[Dynapi-Help] F.A.Q. updated

Sun, 10 Dec 2000 03:27:52 -0800 

I just updated the F.A.Q. and uploaded it to my site

http://www.dynamic-core.net/core/files/faq.dynapi2.html

I also included it here as attachment..  One of the things that should be
added is a topic about the CVS part, but I think Dan or Robert know more
about that, and can add that :)

It could be added to chapter 4 (4.3)  if you want I can add it, but I need
some info on how to set it up under linux, windows and if possible Mac.

This new f.a.q. now also uses the W3C style sheet, giving it a nicer look.

If there's more to add to the f.a.q. please let me know.

cya,

Pascal Bestebroer
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.dynamic-core.net
Title: The official DynAPI2 F.A.Q.

The official DynAPI2 F.A.Q.

last update: 2000.12.10

1 - What's the DynAPI2

DynAPI2 is the follow up to the original DynAPI available from the DynDuo site at http://www.dansteinman.com. The DynAPI is a cross-browser DHTML library giving you full controll over dynamic layers, documents and events.

The DynAPI2 is an opensourced project and is available under the GNU license. If you want to develop good working DHTML websites or webapplications, there's probably no other library that gives you so much power with only a few lines of Javascript code. Here's a short example of how you could create a dynamic layer and manipulate it's appearance: 

myLayer = new DynLayer()
myLayer.setSize(100,100)
myLayer.moveTo(200,200)
myLayer.setBgColor('#c0c0c0')
myLayer.setHTML('A dynamic layer')

DynAPI.document.addChild(myLayer)

There are even shorter ways of creating dynamic layers, but this example should prove the great object oriented programming you can do with the DynAPI2.

1.1 - Who created the DynAPI

The DynAPI2 was initiated by Dan Steinman (who also developed the original DynAPI and DynDuo tutorial at http://www.dansteinman.com/dynduo). The project was started somewhere around January 2000 (I think that was the beginning) and a small group of developers has been developing it since then.

I won't go into making a list of all the developers that have helped, but here's the short list that is also supplied with the DynAPI2 library:

The DynAPI is created by Dan Steinman

Thanks to:

  • Micah Goulart
  • Chris Bodar
  • Pascal Bestebroer
  • Bill Tammen
  • Scott Andrew
  • Robert Rainwater
  • Ryan Grenz
  • Clack Pacheco
  • IlMaestro
  • Brandon Myers

1.1.2 - Who maintains the f.a.q.

Ehm, the name would be Pascal Bestebroer? I'm not planning on being the only f.a.q. maintainer, but since I started this f.a.q. I'll be taking atleast some responsibility for it :) I'm one of the developers and have been getting a lot of mail from people asking the same questions over and over, so this is basically the reason I started this f.a.q. I'm hoping the other developers will help by adding questions and answers to this f.a.q. I'll make this f.a.q. available at the sourceforge site and my own website (http://www.dynamic-core.net) and it will also be available at the semi official DynAPI2 website at http://www.cantir.com/dynapi.

1.1.3 - Where to get the f.a.q.

The latest f.a.q. can be found on my own website, because it's uploaded there first (www.dynamic-core.net). But it's also available at the urls mentioned in 2.3 Other resources

1.2 - Differences between DynAPI and DynAPI2

The DynAPI code, although very good, is outdated and in some cases hard to work with. The new DynAPI2 code uses a much better object oriented approach. If you'r used to developing with the original DynAPI you'll have to learn some new things for the DynAPI2.. but please note that it's worth it.

