Q.  What is the NDA (non-disclosure agreement)?

oneVision's database tables, source code and support libraries have been obfuscated in attempt to at least hinder the efforts of software pirates. Convea will supply you with the necessary translation documentation you need to work with the obfuscated source code. Convea considers this information to be of value and therefore requires that you do not publish this information, nor modify the code in such a way that it becomes obvious as to its function.

Q.  What is the non-compete agreement?

Convea has invested considerable resources into the development of its Intranet Suite product. The non-compete agreement provides us with a safeguard that licensees will not take our platform to develop and subsequently offer for a sale, a competitive Intranet solution. You are welcome to develop internal Intranets, Extranets or any other type of web-based application, but if your product competes in our key marketplace then we would be unable to offer you a license. If you are unsure of whether or not your project would be classed as competition then please contact us before you place your order.

Q.  Can I use the source code in my open source project?

After our last adventure with open-source it's easier to just say no to this. The complexities of licensing and copyright quickly stop making sense if the platform itself isn't open source, which it isn't. Note that if there's something you really like/need then you can always ask and we'll most likely say yes. We're developers, not marketoids and so like to help out wherever we can.

Q.  What about licensing and branding?

The easy, one-off license fee gives you the freedom to rebrand and charge whatever you choose for your derivative work. You can create as many derivative products as you need and sell to whomever you choose. Obviously, we don't allow you to simply take platform and re-sell it, it must be used as part of another work and not resold as a development platform as we are offering it. If you do build on the platform then we require the placement of a small acknowledgement and a link to convea.net. You have a choice of wording, but an acknowledgement along of the lines of:

Contains software licensed from Convea Ltd. Copyright (c)

should fit the bill.

Q.  Can I use the code in my existing applications?

The license allows you complete access to all of the source code. You can use as much or as little as you choose. If you just need the editor, that's fine. Again, we do not allow you to simply strip the components and sell them- they must form part of another application and cannot be sold as development tools.

The platform is licensed to you. If you breech the fair-use terms then we reserve the right to revoke your license. The fair-use terms are simple: the platform is licensed to you, you do not have the right to sub-license (unless you act as a reseller on behalf of Convea). You can use the platform for derivative works, client solutions, subscription based offerings, but you cannot resell the code as a developer tool.

Q.  What language is it written in?

Classic ASP - Logic and Backend

Javascript - User Interface

Q.  Can I use other languages?

Depending on how far you want to integrate with the core system, then yes, there's a lot of flexibility there. A lot of data is cached in the ASP application object however, so you might need to wrap some of the existing includes if you need to access that kind of information. If you stick with ASP, whether classic or .NET, then everything is how it was meant to be. If you want to port it, that's up to you- the code is there for you to do that.

Q.  Is all of the source code included?

Yes, fully commented source code is available for everything including the Core Services DLL. And it's nice- it was developed with passion, care and consistency.

Q.  Give me an insight into the development process.

Okay, the first and most important aspect of oneVision development is that it's not rigid in its implementation. There's no inheritance, no interface or classes. Most of the scripted functionality is accessed through some very obviously titled ASP include files that offer up function libraries. To access user permissions for a current module, for example, you include inc_accessrights.asp file. In fact, the chain of includes branches quite deep, so you'll find that once you include inc_security.asp (which enforces login, session state and user access security) in a script page, a lot of the other functionality such as date and form handling functions are already available.

The same holds true for Javascript calls. To generate a toolbar, include the toolbar include, write out the javascript call, and the toolbar is generated. It's really just standard, old-fashioned web development. Once invoked, the components will take care of themselves: the rich-text editor will launch and provide all of its functionality, when it closes its data is handled with another included that separates inline images and attachments and places them in their own common attachment area...you just decide where the content is going to be stored in your database.

There's no need to worry about user management, dates, time zones, SSL or any of the other problem areas in developing a large, multi-user system. All of that is already built in and written, all you need to do is pull the right include to get at the information you require. Even database access is monitored by the inc_enforcer.asp include: you tell it what the action is performing, read, write, delete and the enforcer will take care of looking up user access permissions and determining the correct course of action. Transactions too are typed and defined, you just wrap your database calls between them and let the system take care of the rest. It will automatically alert the user if the transaction fails- even the toolbars and dialogs will switch from transmission states to interactive states depending on the status of the transaction. But all of this is scripted, and easily modified if needed. There no lexical structure or platform semantics- its just script, change it as necessary.

Q.  Do I have to pay per developer, per server, royalties?

No, you pay one price and you get one license. The license entitles you to create as many products and sell as many versions as you wish.

Q.  What about upgrades and bug-fixes?

Minor upgrades and bug-fixes will be passed on to licensees for free. There is no end-of-life for the platform. Major new releases will require separate licensing.

Q.  What database does it run on?

This version requires MySQL. Before you curl your nose up, give it a try, it's got some really great features and its and cheap (as in free).

A SQL Server version will be released eventually. In fact, it's a lot easier to port the platform database as it is the Intranet Suite database with all of its modules and MySQL dependencies.

Q.  Has Convea's platform been used before?

Yes. The old codebase that Enterprise Pro (precursor to Intranet Suite) was built with was the foundation for the following products:

http://www.chyma.net

http://www.softalot.com/default.htm

We've advanced a lot since then but if clients can create those kinds of solutions you only have to imagine what you could build with the current platform.

Q.  Can I use any of the Intranet Suite modules with oneVision?

We treat this on a case-by-case basis. Intranet Suite is our flagship application and therefore we don't want to license both the platform and our application modules as that would dilute the strength of our major product. If you have a limited requirement, say one or two modules, then we will consider licensing them to you depending on your project.