Logic Hooks: OnDemand Installations

Source: photosteve101/Flickr

Say that you developed a cool logic hook and are ready to put it into use on your production instance of SugarCRM. However, you are faced with the challenge of the production instance being hosted on the SugarCRM OnDemand platform. 

For those of you that are new to the world of logic hooks, the OnDemand environment presents a unique challenge in that in order for one to make use of logic hooks in general, one has place the logic hook files in specific sub-folders within the folder containing your SugarCRM installation. You would not have access to said folders for OnDemand installations. Thus, our challenge.

So how do we solve this problem?

Fortunately, we can leverage one of built-in features of SugarCRM to bypass the issue. Using the Module Loader tool, we can install or uninstall the logic hook at will.

But to do this, we must first create a Module Install package. Let us take a look at how we would prepare it for the purposes of installing the proper casing logic hook described in a previous post of mine.

From this point forward, it is assumed that you have already created the files corresponding with that logic hook and we will focus exclusively on the process required to install it via the Module Loader and in turn, apply them to an OnDemand instance.

SugarCRM 101: Upgrade Safe? Huh?

Source: LivingOS/Flickr

Lexicons tend to develop around just about any facet of our cultures.  At the office, at the gym, at home -- pretty much anywhere.  

The software world is no different.  Users of any software will, over time, develop their own vocabulary to describe features and other aspects of the software. Conversely, software vendors develop their own vocabulary for the same and other components of their product.  Because these two lists don't always match, communication between the parties can sometimes become a bit blurred. It can be further complicated by the fact that vendors tend to use words common to the software publishing industry.  

Of course, the user base tends to represent a wide variety of industries, thus, the terms used by software vendors tend to be foreign to many users.

Under most scenarios, this gap in comprehension usually does not present problems. However, it can also cause great confusion and potential problems.  

Commentary: SugarCON 2011

I had the fortune of attending the annual SugarCRM Partner, User and Developer Conference (SugarCON) in San Francisco this week. Although I missed last year's event, it is very exciting to see how much SugarCRM (company and product) has grown and matured since my initial brush with it back in 2005, or even in comparison to the last time I attended in 2009.  I wanted to take a few moments to share some thoughts on the experience as a whole.

SugarCRM CTO and co-founder Clint Oram kicked things off on Tuesday morning by welcoming the crowd. The day prior had been spent talking about matters relating mostly to partners on which I won't comment (just for the purposes of omission -- don't read into it). Listening to Clint is always interesting. Personally, I've always enjoyed interacting with him as he is a very down-to-Earth and approachable individual.  Clint is always willing to listen and actively solicits ideas from the crowd. More importantly, he is honest. The story was the same when I saw him this year.  Talk to him if you get the opportunity.

  

His welcome was followed by the morning keynote, delivered by SugarCRM CEO Larry Augustin. Despite having known of Larry for a number of years -- mostly due to his connection to VA Linux -- I had never had the opportunity to actually be in the same room with him or hear him speak at length about SugarCRM.  Not surprisingly, part of the keynote revolved around the themes that have served as the focal point for the development of SugarCRM 6.2, slated for later this year: Global, Mobile, Social.  There are some really cool things in the works.  Stay tuned.

While features are important, so is believing in one's work, as is the feeling that one is part of something one considers to be special. Some of the comments that Larry made really hit home for me and helped to cement the reasons why I proudly align myself with SugarCRM.