Re: [NEWBIE] Hints to documentation

[Leo Simons]

Hi Christoph!

Christoph Begall wrote:

Hi,

I read an article about avalon and it seemed to me like "doing things
the right way".
I'm not really involved in component technology and I don't think
that I understood all of the things that are there, but I would
like to go further.

I have read developing-with-avalon.pdf, but I don't really know where
to go now. I would appreciate hints.

That's a bit of a problem. The "authoritive document to read after developing-with-avalon" really hasn't been written yet, though we're trying to get to it.

Apache has an experimental wiki, and avalon's got some stuff on there too. (Feel free to add content, especially to the FAQ!):
http://nagoya.apache.org/wiki/apachewiki.cgi?AvalonProjectPages

The easiest way to start and get some code in front of your eyes that does something (and is actually used in lots of real-life situations) is by following: http://jakarta.apache.org/avalon/phoenix/getting-started.html

Work is underway to write similar instructions for fortress, but it really still is work underway:
http://cvs.apache.org/viewcvs.cgi/jakarta-avalon-excalibur/fortress/src/xdocs/getting-started.xml

A pretty-much suspended effort (for now, as priority is with other stuff) for real simple docs and code is at:
http://jakarta.apache.org/avalon/excalibur/tweety/
the download link is wrong (no releases yet). You can get alpha binaries from http://cvs.apache.org/~leosimons/excalibur/tweety/
It gives you a good idea of what a container is and does.

After going through that (it's not much, but it's more than nothing ;), your primary source of further info is the website, the mailing list archives (@ marc.theaimsgroup.com, among other places), and this list.

The real high-level concepts behind avalon, like COP, are explained @ http://jakarta.apache.org/avalon/framework/index.html.

Or should I start asking stupid
questions like the following on the list?

definately feel free. The fact that it is not easy to answer your answers with a link only means they're not stupid!

If this is the wrong place to ask just tell me...

this is definately the right place. It'd be real cool if you could document any answers you get by editing the content of http://nagoya.apache.org/wiki/apachewiki.cgi?AvalonFAQ.

Some sample questions I would like to learn about:
- What is Phoenix, Merlin and Fortress, are they essentially the same,

yes.

  are they all containers?

yes.

If so which one should I choose?

it depends on what you want to use avalon for. Phoenix is the only one with a stable downloadable release, and has the best docs. Try that one first, I'd say.

PS: we're working to make the choice easier!

- From the things I read on the mailing list it seems to me, that I
  could package a component (a block?) in a jar, just like a webapp
  for tomcat. Is that right?

yes.

How do I do that?

I suggest you take a look at the demo applications in the jakarta-avalon-apps cvs (sorry, you'll have to use cvs for now). Info on cvs usage @ http://jakarta.apache.org/site/cvsindex.html. Web view of that cvs stuff @ http://cvs.apache.org/viewcvs/jakarta-avalon-apps/demo/

Basically what you use is a special ant task in your ant buildfile.

- If I wrote some kind of network daemon, using TCP/IP connections
  I could use lots of stuff in excalibur.

yep.

How can I establish a kind
  of architecture where some of the classes can be reloaded into the
  system without stopping the daemon?

the demo applications in the aforementioned cvs contain some simple examples of network daemons. Basically, the easiest way to do what you describe is to you use JMX or a JMX-based interface to tell phoenix to do some kind of modification of your server application. Rather good docs on this @ http://jakarta.apache.org/avalon/phoenix/mx/index.html

I have lots more of those!

All those links should keep you busy for a while :D

keep 'em coming!

Thank you for your time.

no prob :D Once again (don't want to be nagging, but this wiki thing is a new idea), it'd be real cool if you could add your questions and the answers you found to the fledling avalon FAQ. Thanks!

regards,

- Leo



--
To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>