Osticket: [RFC] Request for comment about templating system for osTicket

[pvi-github]

Dear osTicket team,

Thanks for this great software. This issue is not about a problem nor a real request for a feature but :

• A proposal with a proof of concept
• A request for comments to know if the initiative would be welcome
• And if yes a request for further comments to help me match with the code quality requirements of your opensource project.

What it is about : offering to add a templating system to osTicket with Twig as the engine.

Short story long : I discovered osTicket a few weeks ago and i'm proposing it to my not-for-profit organization. But they would like to use it on their mobile phones so i started to search something to make it responsive.

I discovered Bootstrap for osTicket theme by @philbertphotos (here it is : https://github.com/philbertphotos/osticket-bootstrap-theme)

This theme is responsive and interesting but it would need to override several core files of osTicket :-(

So i started to search for a way to use this theme (and it's evolution) or even a sub-theme of it with other colors without overriding important core files.

So here is the proof of concept : https://github.com/pvi-github/osTicket/tree/bootstrap_template_for_1.15.x

Once installed as usual you can use in st-config.php a new define:

define('THEME', 'bootstrap');

And you can see the result on the homepage... currently only the homepage is "twig-ized" for the proof of concept but i'm trying also the login page to see what's common and what's specific to optimize the page upgrade process.

Before considering to go on and submit a pull request i would like to know what you think (in particular @protich and @JediKev )

If the initiative is not welcome i will let go of course, if the initiative is welcome well : good news and let's see what i need to improve to mach your code quality standards and submit pull requests at some point ?

So what do you think ?
PVI

[weedget]

in general +1 from me
I can even contribute in such (r)evolution, however as far as I remember osTicket team announced new refreshed GUI in next major version of this tool but release date of it is still unknown afaik

one protip (maybe you know it and forget about it) vendor folder should be ignored by git

[pvi-github]

Hello @weedget ,

Thanks for the early reply.

And thanks for offering to contribute it's welcome and highly appreciated. And it would greatly accelerate the template-ization of the pages :)

one protip (maybe you know it and forget about it) vendor folder should be ignored by git

Oooh you already looked at the code... thank you ! :+1:

There you are 100% correct vendor should in theory remain empty and git ignored. I knew it and i did not forget. Here is why : Currently osTicket development process (as I understood it) does not rely on composer.
I indeed installed Twig with composer but till there is a decision/consensus to use composer I thought committing the content of vendor directory in the first place would be more in line with current osTicket development practices and would ease the testing/reviewing process (I might be wrong in which case removing the content and updating the git ignore file can be done in no time ^^).

Such accurate questions is precisely the reason why I posted this RFC : If I made errors of If people agree on something that need to be changed/fixed receiving feedback is the best path to improvement.

PVI

[JediKev]

@pvi-github

Thank you for the pull request. Unfortunately we are not accepting any major changes or new features until v2.0 (full code base rewrite). In v2.0 we will have a completely fresh UI/UX with modern design and improved accessibility. Please stay tuned.

Cheers.

[pvi-github]

Hello @JediKev,

Thanks for your quick answer. Ok then I understand that I'd better not invest my time on this branch while 2.0 is on its way. It does make sense indeed.

Now I searched for the branch where 2.0 is developed and I couldn't find it...

Can you point me to the right git repo please ?

Cheers,

[JediKev]

@pvi-github

We currently do not have a public repo for v2.0. I'm not sure if we will create a new repo entirely or just create a new branch in this repo. Whatever we decide you should see updates to this repo once things start happening.

Cheers.

[protich]

@pvi-github - Thank you for the efforts - we most definitely could use help.

To @JediKev point - we hope to release a public roadmap towards the end of next month to get feedback from the community.

[weedget]

@JediKev this rewriting for 2.0 is already happening or it will start in future (undefined yet)?
do you have any (even roughly) estimates when it could/would be released?

edit:
@protich answered just before questions ;)

[pvi-github]

@pvi-github - Thank you for the efforts - we most definitely could use help.

To @JediKev point - we hope to release a public roadmap towards the end of next month to get feedback from the community.

Thank you @protich for the nice reply... I can't wait to see your plans for osTicket :)

Kind regards,
PVI