Which openERP integration to use?

[René Luckow]

I can see that this one has made it into the 5.0 branch but now I also
see one that by openlabs, is that en extension of this one or a fork
or a new project?

I haven't looked into openerp integration since february and it's hard
to figure out what has been going on since then?

--
Kind regards

René Luckow

[Sharoon Thomas]

Hi Rene,

Thanks for bringing this up.

I think we had completely forgotten to update the google group about this. However most of the discussions and decisions on the new connector we have been collectively working on happened in the open object IRC.

The new connector is a simple wrapper built around two new modules:

base_external_referentials

&

base_sale_multichannels

The above modules are aimed at having multiple intergations with say magento, spree other POS systems etc without having a lot of independent changes.

Above this the magentoerpconnect module builds some enhancements and uses the core methods of base_external_referentials to import/export/synch data with multiple instances. The synch information is now compoiled in csv files.

You may cheout the code in the following branches:

Magento Erp connector: http://launchpad.net/magentoerpconnect

other modules : stable addons branch for 5.0

The whole system is pre-alpha development. It would be great to have suggestions and some testing support from the community.

May be we could even schedule an IRC meeting to discuss this at some point of time.

Regards,

-- 
Sharoon Thomas
Business Analyst & ERP Consultant

Co-Developer & one of the active contributors of the module

[René Luckow]

Thank for the update, I was a little confused so yeah :)

So right now the "new" system doesn't actually work, if I understand
you correctly?

launchpad is possibly the most confusing site in the history of the
internet, is there a roadmap etc?

I don't mind testing things out, even if they are alpha/beta.

And thank you for this awesome possibility, building it so it can be
sued with several shopping systems is the way to go, this can really
be a major selling point for openerp :)

And thank you Raphael for starting this in the first place, this
option adn the unique serial number system is the two things that kept
me from openerp(or tinyerp as it was when I started following it) to
begin with.

[Raphaël Valyi]

Hello René and others,

Well, the new connector http://launchpad.net/magentoerpconnect is not far from being functional, don't worry. I'll put it today in test env for my customer to test it. I expect it becomes usable in prod next week.

Sorry for not having talk a lot about it yet. We actually got in touch with the other integrators like Smile, CampToCamp or ZikZakMedia so those at least were up to date for a while and eventually started helping a little bit (or are now planning too), we also twitted a lot about it. The thing is that we did a lot of conceptual work with the base_external_referentials and only experts could do that, there was no point in making a hype around the new connector while immature and caring about all the new comers instead of doing the work. Sharoon also focused a while agor already of multi_instance details and Magento -> OpenERP import system and mappings.

Now, the work is almost done. It's a complete redesign were we learnt from the several architectural mistakes from the first connector here. And to be honnest, I'm pretty proud of what we achieved.

This might also be some separation with Smile original leadership of the project. I left the French Smile company myself 4 months ago to fund my own OpenERP and IT integration company www.akretion.com (Brazil based but acting globally). Of course I thank Smile for funding the very first effort with the connector and has no problem with them, I wish them good luck for the future.

But actually, to be frank, I feel they didn't make it possible to build the new connector, this is something I've been asking them for months but could only undertake when I've been out, with finally time to invest (as absurd as it is, looks like standard service IT companies prefer paying developers doing nothing between two projects rather investing in R&D, under the pretext it's not the same work; then charging very expensive during projects which in turn put their devs/consultants under high pressure). I had to sit down for a good 15 days in pure R&D do the full rewrite with enough time to do it properly. Sharoon Thomas did the same and even more work than me actually. We had nice round the clock hacking sessions when he was coding during transit in Dubai whil I was in Sao Paulo for instance...

Something that I had no opportunity to do at Smile. From the commits and messages about this first connector you'll even find out that I actually did most of the maintenance of this first connector of it not paid by Smile, but during nights and week ends, tough...

