On 11/08/14 20:25, jan i wrote: > On 11 August 2014 20:12, Peter Kelly <kelly...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> On 11 Aug 2014, at 3:42 pm, Andre Fischer <awf....@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> Question: To what extent is the OO UI frontend code separate from the >> backend editing, file format handling, and rendering code? I'm thinking in >> particular here of mobile - which demands a completely different approach >> to user experience design than desktop. Could OO conceivably be adapted to >> mobile by replacing its UI? >> >> >> Conceivably? Probably. But the problem is in the details. AOO has put a >> lot of effort into separating UI from model and from underlying frameworks. >> For example you can use the UNO API to access a lot of functionality >> without bothering with the UI. You can run AOO headless (without any UI), >> and you can run AOO on several different GUI frameworks (Windows, Mac OSX, >> Linux with a mixture of X11 and Gnome/KDE). The problem is that there are >> dependencies between UI and model or framework. Most of them not designed >> but "grown" because of convenience or laziness. >> >> So, if you wanted to port AOO to another window system with basically the >> same UI as today you would probably port VCL (the UI abstraction layer of >> AOO). That would involve a lot of cursing but it is doable (it has been >> done for OSX). For a mobile device you probably don't want the same UI but >> something that can be operated with larger input devices then the typical >> mouse pointer (i.e. fingers). One way to do that would be to write the GUI >> from scratch and use the UNO API as a backend. I am not sure that that is >> possible though. If you drop VCL, you don't have SFX2 with its view shells >> (a mix of view and controller) or slots (a mix of remote procedure calls >> and value passing). That means that a) a lot of functionality has to be >> rewritten (not necessarily a bad thing when you consider the quality of the >> existing implementation) and b) that that might break the UNO API (which >> would be bad). >> >> Maybe we need an experiment to see what is possible? >> >> >> I'll have a look into the code to understand the architecture better and >> then hopefully be able to contribute some more informed thoughts about it. >> >> From what you've described, it sounds like there is a dependence from the >> OO codebase to VCL, is that correct? If my initial understanding it is >> correct, it sounds like it would be possible to port this to iOS/Android >> with sufficient effort, though I think that writing a from-scratch UI would >> be needed, as you suggested. That is, largely to address the much smaller >> screen real estate and touch controls, and the types of UI layouts that are >> common on phones/tablets. >> >> The fact that OO can run in headless mode sounds promising, since the >> ability to access much of the functionality without any UI implies that a >> totally different UI could be put in place on top of this. >> > > I just wonder if the effort pays off. AOO contains tons of very good ideas > (proven over time) but equally old code. Juergen have multiple times argued > that it might be more efficient, to pick the ideas and write new code with > modern tools, i tend to agree to that. > > Please remember AOO is a good mixture of C/C++/Java/Python/Perl (I might > have missed something), whereas a new codebase would be simpler.
We can say that the office is using C++ and Java. Python is used for mail merge only (if I remember correct) and is supported as scripting language. Perl is used in the build environment only and not in the office. Juergen > > We might be able to avoid the big bang, by using AOO in headless mode and > change to new code part by part. > > But I agree with andre that an experiment, just moving a little part would > be a nice proof. > > just my 2ct. > rgds > jan I. > > > >> >> -- >> Dr. Peter M. Kelly >> Founder, UX Productivity >> pe...@uxproductivity.com >> http://www.uxproductivity.com/ >> http://www.kellypmk.net/ >> >> PGP key: http://www.kellypmk.net/pgp-key >> (fingerprint 5435 6718 59F0 DD1F BFA0 5E46 2523 BAA1 44AE 2966) >> >> > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@openoffice.apache.org
