How to contact Module Developers? when things don't work or buggy?

[lisandi]

We have 2 modules where the update is simply not working like it shoudl as after the update it still shows that the module needs to be updated.

We tried to contact Rob but thereis no way from the module page to contact the developers which would really good to have - either as a contact form or as an email link. This would speed up the contact between those who discover bugs and have suggestions and the module develpers and might avoid doubled modules.
 

• Page Edit Fold Status / PageEditFoldStatus +1
  Uses session to remember the open/close status of each field when page editing. By rob

• Page Draft Creator / ProcessPageDraft
  Adds a link that allows for one-click creation of hidden, "draft" version of a page with an un-guessable URL. Changes can be safely shown to clients before being made to the "live" page. By rob
  
  Thanks Andi

[adrian]

Hey Andi,

My general recommendation would be if it is a support question or feature request, then post to the form support thread for the module. The thread is usually linked from the big blue button on the module page. I did notice that Rob doesn't have a support thread listed for Page Edit Fold Status so in this case I would PM him from this forum.

If you have a confirmed bug then it might be best to submit an issue straight to the Github for the module.

Does that work for you?

EDIT: Actually if the modules page is still showing that it needs updating, that is probably just because you need to refresh your modules cache: Modules > Refresh

It is unlikely that it is an issue with the modules themselves.

[lisandi]

Hi Adrian Thanks for the fast response. I will try.

Nevertheless it would be great to have a link to the bugtracker of a certain module directly from the Processwire Module Page. Otherwise to much time gets simply lost in searches on how to contact somebody. There should be only one click be necessary to reach the modules page, which would be on processwire.com and from here with another click it would be great to have a link to contact the developer i.e. to make decisions or also to ask him about customizations or even to ask him to be part with this module in a project etc. It could be very beneficial for both parts.

And there should be the possibility to reach immediately the bugtracker and the documentation - further documentation is linked externally. The easier it is to reach the developers and the faster you will reach the issue tracker the more issues will actually be reported and hopefully than be fixed in a timely manner which overall would improve the quality of processwire modules. Also security issues or concerns could be posted in the issue trackers.

In General it perhaps would be advised to have a zentralized place for all the development and issues, i.e. redmine etc.

Beside Rob and Marcus there is also an an adrian (is this you?)

For the adrian the module we receive the following error:
Could not remove file LICENSE
by updating Downloaded zip file successfully from https://github.com/adrianbj/ProtectedMode/archive/master.zip


Could not remove file ForceMatch.js

after updating Downloaded zip file successfully from https://github.com/adrianbj/PageRenameOptions/archive/master.zip
 

[adrian]

You make some good points. When installing a module you see a screen like this:

I think it would be great if the:

Links More Information  /  Project Page  /  Support Page

section that is present on this page was also present when viewing the details of a module once it is installed. I definitely think this is something that should be added and gives direct one click access to all the pages related to the module.

Sorry for the "could not remove" errors you are getting with those two modules of mine although it sounds like a file permission problem on your server. Would you mind telling me your apache owner, the chmod values of those two files that won't delete, and their owner/group.

[lisandi]

Hi adrian you are probably right with the permissions.

on those two modules it is root:root (755) which is defenitly wrong as the others are user:usergroupapache 777 (which is IMHO also not good). I will let the server people know to change this and give the right permissions what would you suggest?

Andi

[lisandi]

Hi Adrian

The owner and group permissions have been adjusted and now it is working. Thanks for the hint.

But the modules from marcus and rob still have the same problems!

Concerning the Module INstallation Screen your idea is even much better! yep if you could reach documentation, external documentation, bugtracker and of course the developer from here woudl be the fastest way to get issues fixed IMHO.

Andi

[adrian]

Glad you got the permissions sorted out.

I have filed a feature request on Github for adding those links to the info pages of installed modules:

https://github.com/ryancramerdesign/ProcessWire/issues/746

[Rob]

Hi,

A ex-colleague of mine alerted me to this forum post. I haven't been active in this community (or with Processwire in general) for over a year so I haven't been keeping an eye out here. I apologise for any inconvenience that my broken modules may have caused!

I simpl don't have the time to look into this at the moment, so all I can suggest is that someone fork my code on github and try to remedy the situation themselves.

Both sets of code are pretty basic and were created to solve small issues I had with internal projects I was working on at the time. Since moving on to new jobs, I have not had the time or need to maintain these, for which I apologise. I have not kept up with Processwire development as I have since been working with different technologies and frameworks.

I'll try to keep an eye out here in case there's anything else I can do to help.

Rob

[lisandi]

Hi Rob

thanks for your reply.

The problem I see is that those modules which get no more maintained are still visible and couted to those about 240 Processwire modules currently. Perhaps it would be great if there would be a hint or even better a big sign which says - LOOKING FOR NEW MAINTAINER - as than somebody else could take over the modules you have created and continue to maintain them. If those are currently obsolete, because they have been integrated i.e. in other modules or even the core, than it woudl be advised to mark them as obsolete (please don't use anymore)

Andi