So again, this is not about being harsh, taking revenge or something like that, but this is just also about taking away somewhat the marketing influence of a big brand that did not carry the required evolutions of the connector. I warned them a lot for months that they wouldn't be able to claim ownership of the project if they were not investing more. Smile managers did nothing about it, I think it's time to drive a conclusion: Smile is now only a small part of the new connector, but certainly not the main actor by now. They'll do what they want with the old connector, but for the new one, we will mention them of course, but only as a small part of it, as I said.

Furthermore, by now lots of fair OpenERP integrators started to help significantly. I can cite: OpenLabs (Sharoon Thomas, certainly the largest part of the new connector; NB Sharoon is now working for Publicus Solutions UK), Akertion (me, certainly the second contributor overall), Smile (funding of a part of the first connector when I was working for them, a few debug since them), Zizakmedia that have been contributing a bit since the first connector and others such as Charles Galpin or Gunter Kreck. We are also please to welcome CampToCamp, the early fellow OpenERP integrators, who just signed a new deal with the new connector: http://www.camptocamp.com/fr/blog/category/business-solutions/ and will help soon.

Because of all those contributions, I think this is time to stop naming module after a single company like the first connector. This is bad because the orginal company can dismiss and this will reward to little the next contributors.

So, I propose to have a pretty neutral portal for the new connector (discussion about it is opened, could be Launchpad for now). If pretty neutral means simple, let's be simple rather than fancy, but at least let's be fair. But I'm convinced that neutral doesn't necessarily means poor. We had the same concern when www.Akretion.com started leading the Brazilian OpenERP localization work, but we teamed with designers and could produce www.openerpbrasil.org which is gorgeous while neutral. Of course, neutral doesn't mean blind, I propose stating the connector history of contribs here, a bit as I did in that post.

What I want to avoid is that bastard companies start to monopolize ownership of open source work over the back of their true authors, the engineers being it. Smile is certainly not among them! The remark is more about "some other companies", most of them India based while headed in Europe, that litteraly exploit OpenERP developers, waste a lot resource because they just have no open source/product strategy at the management level and try to bury their developers under a market monopoly they control. Yes, there are such companies that prevent their developers from using their real name on Launchpad or interact in forums to be sure they will continue in their hands... Is that what open source is all about? Yes, this is already happening with open source my friends and already happening with OpenERP. We, the orginal developpers, choose the open source model to keep the power in the software industry, and we also think it's the best for the customers because you won't have to pay for smiling salesmen that will just try to suck the most money they can out of the deal. We don't want to give grips to the bastard companies and some bastard managers, we will actually fight them for the benefit of the majority. Sharoon, who just escape those Indian conditions knows quite well what I mean...

Also, notice that instead of participating to the new development effort, Smile used the old connector in a project so they improved it somwhat. Hey I've some rights to be harsh here, they won a project against www.Akretion.com, proposing much less days for same price and not carrying almost no dev effort as they just used a patched version of the old connector here:

https://code.launchpad.net/~samir-rachedi/+junk/openerp_magento_connector

Smile ERP managers gave no instruction nor resource to even talk about it, so now you know what I mean when I tell they don't care too much about the open source reality...

Still, you could eventually use it if you are stuck with an old connector version. That being said, Smile said they would probably migrate their customer to the new connector, after development efforts are made by micro-company that have no marketing power like us... Still we will welcome their helping hands and I keep having excellent contacts with Smile developers, it's just the ERP management head that is responsible of the issues I mention here.

All right, enough ranting, but know you know the motivations and modalities of the new connector. Expect a beta soon. Meanwhile, we will appreciate early feedback about it.

Stay tuned.

Raphaël Valyi

http://www.akretion.com

[René Luckow]

I will surely follow the new connector instead, I just found the whole
ordeal confusing as from an outsider there's little to no information
about it. I propose you start a mailinglist for the new connector, I
would certainly use it :)

The company I work for are now in a position where we can actively
pursue an open source solution for our ERP needs, with a magento
connector and uniqe serial numbers. I will be doing the integration
and installation.

