never post a question with unhelpful subject lines like "Please help" or "Need immediate help". Volunteers in the community are busy and without seeing an appropriate subject line they have to open your specific email to see if they can even provide any help. An effective subject line will help you get your answer sooner and helps save the community time.
3. Proof read your question before posting
Your questions to the group should be short and concise. You should include snippets of the Java stack trace in your email as this usually provides the community with the information then need to diagnose your problem.
Always proof read your question before posting as this will help clean up any errors and make you a better writer in the process.