Hi,
sorry for the delay. We were internally discussing your comments (thanks
for the replies).
Although SpringUI being built from scratch it could re-use most of the 'M'
and 'C' of webmvc implementation (licensing issues).
About the templating system, Graham Triggs stated and it's undeniable,
using Freemarker for that purpose it's fair and almost obvious. So,
explaining, the decision of using another templating system it's based upon
the idea of improving the UI changeability. So, the main question is all
about the templating language and how verbose/easy it is to create/modify.
Freemarker is a great option and it's highly customizable, but the need for
costumizations to create some templating mechanisms is a negative point
within Freemarker. Also this creates an oportunity to use another
templating system.
Although Freemarker has an active community and is widely used, we are not
fans of complexity when it refers to templates.
Java templating systems Twig/Django alike:
- jbrackets (http://www.jbrackets.org/)
- jangod (http://www.jangod.org/)
About using a common UI core (Peter Dietz), we think @mire approach is the
best one (i'm talking about the discovery module approach example),
basically, developing small and re-usable business modules, mainly because:
- They are distributable as add-ons (optional modules?)
- As independents and specific task developed APIs they could/should be
easily identified and used (we wouldn't need to search in a complex and
all-in-one API)
- Easy to incorporate into the DSpace default distribution
- Easy to maintain
As so, we think that its risky to develop a common UI core, mainly if it
tries to almost all UI work, it could limit future UI developments, but
also, it would require much more effort when some UI core API changes take
place. As Mark Diggory said, it could be interesting if it already exists
simplifying UI development in some cases, the same could be achieved with
an "independent small business layer modules" approach.
We do not want to develop another XMLUI/JSPUI similar UI.
PS - I wasn't able to find licensing information about webmvc.
On 23 July 2012 14:07, Graham Triggs <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> As the main protagonist of the WebMVC project, I should probably step in
> and say something. It's good to see that there are others who wish to
> develop a UI using the Spring MVC framework, however, there are a few
> comments I would like to make about this proposal.
>
> If you look at the project organisation of WebMVC, you'll see that it was
> always conceived to keep the 'M' and the 'C' separate from the 'V'. Whilst
> I chose to use Freemarker for the 'V', I always intended that the 'M' & 'C'
> present a common, consistent layer on which different flavours of 'V' could
> be implemented. I'm not claiming that it perfectly achieves those aims
> right now, and there may well be some refactoring required, but the basic
> intention is there.
>
> I would be very cautious of another full MVC implementation that did not
> take into account that the 'V' could be entirely replaced with something
> else, keeping the 'M' and the 'C'.
>
> Whilst I share some of your concerns over Cocoon, I personally think the
> poor state of support, and relatively low level of adoption throughout the
> Java community is a much bigger cause for concern. The resource
> requirements are excessive, but it's the health of Cocoon itself which
> really pushes me to think there should be a compelling alternative
> available for the community.
>
> Our existing JSP interface is not a good example of separation, but that
> doesn't mean JSP as technology does not support MVC. Our existing
> implementation is a very light, non-framework based and poorly followed
> through MVC architecture. You can use JSP as the view in an MVC
> architecture, but what you can't do is prevent people from abusing the
> architecture by throwing Java into the JSP.
>
> I've not heard of Twig before, but it seems with good reason - it is a PHP
> templating language. Looking around, I can't find a Java implementation of
> it, so I'm struggling to see what it is you are proposing here. Is there a
> library that I'm not familiar with? Or are you writing an implementation of
> Twig in Java?
>
> Either way, I would very, very strongly caution against using an
> unfamiliar, unproven templating language - regardless of what cool features
> it may have. That way just leads back into the same problems that we are
> seeing with the Cocoon framework.
>
> I chose to use Freemarker specifically because it is very widely used (*),
> and actively supported. It's quite simple to use (very similar to
> Velocity), and whilst essentially enforcing that you can't simply dump code
> into the templates, it's quite extensible in the way that you can use it
> (for example, being able to use JSP tag libraries if you really need to).
>
> (* A few of the Java based CMS apps use it, as does Vivo, and some major
> frameworks like Hibernate).
>
> With regards inheritance, no you can't inherit a template file in the way
> that Twig allows. But I'm not convinced how useful that is, and you quickly
> get into much more complicated templates, rather than the simple HTML + CSS
> that you are envisioning.
>
> As it stands, I've put a lot of work into the theming support with the
> Freemarker UI, and whilst you can't inherit a template, you can inherit a
> theme (so you could have a base theme for your overall repository, with
> derived themes for each of your collection, for example). Also, the themes
> allow you to overwrite any of the base templates. So, your ability to
> inherit / customize the output depends on how you structure the templates -
> break them down to enough granularity, and you can effectively get the same
> inheritance effect.
>
> One other thing the Freemarker implementation has going for it, there is a
> lot of support for I18n - you can have replaceable messages within the
> templates, or you can completely overwrite a template for a given locale /
> language (potentially very useful in some cases).
>
> Regards,
> G
>
> On 20 July 2012 04:12, DSpace @ Lyncode <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> some of the current lyncode developments for DSpace, in fact, begin by
>> some specific requirements of the SpringUI, that is, an under development
>> UI for DSpace. As we are willing to develop a robust, wide accepted UI and
>> giving it to the DSpace community as a code contribution, we would like to
>> have, firstly, some feedback from the DSpace devel team.
>>
>> Let me invite you to read the following draft:
>> https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/~lyncode/SpringUI
>>
>> As you could see at the end of the referred page, our contact with the
>> DSpace community in this specific will start by *"**1. Compile an about
>> page with all necessary info"*. So, is there anything left to say?
>>
>> We would be pleased, based on your expertise, to listen to your
>> advices/doubts.
>>
>> --
>>
>> Thanks, DSpace @ Lyncode
>> DSpace Department
>> *Lyncode*: Official website <http://www.lyncode.com/>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>
--
Thanks, DSpace @ Lyncode
DSpace Department
*Lyncode*: Official website <http://www.lyncode.com/>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and
threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions
will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware
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