Module development and code questions

Does anyone have experience using CVL as a Mac (or other) GUI front-end for CVs? Yesterday I installed and checked out the core and contib as per the handbook instructions, but now when I try to re-open the program and open the contributions work area I'm getting (literally) hundreds of pop-up windows with the error:

CVS QUICK STATUS REQUEST

Sorry, this status request was aborted by CVS. The reason given is:

 "cvs [update aborted]: reading from server: Input/output error"

This may indicate that there is corruption in the workarea or in the repository. 
CVL will attempt to preform a full status request instead. This will take a bit longer.

CVL version is CVL-3.4.9-b76

Hi outhere,

we want to use the shop in good-old-Germany.
The Shop itself seems to be perfect for us. But we have 2 problems with Tax-Calculation and Tax-Handling on products.

Problem 1:
- in Germany we have different Tax-rates for different product-classes.
e.g. 16% for computers and 7% for books and food or 0%
tax-rates in 4.7 are just calculated by country, not per product
( you can't choose a tax-value when creating a product )

Hi, I'm having a problem with the flexinode module..

I've created a new content type and What I want is a menu where there is a link for every node created of
that node type..
Can anyone show me how to create a block that can display this information?

thank you..

Hi all..

I'm developing a web site for a bruchure site that want to marketize their products online..
Eventually the site will also be an ecommerce, but this detail is not relevant at the moment..

I've decide to use the flexinode module.. I think its a wonderful module..

Say I create a new Content Type and call it 'Flower Variety'.. Every node of this typw will have a certain number
of fields.. For example: "Primary Image", "Details", "Size", etc. etc..
And everynode will be displayed using a particular node.tpl.php template file.. In my case I'm using a
node-flexinode_1.tpl.php template file for the rendering of my "Flower Variety" nodes..

My doubt now is... How am I going to access all the fields of nodes belonging to my new content type?
My current ideas are now:

1) write a module that does it all, including the rendering of the HTML code that will place all
values in a purely HTML structure (The style would come from the CSS)

2) Do it inside the node-flexinode_1.tpl.php itself accessing somehow the fields of the nodes
(in this case I guess I would have to write all queries to get the flexinode fields inside the template
code.. which does not sound appropriate..)

I would really like avoiding writing a module but dont know if there is a simple way of accessing all fields of
my new node..

I've even tried to call the function:

var_dump($node);

I can get this to work:

db_query("INSERT INTO {term_node} (nid, tid) VALUES (%d, %d)", 200, 300);

But this does not:

$nid = $node->nid;
$tid = 134;
db_query("INSERT INTO {term_node} (nid, tid) VALUES (%d, %d)", $nid, $tid);

Can anyone see what I'm doing wrong?

Here's the query in context:

Does anyone know if there is a form_mail like module that's current? I see one that hasn't been updated in a while. I have a fairly customized contact form that's written in html (with radio buttons and many fields), and since I don't know php, it's difficult for me to customize the feedback module to meet my needs. Any ideas?