On Friday 21 November 2003 09:10 am, Tod Harter wrote: > Well, I wasn't even THAT sophisticated... I simply created my page just > like I usually do and at the point where content normally lives, a <td/> I > just identified that td with id='x'. Somewhere in my page is a wad of > javascript placed there by an XSLT template match to some tag in my > original source XML. That javascript finds the <td>, uses XMLHttpRequest() > to request whatever component is supposed to go there, optionally gets an > XSLT transform and applies it, and attaches the result to the DOM tree at > the specified location. In addition to HTML this can also contain the > javascript for event handlers etc. > > The only reason for even going through javascript is just that my concept > was to build fairly large chunks of GUI and include them as needed. The > nice thing in that case is that your DATA can be already in the page and > remain local while you do whatever you want with the user interface. The > same basic kinds of techniques can be used with smaller widgets though, and > of course the XSLT can happen on either server or client, as is convenient. > Something like XUL could be generated just as easily as HTML, and the > syntax for specifying the components in the first place could be quite > varied as well, XForms, etc.
Odd, I've been doing web development for eons now, and I've never even thought of doing that. I try to stay away from the client-side rendering capabilities of browsers since I have an urge to stay Lynx-compatible. :-) I was working on CallistoCMS (http://callistocms.com) and was running into the problem of having server-side XML, needing to render it as HTML/Forms with XSLT, but not wanting to reload from the server with every update. (the website is currently partially broken, unfortunately) This technique would really improve things for my interface, and seeing as I've been planning on making this 100% Mozilla-based, so I can use advanced widgets like tree-views and so forth, so I wouldn't have to worry about cross-browser incompatibilities. > I built a little site map editor this way. In my case I built a javascript > class that could load the sitemap, display it, save it, etc. Its nice > because you can save the sitemap and still keep editing it without it > needing to be reloaded as with conventional forms based systems, plus my > editor is far nicer than any form.... The complete package consists of the > data, a javascript .js file that defines the class, and an XSLT transform > that turns the data into the HTML interface and 'glue' javascript to > propagate events to my class. The whole thing is still fairly clunky, but I > can send you some files. Currently it only works in Mozilla, but I could > make it work in IE in theory. I'd love to see your samples, if you can provide them. I have been working on a prototype XUL application, which queries RDF sources, so if you want to share code, I can send some files your way as well. -- /* Michael A. Nachbaur <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> * http://nachbaur.com/pgpkey.asc */ "You're very sure of your facts, " he said at last, "I couldn't trust the thinking of a man who takes the Universe - if there is one - for granted. " --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
