[Laszlo-user] Laszlo Development

[Andrew McLaughlin]

Hi all,

I'm just starting out on a pretty ambitious project to develop a  
sales order entry Laszlo app (interfacing to MySQL via JSP). Laszlo  
will be used strictly in an Ajax mode in that all data will be loaded  
on the fly from the service, displaying a pop up list of parts as  
they enter items or descriptions, showing the unit and extended price  
as they enter values and even checking stock and showing if a line  
item will be backordered once committed.

So far, I'm totally confident in what it will take to build the  
middle and back tiers, however I'm a little concerned regarding  
Laszlo. Heretofore, I would have built this using straight Struts,  
but wanted to give the client a little more bang for the buck.

Question is: Is there any sort of GUI dev tool to layout the Laszlo  
widgets or is it all hand XML coding? Is there at least a XSD or even  
a DTD that I can leverage to speed up the effort? Currently, I'm on  
the hook for the RFQ and basic design flow including demonstrating  
how the UI will look (which will help sell the entire project).

Are there any reference implementations of any sort of order entry  
that I can look at to get an idea of best practices for laying the  
application out?

Additionally, if you are a Laszlo consultant, I'd be interested in  
farming out the GUI development to speed up the project as well.  
Please reply in person and advise your billing rate and include a  
link or two to some sample Laszlo apps that you may have built or  
contributed to.

Thanks,
Andrew