Kexi/Getting Started

Ways for contribution

Tester
Developer
Promoter

Communication channels=

See Contact.

Common tools=

Reporting issues, wishes or bugs

Specific for Developers

Contributing a Patch (applies to all Calligra apps)
Calligra API reference

Specific for non-Developers

"I am not developer, I cannot or do not like to program. How can I help?

Other information

<a href="[email protected]#Mailing_Lists">Subscribe to mailing list(s)</a> .

Linux/Unix: either

<a href="[email protected]">get binary Kexi package(s)</a>,
<a href="[email protected]">get the source code tarball and compile it</a>, or
<a href="[email protected]">compile Kexi downloaded source code from Subversion</a>.

It's recommended to work on the newest possible version with debug information (i.e. the one compiled from Subversion), so if you area able to compile it, do it.

Do not forget to compile and/or install MS Access Migration Driver if yo uwant to test MS Access databases importing. This is specified
(optional, if you plan to test translations) Find and install a translation package for Kexi (there is actually one per language for entire KOffice suite). If you have not a binary package, you can get the source files and install them. TODO: inform how to do this. The same for translated documentation.

If you want to use Windows version, just <a href="http://www.kexi.pl/wiki/index.php/Kexi_for_MS_Windows">download its binary package<img src="images/external.gif" align="top" alt="" border="0"/></a> and install it, but note that you will not get the bleeding edge version.
An alternative to installing Kexi is to connect to the remote Testing Server dedicated for Kexi, if you have internet access. More information is PLANNED here.
After you start Kexi for the first time, you will be able to create a new empty database. Use the <a href="[email protected]">Handbook</a> to get informtion how to do this.
If you plan to use and test support for server databases, you will need access to a server. It can be the same computer as your desktop machine, but you'll need to install the databse server software on your own. If you have not enough knowledge to do this, ask some one (e.g. a network administrator) to do so.
You may also want to use example databases as a reference.
- These databases are saved in self-contained files for your convenience:
  - <a href="http://kexi-project.org/download/examples/Simple_Database.kexi">Simple Database.kexi</a> (click+SHIFT on this to download); If you compiled Kexi from
  - A database with <a href="http://kexi-project.org/download/examples/large_db.kexi.bz2"><img src="images/tgz.png" alt"" border="0"> Large data</a> (~600KB, download it and uncompress before use)
- Example databases on a database server (MySQL, PostgreSQL) useful to test server connections. Will be provided, more information is PLANNED here. Please offere a server space if you can. Please provide test databases if you have such (must be legal)..

What to Test?

You can:

test for crashes or misbehaviour
locate places where Kexi is ineffective (e.g. for large data sets) or hangs
test particular functionality and propose entensions, e.g. data importing functions
compare the application to the competition and identify the most expected features that Kexi currently lacks
test for usability
test for accessibility
test for localizations issues, including support for right-to-left languages, etc. (note: errors in translations to other languages should be reported to a particular <a href="http://i18n.kde.org/teams/">translation team<img src="images/external.gif" align="top" alt="" border="0"/></a>)
locate errors in the <a href="[email protected]">Kexi Handbook</a>, report unclear or incomplete paragraphs, outdated or missing screenshots (the above note about translation teams also apply to translated documentation)

How to Report Bugs

Use the wizard at <a href="http://bugs.kde.org/wizard.cgi">bugs.kde.org<img src="images/external.gif" align="top" alt="" border="0"/></a> (KDE Bug Tracking System) to submit a bug report or a wish. First check using <a href="http://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?short_desc_type=allwordssubstr&short_desc=&long_desc_type=allwordssubstr&long_desc=&product=kexi&bug_status=UNCONFIRMED&bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=VERIFIED&bug_status=CLOSED&bugidtype=include&bug_id=&votes=&emailtype1=exact&email1=&emailtype2=substring&email2=&changedin=&chfieldfrom=&chfieldto=Now&chfieldvalue=&order=Reuse+same+sort+as+last+time&cmdtype=doit&newqueryname=&namedcmd=all+kexi+bugs">this query tool<img src="images/external.gif" align="top" alt="" border="0"/></a> if there's already similar bug or wish reported. Carefully read advices on the wizard's pages. Specify your operating system version and Kexi version. Attach an example file (or paste a link to it if the file is large). This helps a lot, and you will get faster and more accurate response.
Related KDE Bug Tracking System's tools:
- <a href="http://bugs.kde.org/component-report.cgi?product=kexi">Report Count by Kexi's Component and Severity<img src="images/external.gif" align="top" alt="" border="0"/></a>
- <a href="http://bugs.kde.org/reports.cgi?product=kexi&output=most_doomed&datasets=NEW%3A&datasets=ASSIGNED%3A&datasets=REOPENED%3A&datasets=UNCONFIRMED%3A&links=1&banner=1&quip=0">Kexi chart for bugs ownership<img src="images/external.gif" align="top" alt="" border="0"/></a>
<a href="http://kexi-project.org/contact.html">Contact Kexi developers</a> by mail or by visiting #kexi and #koffice IRC channels.