From: Reinhard Pötz<snip/>
Even so, I really don't like your names. <map:call> made perfect sense when calling a continuation or function (since they are actually callable). I don't quite get what "calling" a "state" means.I would be interested in this too because I'm wondering what can you do with a plain Java controller what Actions can't do for you? Or do you _only_ want to make a shift away from actions?
Actions are a general purpose "do what you want in it" interface, and as such have been used for very various things ranging from environment test (such actions are actually a matcher), business logic and... flow control.
The main purpose of having the flow identified by its own statements was to clearly separate flow-related actions from other kinds of actions. Both for architectural cleanness (SoC) and marketing (the recurrent "MVC in Cocoon" and "Struts vs Cocoon" questions).
This is explained in the first FAQ in the wiki page. Briefly, is there a difference between :
- <map:call function="fn_name" /> and <map:act type="start-flow" src="fn_name" />
- <map:call continuation="{1}" /> and <map:act type="continue-flow" src="{1}" />
Not really. So all the <map:flow> and <map:call> stuff is really about is separating the particular flow control concern form the general-purpose Action interface.
So the purpose of this renaming is allowing other implementations of flow controller in <map:flow> instead of forcing them to go through <map:actions>. Why should we forbid the flow to be implemented using Struts (an important point for people migrating from "plain" J2EE to Cocoon) or more fancy things such as a rules engine ?
I think we need some more time to investigate these issues. Is it a problem if we decide to change some class names and sitemap elements after we released a beta?
I'm asking because beta1 should be released in a week and I think it is too early to decide *NOW* if we should follow Sylvain's/Marc's proposal or not.
What do you think?
Remember : "beta" means API stability. Of course, we can provide a compatibility mode, but since this is really about renaming a few things, this isn't a big work. Ready for a vote ?
Sylvain
-- Sylvain Wallez Anyware Technologies http://www.apache.org/~sylvain http://www.anyware-tech.com { XML, Java, Cocoon, OpenSource }*{ Training, Consulting, Projects } Orixo, the opensource XML business alliance - http://www.orixo.com
