Current funding status : 4750€ / 7000€
Mail us to raise the bar !

Port Atlas to C++

Hello all,

This is a call for funding, aka «Give us some money, we’ll do great things !»

At Oslandia, we developed Quantum GIS Atlas plugin in Python not long ago on our own free time. This was more a proof of concept than a full-featured, rock-solid piece of software, and our agenda has been so busy since then, we had no time to get it into a really stable state.

QGIS users started to use it though, test it, report bugs, and require new features. Some are interested in funding the plugin to develop it further, fix bugs and achieve a production-ready feature for QGIS.

There are two ways :

• Add new features and fix bugs in the Python version
• Port the plugin to C++ and integrate it to QGIS core

Why C++ ?

The latter has our preference, mainly because of the following points :

• It’s a main of integrating Atlas interface directly into the composer UI (new tab, comboboxes for inserting field names in labels, etc)
• Better version management, as it now begins to be a mess to know which QGIS versions are supported by which version of the plugin. This currently leads to bad conditional code, and multiple versions to maintain. That’s a no-go on the long term. C++ version would keep in sync with master,  and be shipped with releases, period.
• Fix current bugs while porting (some of which already have c++ fixes)
• Project management directly in QGIS platform (git repo, bugtracker) with features & bugs integrated into qgis roadmap.
• Easier packaging, as it would directly be shipped with qgis
• Better integration, new classes and possibly new (c++/python) api to base other components on
• Improve robustness thanks to c++ language typing & more
• Better performances (even if this one is not really that strong, current work being mainly done in qgis core)

We need funds !

This port to C++ will need some work, estimated to 7000€ at least for the integration of the current state of the Python plugin into QGIS core. We already have some 3000€ of funding promises, and Oslandia itself would be glad to participate into the effort.

This means we lack around 3000€ to get the port implementation started. That’s where YOU can play a role ! If you are interested, please send an email to infos@oslandia.com with the amount you would be willing to fund, or comment directly this post. Check the top of this page regularly to see the current status.

The more money we get, the more features you’ll get

Among the features we can implement if we get more than 7K€ :

• reference map
• fixed scale
• combobox for field values in label
• Export filenames with field values

How we will do it then.

• At the end of July, if the funding target is reached (equal or more ), we set a list of work included in the development effort, agreeing with funders
• Development of the port will take place between end of july and mid-september
• Development will take place on Oslandia’s GitHub in a specific QGIS master fork, so that we can push it to master directly when it’s ready
• Development steps and time spent will be detailed so that we have transparency on the development for funders to check
• All sponsors will get visibility on the project (details on that to be discussed with QGIS PSC) : mentions on website, thanks in QGIS about dialog…
• Funds will be managed through legal invoices by Oslandia, and paid by bank transfer on our french account

Comment and contribute !

That’s the first time we do a public call for funding. Do not hesitate to contact us to get informations on that, comment on the way it’s done, raise issues, or just thank us

Any contribution will be welcome, please spread the word, do not hesitate to participate, and let’s make free software go forward together !