We initially evaluated SOBI 2 when we were looking at rolling out a directory system, but ran into snags as we were 1.5 early adopters and it wasn't 1.5 compatible yet.

We were also a bit put off by the costs associated with several of the plugins/modules, and really didn't get a warm/fuzzy feeling that development would continue at any kind of pace/support level.

Well, we went with a non-J! directory system, and the upgrades and hoop jumping we've had to go though has been a total nightmare. Looking to re-invent the directory in a new form as a more integrated part of the rest of the site, we took another look at SOBI2 and it's a lot better than I remembered :-). The ability to define listing templates for individual categories, and the new ability to create a custom entry template are quite nice. The overall flexibility is excellent, and though we will probably have to use multiple installs to handle functionally different parts of the directory (for entry creation purposes more than anything else), I think it's going to work well for us, and be a substantially better solution than the "Dedicated" directory system we've been using.

:-)

Hard to navigate site for this plugin, but I dug around and eventually ended up on http://wapple.net/register/free-developer-program-for-coding-mobile-web.htm

And if you look at the prices page:
http://wapple.net/get-leading-mobile-web-site-builder-and-development-tools.htm

YIKES! Per *month*?!

We have no problem with reasonable fees for a good product, but this seem almost like a bait and switch, with a really NASTY cost once you're up and running. :-(

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, because I'm not quite clear where the J! plugin falls in thier product line, but it *seems* like they want to charge absurdly high prices per MONTH. Hope I'm wrong, because there is REAL need for a good mobile solution for J!, seems to be a really big hole atm.

I'm still wrapping my head around the details of how it works, but the documentation was and continues to be very helpful in clarifying things. I've been looking for a DB driven form development tool like this, specifically to develop some collaboration solutions for our site, and this fits the need almost perfectly Better than Dreamweaver CS3 with a a suite of DB extensions (full set from Interakt, now Adobe Developer Toolkit) has.

I'm used to developing forms and applications in Remedy ARS (client/server DB RAD tool)and much of the concepts and functionality in Fabrik seem pretty straight forward with some nice shortcuts built in.

Rob (developer)was very responsive to my intitial questions on the forum, and willing to make reasonabl tweaks to accomodate new functionality required. The new version (2.0) while still being developed looks *very* nice and will be a great deal easier to expand/extend.

Hugh (support and Dev assitance)is a great community manager and good at helping keep things on track, even if he's prone to threatening cartoonish violence to keep things moving ;-).

My general impression is that this is *not* a pick it up as you go extension like many of them are. This is a serious development tool for those looking to build database and email driven forms and applications for their Joomla site. DO NOT skip the documentation/sample data and tutorials and expect to be able to accomplish anything. If you're willing to spend some time learning the tool, this one is a goldmine of possibilities and seems to have a bright future.

I think a lot of the folks that have provided lowish ratings expected something less complicated/powerful and easier to use. ::shrug:: Anyway... After looking for a solid year for something similar to Fabrik, I'm overjoyed to have found it, and the fact that it's a Joomla extension makes it even better!

James

We initially wanted to use Joomla a year ago, but our whole site is based around vBulletin 3.6.8 and we have substantial workflow driven by the vB profile fields and registration process. The previous duo-synch bridge was very flaky and left us feeling that we'd get stranded with a split site at the next upgrade of either side.

Fast forward to a couple days ago when I saw that J!1.5 was finally out and started looking at extensions. And I found JFusion, which is so *exactly* what we need it's amazing. Using the vB user tables as the authentication system for Joomla suits us perfectly, and it's a true testament to the greatly improved design of 1.5 that the switch over is as clean and surgical as it is!

We had a couple minor blips installing and getting JFusion running, but as it's still in Alpha, that's pretty freaking incredible. Not only does it WORK, but it works cleanly, and well! And it's still early days. Great extension with great potential and top notch support, the answers to just about everything I needed was in the forum.

JFusion *is* the reason we're back in the Joomla arena. 5 Stars + from us!

James