On Wed, 20 Nov 2002, Erik Hatcher wrote:
> Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 00:09:36 -0800 > From: Erik Hatcher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: Struts Developers List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: Struts Developers List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: Struts At ApacheCon 2002 > > Craig, > > It was nice meeting you and attending your Struts 1.1 session on > Tuesday. I'm curious what came of the BOF to discuss the future of Struts. > Well, there were only a few of us, and no video equipment :-), but it was a good discussion. We basically walked through some of the items that are already on the STATUS page sections on the 1.2 roadmap (likely to stay backwards compatible) and the 2.0 roadmap (likely to be rebuilt on top of Filters). However, I've added some items I've been thinking about, one of which makes your message quite timely. I think it is time to start packaging tools and generators with Struts to help the developer -- either as standalone packages included for convenience, or integrated into the architecture of the package. It wouldbe interesting to explore how XDoclet fits in to this vision. > I'd be really interested in your thoughts on the XDoclet work I've done, > especially in the Struts Validator realm. I'm generating validation.xml > completely, and also all the form bean definitions in our system. I > also use XDoclet to process form beans for a one-time starter code > generation of a JSP page (templated to our specific look and feel) for a > specified form bean, as well as the resource properties that can be used > as a starting point for the application resource properties for the > field labels. Its amazing amount of generation just on the Struts-side > of things, but we use XDoclet for even more than that too. > I haven't done a huge amount of review, but I like the basic notion of generating things like this. I'm still getting my head around the idea of doing this from special tags in the source, but I'll get there ... > As for DynaActionForm's.... I still don't get their benefit. Do you use > them? Or right ActionForm subclasses? Its even less code to "write" to > do a form bean for me, because my IDE generates all the getter/setters, > and being able to generate validation.xml makes it so worthwhile. :) > I can see your point in a world where the cost of creating standard ActionForm beans is so low (because the tool does it for you). However, there's a couple of themes that are still involved: * Lots of people are still stuck in a world where they generate these things by hand (even though some level of tooling support is freely available). For those folks, not having to create these classes is a real benefit. * Even in a tool-generated world, it's simpler for a tool to generate just the struts-config.xml fragment than the whole bean classes -- to say nothing of not needing to compile anything. * You should still be able to generate validation.xml if you start from a common definition of the fields. One of the things I want to investigate is embedding the validation rules directly in the <form-bean> element, for example, so everything about the bean is in one place. (In a high-level UML based tool, for example, all this stuff would be part of the metadata about a particular form captured in the model.) * DynaBean in 1.1 only solves part of the "dynamic" needs people have. The next logical step is an abstraction that does not predefine the set of properties at all (consider a SQL browser that dynamically creates properties for each row based on the column names included in your SELECT). We'll be able to build this on top of the existing DynaBean infrastructure much more easily than we could on top of standard JavaBeans. > Take care and hopefully I'll get a chance to chat with you further at > some point during the week at ApacheCon. > I will be in the hacker's lounge this afternoon (after lunch until 3:30), and will then be either there or in the Exhibition Hall most of tomorrow. I'd be happy to sit down and talk some more, although I'm unlikely to have time for any in depth reviews first. > Erik > Craig > > Craig R. McClanahan wrote: > > If you're coming to Las Vegas this week for ApacheCon, there will be two > > sessions and a BOF specifically focused on Struts: > > > > * Session TU07 (Tuesday, 1:30-2:30) - What's New In Struts 1.1 > > > > * Session WE06 (Wednesday, 10:00-11:00) - Building Web Applications > > With Struts > > > > * BOF BOF03 (Tuesday, 8:00p-9:00p) - Struts After 1.1 -- Where Do We > > Go From Here? > > > > The BOF is primarily an opportunity to gather input from folks on our > > initial thinking about the 1.2 and 2.0 roadmaps, and to answer any general > > questions that people have. > > > > I look forward to meeting any Struts users (and developers) attending the > > conference. You can find me at one of these sessions, or hanging around > > the Sun booths in the Exhibit Hall. > > > > > > Craig McClanahan > > > > > > > > -- > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > > > > > > > -- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
