README
1Addresses for GNUstep
2=====================
3
4(c) 2003 by Bj�rn Giesler <bjoern@giesler.de>
5---------------------------------------------
6
7
8This package constitutes a personal address manager for the GNUstep
9software system. It allows archiving complete personal contact
10information, organizing contacts in groups, integration with other
11software such as mail clients and sharing address information with
12other users over the network.
13
14TABLE OF CONTENTS
15=================
16
17 Technical Information
18 Note on Incompleteness
19 Extending via Plugins
20 License
21
22
23TECHNICAL INFORMATION
24=====================
25
26Addresses is organized in components. There is
27
28 o a database API backend framework called Addresses.framework.
29 This backend provides complete access to address information for
30 applications. It is source-code compatible with Apple
31 Corporation's AddressBook.framework.
32
33 o a display/edit framework called AddressView.framework.
34 This library provides specialized view classes to applications
35 which want to display addresses to the user in a graphical
36 form. There are two main classes:
37
38 o ADPersonView, to display and edit complete information about
39 a person in a visually appealing style. This view is
40 intended for specialized Address Manager applications.
41
42 o ADSinglePropertyView, to display person names together with
43 values for a single other property (such as email
44 address). This view is intended for applications such as
45 Email clients, in which the user should select one or more
46 contacts to perform some operation on them.
47
48 o a dedicated Address Manager application, which uses both of
49 these frameworks and acts as an easy-to-use and visually
50 appealing database frontend.
51
52 o a number of command-line helper tools, such as converters
53 from/to specific address formats, an address book network
54 server, etc.
55
56NOTE ON INCOMPLETENESS
57======================
58
59This software package is still in the early stages of
60development. Expect changes in database format, functionality, and
61just about anything else. There is no warranty, express or implied,
62that this package is good for any particular purpose, or if it is,
63will remain so in the future. Expect breakage.
64
65That said, if you find anything buggy or not to your liking, please
66send me mail at bjoern@giesler.de.
67
68Another thing, not to be taken personally: This software is clearly
69inspired by the Apple Address Book. If it's not NeXTish enough for
70you, please feel free to submit changes in the form of .gorm files or
71whatever. I am quite happy with the UI as it is, and quite unwilling
72to listen to any more complaints about what should be a panel and what
73shouldn't and what has to be grouped in a window and what
74shouldn't. None of us works for NeXT anymore, so none of us knows what
75THEY would have done. As I said, if you submit patches that make the
76look configurable, I'll be happy to integrate them.
77
78
79EXTENDING VIA PLUGINS
80=====================
81
82To keep the library and application as open as possible, it is extensible via
83plugins. These are loaded from the usual places:
84
85 $(GNUSTEP_SYSTEM_LIBRARY)/Addresses
86 $(GNUSTEP_NETWORK_LIBRARY)/Addresses
87 $(GNUSTEP_LOCAL_LIBRARY)/Addresses
88 $(GNUSTEP_USER_LIBRARY)/Addresses
89
90There are currently two kinds of plugins, and they usually appear in pairs of
91two: plugins that provide new address book classes, and plugins that contain
92GUIs to configure them.
93
94One reason to write such plugins is that you might have a corporation-wide
95address book that you want to browse or synchronize with.
96
97Please look into Frameworks/Addresses/ADPlugin.h and AddressManager/Plugin.h,
98as well as the goodies/LDAPAddressBook directory, for documentation and
99examples on how to write such plugins.
100
101
102LICENSE
103=======
104
105This software package is distributed under the terms of the GNU Lesser
106General Public License (LGPL); please see the file COPYING.LIB for
107details.
108
109There is one important license issue to note: In the case of the work
110at hand, a bundle containing class extensions to Addresses.framework
111or AddressView.framework is to be considered a "work that uses the
112library", not a "work based on the library" in terms of the LGPL. In
113layman's terms: If you write a bundle containing a subclass of
114ADAddressBook (eg a MS Exchange connector), this bundle does not have
115to be released as source code.
116