Hey Jesse - thanks for the feedback! First I'd like to address why we think this belongs in Cordova rather than Ripple:
*. The functionality described is closely tied to how Cordova works, and we feel is a capability that should be built into Cordova - specifically, that Cordova provide the hooks necessary for any arbitrary "simulation host" to connect to. *. We don't see this as being a Ripple replacement, per se. Rather, is this model, Ripple would become one of any number of "simulation hosts" built on top of this. Cordova might include a very basic "simulation host" out of the box, while Ripple would remain a much richer, but separate, project built on top of the same functionality. Why do we see the need for this when we already have Ripple? Reasons include: * We want to make it easy to embed a "simulation host" in other environments. Ripple is just one example.. Also within an IDE, or within a browser's dev tools, or whatever. * As mentioned below, we want to separate the simulation UI from the app itself to simplify the debugging experience. * We want to make it easily extensible - specifically allow plugins to define their simulation UI and have it work in any simulation host. Regarding the "browser vs Ripple" thread - yeah, I remember it :). We were following it at the time, and it definitely influenced what we are proposing. Some points on this: * We don't think it should be "browser vs Ripple"... We think it should be "Ripple on top of browser" :) ... but most importantly we don't limit this to Ripple. May simulation hosts proliferate! * If I recall there was also discussion about whether the browser platform is primarily a debugging tool or a real production delivery platform. Our firm belief is that it is both. We can easily provide the hooks (the 'app host' and 'server' pieces) so a rich debugging environment like Ripple can be built on top of it (and, of course, also open the door to other simulation hosts) without taking anything away from it being a real delivery platform. So, in summary, this is how I'm thinking about it: * The browser platform continues to be a production delivery platform. It doesn't provide any UI for simulating plugins. Plugins should always just do the "real thing", and never provide mock data or anything like that. * The browser platform, when run from the Cordova CLI, is modified to launch from a server. Something we'd want to do regardless. * That server provides the hooks a simulation host needs to do its thing (but, most likely, those hooks would only be available if the application was launched in a mode to expect plugin simulation). * The simulation host itself is completely separate from the browser platform. Completely separate from Cordova, in fact, though personally I'd also love to see a basic simulation host available as part of Cordova (but in its own module). Tim ________________________________________ From: Jesse [purplecabb...@gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2015 2:44 AM To: dev@cordova.apache.org Subject: Re: Simulating Cordova plugins and device capabilities Hi Tim, Nice work. I was going to point you towards Ripple[1], until I saw you have the most recent commit. Can you elaborate on why/how you feel this fits into cordova and not into the ripple project? Personally, I think it is a better fit in ripple, or at the minimum, as a separate module/repo in cordova that can function and be added independently. There is a lengthy discussion on browser vs ripple here [2] [1] https://github.com/apache/incubator-ripple [2] http://callback.markmail.org/thread/mxwnjp4lnz7kfzrr @purplecabbage risingj.com On Wed, Mar 18, 2015 at 2:04 AM, Tim Barham <tim.bar...@microsoft.com> wrote: > Hey everyone... I would like to introduce a proposal and proof-of-concept > prototype that we have been working on. The proposal is to provide a > tool/feature that allows you to simulate Cordova plugins and device > capabilities when a Cordova app is launched in your desktop browser. > > The goals for this proposal were: > > 1. Keep the simulation UI out of the app's window. > 2. Provide an extensible model for simulating plugins and device > capabilities. > > I've created some resources to introduce the proposal: > > * Document describing the proposal and the proof-of-concept prototype: > http://goo.gl/XJ25vL > * Short video demonstrating the prototype: http://goo.gl/Nf8UBp > * Document describing how to install the prototype to try it for yourself: > http://goo.gl/MyiNas > > I'd like to emphasize that the prototype was developed purely as a > proof-of-concept, and is not intended to suggest the final implementation. > > We'd greatly appreciate it if members of the Cordova community could take > a look and provide feedback - any and all feedback is welcome! But as a > starting point: > > * What do you think of the idea in general? > * Where should it live? In cordova-browser (like the prototype)? A > separate Cordova module? Entirely external to Cordova? > * What are the must-have features for an initial release? How would we > like to see it evolve in the future? > * Any thoughts on implementation details? > > Thanks, and looking forward to your input! > > Tim > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@cordova.apache.org > For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@cordova.apache.org > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@cordova.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@cordova.apache.org
