So your main beef is really with the w3c and the browser makers for not
giving you the flexibility you wanted. Now that Macromedia has solved (or at
least gone some way to solving) that problem you're saying that this
solution is too expensive.
My beef isn't with anyone specific. My beef is with the overall concept of web-based software. Its got a lit of requirements that aren't meet. Macromedia have a winning lotto ticket, but are holding it reserved to the richer folks. To me that pisses me off, but i can and will live with it.
My overall question put forward wasn't a winge per say, its a question as to why we as cfmx developers seem to constantly make our own language to counteract limitations of HTML/CFMX. Ie Rolling our own XML to dynamically build it.
Despite your claims to the contrary, the fact
that no-one else has come up with anything near to Flex either as a standard, as an open source initiative, or as a product should give you and idea that it really isn't as easy as you're making out (I'm not counting Microsoft and windows forms/Avalon because that isn't a product yet).
It isn't? last time i looked in MSDN you can download it (if you have an MSDN account).
Its not a question of whether or not its as easy i as i think. To answer that, it is easy as i think why? because we all seem to be f#9kin experts at rolling our own XML/CFC solution to handle it? if it was so hard, then why people like taco/myself/xyz all rolling these XML solutions to do our UI. To answer that, because we do think its an easy solution that hasn't been meet yet or meet within our price range. Is it a success? ask anyone who's done one and if they are truthful and re-use it a lot, then yes it is. Why not give out some incentive to get all this b.s into one package? its a nice dream, but a good question to ask don't you think?
The main power of Flex is not in how the UI renders. It's in how that ties into the back-end and is generated based on dynamic changes in the back-end.
Granted its more now a server-side / client-side product then it originally started out.. ie it was kind of a MM answer to SWING for JSP.
A lot of the widget type stuff you're asking for will be in Blackstone if Tim's blog is anything to go by, but the back-end probably won't.
To a minimal point, but from what i've read and heard, the overall capabilities will be limited in not only capabilities but functionality. They only will solve a small amount of problems. Probably enough to get by to people who are used to programmer-art. Visuals are my thing, its what blows my hair back, and people like some of my "admin systems" for it. Great, i don't expect that same level of need for all applications, but if in theory my application worked exactly the same as an app you did (code for code) only my UI is much more visually stimulating, who would win? point is we often do actually judge a book by its cover we just choose not to admit it.
Again, I'm betting that it won't be quite what you're after so we'll be back to a round of questions like "why couldn't they have done it like this?" The answer is that there either aren't enough people asking for that to justify putting it in, or it isn't as simple as you think.
Thats the nature of evolution. We do it now. We got pissed off having to walk everywhere, so we figured out a way to make beasts do it for us. We then got sick of them wondering off all the time or dying on us, so we made a car. Now we are sick of having to fuel the cars all the time and having to drive them on land, so now we want hover cars. We forget that if it weren't for people pushing the envelope, we'd all still be walking on our knuckles.
THat inlies my underlining point. I keep seeing people roll their own XML solution to emulate or touch on products like FLEX/LONGHORN/XUL, yet i ask? WHY?
It was more of a "has anyone else asked this question aswell" - it some how went downhill and while my current jobs pissing me off with regards to the projects complexities, its privelleged information and has been forced into this thread, resulting it being out of context to what i was asking and now my laundry is nicely aired on CFAUSSIE :) so thanks for that one :D - why not next time kick me in the nuts :D
Scott.
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