1. It looks to me like it is not really a bridge but just the roster beta program re-written as a whole new component for Joomla. If this is the case then will we not have to update it and change the code to add the jos component everytime there is a new service release?
Yes, it´s not complety rewritten, but some files like cmslink.lib.php and some others to work in Joomla even with the authorizing system. If it needed to rewrite the files in the final release i don´t know. If there won´t any chance on these files in the final release there should be no need to recode.
2. The sizing needs a little work. As you can see by your demo site the roster size increase the margin on the right side which means that it doesn't make for a fluid transition of the site. In my case It even bunched the icons together and overlapped them to try and fit.
You´ve right there a complication. This cames from two css files, once the file from the Joomla-Template and the Roster´s own css file. This is a problem, where i have no fix yet.
3. The utf=8 problem happened to me as well which was an easy fix by just removing it from the install file and repackaging the component into a zip.
The queries are all original taken from the roster, so i think when there´s a problem with UTF8 in the component there should already be a problem in the standalone version! The UTF8 is not inserted by me, i took only the original Queries and inserted into install.wowroster.php so that they will be run on installing the component.
4. When I first access the roster it gives me an error when I try to login. I am in the process of uploading the new lib file now to see if that fixes the admin issue.
What error will be displayed? The cmslink.lib.php is only for making links in roster, i only inserted the needed joomla options for the url. When there´s an authorize problem, look in the MySQL Table "YourJoomlaprefix_roster_account" there should be 3 lines (guid, officer, admin) if one is missing, look in install.wowroster.php at the end, and try to manually insert the missing lines.
5. Will the add-ons work or will they need to be modified as well to reflect the jos_ extension for the MySQL server?
All Addons should work normal, upload it and install it by the Addon Management in Roster Config Panel. I´ve only change the conf.php (were normally are your mysql-data is located) so , that there will be the Joomla Variables be used to get access to the database. There are no changes on Roster Mysql Routines.
Nefuh