I find launchpad to be a very confusing website(compared to googlecode
for instance) so I would love for you guys to start a new
website/mailinglist/subforum somewhere so that I can help improve this
great project by testing and bugreporting.

Again, I'm not blaming you for the lack of information, in fact, you
guys answered my questions waaay faster than I expected :P

As soon as something is installable and can function to a minimum I
will be testing it and give you feedback :)

2009/10/22 Raphaël Valyi <rva...@gmail.com>:

[René Luckow]

Any news on the new connector yet? I can't seem to figure out whether
the testing you were talking about was actually successful?

[René Luckow]

Ah nevermind, I found the branch on launchpad, it's a hell to navigate
through, I can see you're busy fixing and adding, keep up the good
work! :)

[Si Chen]

Hi,

Sorry for the newbie question, but what will happen to the
Magento_extension/Smile/ package? Will it still be used? Or have
you replaced it with base_external_referentials?

On Nov 4, 5:25 am, René Luckow <reneluc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Ah nevermind, I found the branch on launchpad, it's a hell to navigate
> through, I can see you're busy fixing and adding, keep up the good
> work! :)
>

> On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 2:21 PM, René Luckow <reneluc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Any news on the new connector yet? I can't seem to figure out whether
> > the testing you were talking about was actually successful?
>

> >>> OpenERP and IT integration companywww.akretion.com(Brazil based but acting

> >>> had the same concern whenwww.Akretion.comstarted leading the Brazilian

> >>> OpenERP localization work, but we teamed with designers and could produce

> >>>www.openerpbrasil.orgwhich is gorgeous while neutral. Of course, neutral

> >>>https://code.launchpad.net/~samir-rachedi/+junk/openerp_magento_conne...

> >>> Smile ERP managers gave no instruction nor resource to even talk about it,
> >>> so now you know what I mean when I tell they don't care too much about the
> >>> open source reality...
> >>> Still, you could eventually use it if you are stuck with an old connector
> >>> version. That being said, Smile said they would probably migrate their
> >>> customer to the new connector, after development efforts are made by
> >>> micro-company that have no marketing power like us... Still we will welcome
> >>> their helping hands and I keep having excellent contacts with Smile
> >>> developers, it's just the ERP management head that is responsible of the
> >>> issues I mention here.
>
> >>> All right, enough ranting, but know you know the motivations and modalities
> >>> of the new connector. Expect a beta soon. Meanwhile, we will appreciate
> >>> early feedback about it.
> >>> Stay tuned.
> >>> Raphaël Valyi
> >>>http://www.akretion.com
>

> >>> On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 8:02 AM, René Luckow <reneluc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >>>> Thank for the update, I was a little confused so yeah :)
>
> >>>> So right now the "new" system doesn't actually work, if I understand
> >>>> you correctly?
>
> >>>> launchpad is possibly the most confusing site in the history of the
> >>>> internet, is there a roadmap etc?
>
> >>>> I don't mind testing things out, even if they are
>

> ...
>
> read more »

[Raphael Valyi]

Hello Si Chen,

Well see with those who stayed at Smile how well they are defending
that first connector (ask them how much they are maintaining it
especially).
As for myself I advise you trash that noob code and use the re-
architecture of it, as I explained here in a new message:
http://groups.google.fr/group/magento-openerp/browse_thread/thread/377440ad5fbb2f93?hl=en

Regards


Raphaël Valyi
http://www.akretion.com

> > >>> OpenERP and IT integration companywww.akretion.com(Brazilbased but acting

> > >>> had the same concern whenwww.Akretion.comstartedleading the Brazilian

> > >>> OpenERP localization work, but we teamed with designers and could produce

> > >>>www.openerpbrasil.orgwhichis gorgeous while neutral. Of course, neutral

> ...
>
> read more »