I'm probably skipping a few things, but here's a short list of the main differences:

  • Layer generation
    • DynAPI couldn't generate layers after the document had finished loading, this is changed in DynAPI2. No more need to write the DIV or CSS tags, just create a new DynLayer object.
  • Events
    • DynAPI2 features a great eventlistener object based on Java style programming (also used in DOM2 events), it's possible to make any layer catch any event at any time.
  • Browser compatibility
    • DynAPI was compatible with IE4 (IE5?) and NS4, but since it's not getting enhancements and bugfixes it won't work with newer browsers and features. The DynAPI2 is compatible with IE4,IE5,IE5.5, NS4 and Mozilla (NS6) It's also being made compatible for Mac versions of the above mentioned browsers, and should be compatible for Linux users.

1.3 - Why upgrade

This is probably a question I can't answer but if you like to use a better code base to create your websites on I highly recommend using the DynAPI2 library. Although the DynAPI contains some great code it's a bit "ugly" to use. If you want to have the option of creating layers at any time (after document.onload for example) you'll have to upgrade. If you want a supported DynAPI, you'll also have to upgrade because basically the old code is not supported,enhanced or fixed anymore.

1.4 - Differences between DynAPI and Dynacore

The DynAPI2 (as found at http://dynapi.sourceforge.net is the official release as started by Dan Steinman and is being continued by a group of developers (including little me). The Dynacore is my personall distribution of the DynAPI2, it's based on DynAPI2 code and ideas but differs in certain areas from the official one. These are usually ideas that I wanted to include but others didn't, and ideas that others wanted to include and I didn't will be left out of the Dynacore.

It all depends on your own taste, if you like the Dynacore version better then use that one, if you like to stick with the official version just use that one.. it shouldn't be a problem. The only problem might be when you want to mix them up, there will be NO SUPPORT from either side for this, just make a choice!

2 - Where can I find the latest version

There have been some problems with version controll, but at this point you should get the latest version from http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/dynapi. It's the DynAPI2 developers site, and contains the latest "official" release.

2.1 - Where can I find support

For support you should join the DynAPI2 mailinglists, the lists are very active and many people there will be able to answer your questions. To join the mailing list visit the DynAPI2 website and read for more information http://dynapi.sourceforge.net. There are no more forums available, the official forum at Dan Steinman was closed, and the forums at sourceforge have been replaced with the mailing lists.
Please make sure to read the archives, because there's a big chance that your question has already been asked and answered before.

2.2 - Where can I find the documentation

If your used to Dan Steinman's dynduo tutorial your in for a shock because that's not available for this version of the API. Some basic documentation has been written and a step-by-step tutorial is available and that's it. The documentation and tutorials are still being modified and updated to make it easier for new users to get into using the API and together with the examples included in the library it should be possible to create some things in a short time. For more information on the available documentation visit the DynAPI2 website (see 2.3)

2.3 - Other resources

Here's a list of different resources for DynAPI2 code, examples and news:

3. - Which browsers are supported

The current version of the API is mainly worked on by windows users, so logically the windows browsers will be supported better then other platforms. Here's the list of browsers:

Internet Explorer 4(windows)
Internet Explorer 5(windows)
Internet Explorer 5.5(windows)
Netscape Communicator 4.7(windows, linux and 95% Mac)
Netscape Communicator 6(windows, linux?)
Mozilla (milestone 16 and higher)(windows, linux?)

3.1. - When will browser X be supported

Good question, the most important thing to remember is the simple fact that Internet Explorer and Netscape are the most used browsers (IE alone is 85% of the users). So even if you don't like Microsoft or Netscape you'll have to face reality. If you need support for another "exotic" browser you'r best bet would be to do it yourself, the browsers mentioned above are the only ones that have full support at this time.

I think there's only one "real" browser left and that's Opera. I've been playing with it personally and it's a good browser, but I had a lot of problems getting javascript to run in it.. another bad thing about it is that it's not free so not many people will own it (why buy if you can it for free?).

3.2. - I tested on browser X/platform Y

Mailing or posting results of your tests are not very usefull. Javascript is a hard language to debug and knowing that something isn't working does not automatically lead us to the errors in the code. Testing in Javascript requires alot of code changing, inserting and removing alert messages, and checking different parts of functions.

