[Laszlo-user] Modular and Styled OL Application

[Henry Minsky]

Note to self, check if the SWF9 URL Loader API supports REST semantics...


On Tue, Jul 1, 2008 at 7:20 PM, Max Carlson <max at openlaszlo.org> wrote:
> This is a great discussion!  The fact is, the current component set needs
> modernization to be more easily extensible, styleable, etc.  It's  an old
> code base that's been brought along as the runtime has been modernized.
>  There's lots of room for improvement!
>
> Right now the OpenLaszlo team is focused on Flash 9 support, which promises
> to bring huge performance benefits.  As you know, rewriting components is a
> big job and something do plan to do with the community's help.
>
> Of course, we'd love any contributions, even if it's just towards the
> design.  It would be great to get some more specifics about which design
> choices you made, and why.  For example, what about the existing selection
> and drag/drop management didn't work for you?  Were things broken or did you
> just need to extend them?
>
> Also, it sounds like some of the smaller bits could be very useful to the
> community, e.g. subcommands, especially if they are integrated into the LFC.
>
> It's really valuable to know what problems you faced with the language and
> any APIs and extension points you needed so we can make sure they're
> addressed in the next round.
>
> And yes, I agree fully about XML models needing to send a 'delete' event.
>  REST support is critical - what issues are you seeing?  I want to make sure
> this is working.
>
> Thanks for being a part of the community, and giving such astute feedback!
>
> Greg Denton wrote:
>>
>> I have no plans to open source due to (1) the time required, (2) the
>> fact that my components are not complete and not stylable either, and
>> (3) the feeling that since much of the power of the framework rests on
>> (tight) integration with the special "xml model" layer it would not be
>> as valuable to others.
>>
>> It would require a bit of work to redesign for less coupling between
>> these subsystems (for "mixing and matching"). I also took a lot of
>> performance shortcuts/improvements by favoring callbacks over events.
>> The subsystems are all pretty tightly integrated:
>>
>> - recoding of form components for my own graphic look and to be data
>> driven using the xml model code
>> - extension to command functionality for execution and subcommands,
>> tied to context menus and selection
>> - selection management: tied to commands, extended tree and form
>> selection, window activation
>> - drag/drop: special dragger code, integrated with sink registration
>> - xml models supporting "deleting" notifications, undo/redo, cross
>> references/dependencies between objects
>>
>> Oddly, after all this work there is a hard show stopper for me: lack
>> of REST support for SOLO apps :(.
>>
>> If you would like some input to a discussion of OL frameworks let me know.
>>
>> On Mon, Jun 30, 2008 at 9:27 PM, Simon Cornelius P. Umacob
>> <simoncpu at infoweapons.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Leonardo Mateo wrote:
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 8:17 PM, Dave Miller <dwmiller at umich.edu> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> On Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 1:28 PM, Greg Denton wrote:
>>>>>> A sympathetic note....#2 is a real pain. I asked the same question a
>>>>>> while back. I wound up rewriting all of the component classes (using
>>>>>> the base classes) that my app uses as the lz ones are so ugly and only
>>>>>> minimally styleable (color, font). It turns out that the data handling
>>>>>> for the components was not what I liked anyway, and I needed to do
>>>>>> selection management, so it was inevitable. I had to create a whole
>>>>>> application framework to do what I wanted. Lots of time. What I have
>>>>>> now is valuable (in terms of functionality) but has to be closely
>>>>>> maintained. I'm sure a lot of developers are doing the same thing.
>>>
>>> Do you guys have plans on open sourcing some of your components?  Maybe
>>> we
>>> can work together on writing custom components or something... =)
>>>
>>> [ simon.cpu ]
>>> p.s.: Any news on regex support for edittext?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> And /usr/games/fortune futurama says:
>>>
>>> Pop a Poppler in your mouth
>>> When you come to Fishy Joe's
>>> What they're made of is a mystery
>>> Where they come from no one knows
>>> You can pick 'em you can lick 'em you can chew 'em you can stick 'em
>>> If you promise not to sue us you can shove one up your nose.
>>>
>
> --
> Regards,
> Max Carlson
> OpenLaszlo.org
>



-- 
Henry Minsky
Software Architect
hminsky at laszlosystems.com