Adrian,
> As David pointed out recently, it's easier to get small, incremental
> changes into the project instead of large ones.
David's right. It's easier to audit a small change than a big change to make sure the change
doesn't break existing codes.
I'd say we do as much as we can with FTL files (for your UI refactoring), leave those parts that
don't integrate well with widgets, and commit your changes such that there is "net improvement"
(existing codes not broken).
Over time, we'll look your consistent UI constructs in your FTL files, quickly spot any oft-used
patterns (you're best candidate for this), then enhance the widget engine accordingly and
effectively. Better not spend time enhancing the widget engine without a clearly justified cause
for doing so.
For now, I'd suggest you bring in the UI improvements.
Jonathon
Adrian Crum wrote:
Jacopo,
That's what I did at first and that worked great. As I said, that's my
preferred way of doing things. But here's the problem...
The work I'm doing I hope to contribute back to the project. So I'm sure
the question will be raised, "Why did you convert some of the widgets
into ftl templates? Don't you understand we're trying to move the
project toward widgets?" A big discussion starts about what's the best
way to code - widgets versus templates. In the meantime, the work I did
just sits there and never gets committed.
As David pointed out recently, it's easier to get small, incremental
changes into the project instead of large ones.
So, I'm trying to clean up the Party Manager's markup without making
drastic changes to it.
Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
Why don't you simply import a small ftl template?
Jacopo
Adrian Crum wrote:
Okay, so a menu widget solves that simple example construct. Later,
in another screen widget, I want to insert 6 more lines of HTML that
a menu widget won't solve. What do I do then?
It seems there is no easy solution. I'll just sleep on it for a few
days.
Maybe someone who has worked on widget code can come up with an
enhancement to the widgets that will accomodate HTML "snippets."
Chris Howe wrote:
Scott's right, the menu widget would be more appropriate for that
----- Original Message ----
From: Adrian Crum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, February 7, 2007 11:53:50 AM
Subject: Re: Help with widgets please
The createParty screen was the one I was working on last night
(https://127.0.0.1:8443/partymgr/control/createnew). It's about a
page of widget code. I can do the same thing with just a few lines
of HTML (or freemarker) code, but that would mean creating a
separate ftl file for that screen. I went ahead and created the ftl
file just to try out an idea and the results worked well. So then I
went back to the widget to get it to do the same thing and that's
where I got stuck.
I was hoping to clean up the overlapping links by converting them to
a list.
Chris Howe wrote:
You can, but it involves using the widgets in ways that I don't
think is intended (using the label element with < and > and
sometimes " in the text attribute). CDATA might be an option
as well, although I forget if that tag accepts element values in
addition to element attributes. I think ordered lists are handled
much cleaner as ftl. Do you have a particular screen you're
concerned about?
----- Original Message ----
From: Adrian Crum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, February 7, 2007 10:49:17 AM
Subject: Help with widgets please
In our local OFBiz deployment I have favored using ftl files
instead of widgets for HTML layout. I find it easier, it takes less
code, and I don't have to learn a new language.
But now I'm trying to refactor the party manager application UI as
a "test bed" for the UI refactoring effort. Much of the party
manager UI is handled by widgets, so I'm constrained to work with
them. My efforts to get them to do simple tasks have been
unsuccessful and I am becoming increasingly frustrated.
To boil it down, I need a simple way to sprinkle a little HTML
inside a widget XML file. Ideally, I'd like to be able to do
something like:
<widget>
<html>
<div>Hello world!</div>
<ul>
<li>Choice One</li>
<li>Choice Two</li>
</ul>
</html>
</widget>
Is there a way I can do that in the screen widgets?
-Adrian