The DynAPI (and mainly the dynlayer object) is so big that finding the exact position of the error is just not so simple. It's great that you can test the code for us but we can't really use your feedback on it.

This is the reason that we need some good javascript developers with Mac's or other systems/browsers that can do the debugging them selves.. it's the only way that will work.

4 - How can I contribute

"I like the project alot, I have been using it for a while and want to help how can I contribute?"

This is a question I've been getting alot, so here's the answer: http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/dynapi. This is the URL for the developers site, you can post your messages, post bug fixes and patches.. that's all you need to know! The DynAPI2 is opensourced so basically everybody can contribute.

Things like documentation is something that could really use some talented people so if you understand the code or atleast now what every function of the API does go and write some great docs.

Note, if you can not program in Javascript (or not good enough, or don't understand any of the code used in the API) you should first get your self familiar with it, because with out the knowledge you won't be able to really contribute anything. Writing documentation, helping with this f.a.q require you to know the code.. it's hard but also the reality.

4.1 - "Why don't you guys do this, or add that?"

The people that are developing the API are doing it for different reasons, but most of us do it just for the fun we're having with it. The things we add or fix are (probably) only done because we need to use it ourselves somewhere, if you have good ideas to add to the API why not give it a shot yourself?

Posting or mailing these questions is not a bad thing and very apreciated, but please don't depend on us to actually do anything with it. If you really need a feature and it's not in yet I guess you'll have two choices, do it yourself, or wait until one of the developers needs it.

4.2 - This thing isn't working at all

I've been reading a few posts here and there from people saying that the thing isn't working at all, or not working correctly. One thing to keep in mind is the fact that there are already alot of people working with this library and that they are having no problem at all. In most cases there's a "user" error or another system problem. The API code is at this time working almost bug-free and should be considered a complete library. Ofcourse there are still some bugs in there somewhere, or missing features but that's the case with 99% of all software available.

If you get error messages with your own code, please check the examples supplied with the library. If they also fail to work you might be using either an unsupported browser/platform, a bad installation of your browser, or have installed the DynAPI2 incorrectly on your system. In any case the supplied examples should work under the correct browser/platform.

If the examples work but your own code seems to fail the problem becomes harder. In alot of cases the linking of the DynAPI files is not correct and you should check that first. If you use external widgets, it's wise to check the supplied examples/documentation of the widget to see that you'r using it correctly. If this still hasn't fixed your problems, please join the mailinglists at sourceforge (see 2.1) and post a detailed description of your problem and code.

5 - What are widgets

Having cross-browser code is great, but what can you do with it? One of the cooler things you can do with the DynAPI2 is creating widgets. Widgets are small components that can be used on your webpage or in your webapplication, things like buttons,toolbars,checkboxes are all widgets and can be created using the DynAPI2 code (or DHTML in general, but the DynAPI2 makes it easier to code them cross-browser).

5.1 - What widgets are there

This is hard to say, basically everybody can make widgets so there might be a widget for everything you can think of. The DynAPI2 comes with a library of default widgets. At this point it's not defined yet which widgets should be in the default widget set. In any case the old DynAPI1 widgets should be converted to DynAPI2 versions (most have already)

5.2 - Where should I upload my widgets

Good question.. your website? There's no location availabe yet that contains a widget archive. If there's enough people offering widgets I might open on one my own site somewhere but for now just use your own website and post a message on one of the sourceforge forums (see 2.1). If you don't own a website you could get a free one at one of the many free web space providers (geocities, xoom,etc).

5.3 - Where is widget X

Most of the original DynAPI1 widgets have (or will be) ported to the DynAPI2. If it's not available at the sourceforge site, or on any of the developers personal websites (see 2.3) it's probably not created yet. You might want to try and post a message on one of the forums (see 2.2) asking for a certain widget or ofcourse the all time favourite, create the widget your self.

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