OK, here's 2 cents from a recent user of DynAPI...
DynAPI is a fantastic toolkit. It's almost-realized promise is the ability
to do elaborate, polished cross-browser DHTML completely transparently
without reference to the enormous divergences in the individual browser
platforms.
I am using it to build a rich GUI for a complex application. Without DynAPI
I would probably turn to Java + Swing and have to accept all of the
concomitant constraints and hassles. DynAPI makes it possible for me to do
a UI of equivalent polish and richness using the browsers' built-in
capabilities.
Now the boring bit....I said "almost-realized" because DynAPI still has a
lot of holes and problems. The issue of using some of the dynapi.gui
widgets in frames is one that I recently mentioned to this group. I hacked
my way through that problem but that raised issues in dragevents.js that
now prevent my app from running on Netscape 4.x. The lack of clear and
consistent how-to documentation is another hole that limits the usability
of the toolkit.
I believe if these problems could be ironed out and the toolkit extended to
give consistent good results on NS6 as well as the NS4.x+ and IE4.x+
browsers, this development effort could have a truly enormous impact on how
complex web applications are done.
I am worried that if the limited mind-share of the development group gets
dispersed to take on the huge issue of an IDE, then this toolkit will never
live up to its potential. It's going to take a big effort to wring out the
remaining bugs and inconsistencies. Give the world a solid toolkit first,
is my plea.
Thanks to all of the developers for their excellent work and prompt
response to the questions posed in this forum.
peterD
At 03:54 PM 1/4/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>Well, I guess it is time for me to say something as well...
>
>At the very first moment when I saw DynAPI 1 I said " oh my god, if we
>only had an IDE " and there you go a year and a half later we are talking
>about it... The truth is that I am in by all means, and on the top of
>everything I know two programming languages only... Delphi and Java... So
>for me it would not make a big difference which one we would chose, even
>though I will have to strongly agreeeeee with Pascal that our work will be
>a lot less if we chose Delphi, and since they are going to support Win32
>and Linux we are set with coverage... (actually Pascal I heard that the
>way they rewrote the new VCL pretty soon they will support Solaris as well)...
>
>So I say...
>Lets go for it...
>
>/ivokivo
>
>
>>From: Dan Steinman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>Subject: Re: [Dynapi-Help] DynBuilder proposal
>>Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2001 17:30:53 -0500
>>
>>Over a year ago I was playing around with writing a gui program for
>>drawing layers in Java. I didn't get very far in it, but I did get a
>>grasp as to how big of a job it would be.
>>
>>An editor written with DynAPI has some great benefits like being able to
>>utilize the browser for drawing capabilities and being web enabled.
>>However there are serious limitations like not being able to write to a
>>file, and load the file (since an editor has to go both ways or else it's
>>just a wizard/generator). Also you'd be severly limited as to how
>>sophisticated you could make the program.
>>
>>The ultimate goal would be a Dreamweaver clone. And to do it properly it
>>would almost definately have to be written outside of a browser. I would
>>be interested in writing an editor in Java.
>>
>>Such a project could easily become a great deal larger than the DynAPI.
>>First you have to get a usable wysiwyg editor which is very cumberson in
>>itself once you get beyond drawing simple rectangles. Then you need to
>>get file I/O, you need to be able to generate JavaScript code and save it
>>to a file. That isn't too difficult. But the big problem is when you
>>want to load up an existing file that you created (and
>>hand-edited). You'd need to write a JavaScript and DynAPI code parser
>>and be able to draw everything roperly. If you catch my drift, you have
>>to write a mini web browser/editor in Java!
>>
>>Beyond just the wysiwyg portion there's a ton more of things that you
>>could do. Widget editors, timeline animation editors, being able to
>>coordinate browser events to do certain actions (hide,show,move etc).
>>
>>It's an enormous project which would require a lot of minds (and
>>experienced Java coders). I would hope there is enough of us interested
>>in at least attempting to write such a program cause it's something that
>>I've wanted to do for a long time now.
>>
>>Dan
>>
>>
>>On Thu, Jan 04, 2001 at 05:23:57AM -0800, Henrik V�glin wrote:
>> > (OOPS learned I couldn't post this to widget-dev list,
>> > so here it goes instead)
>> >
>> > I'm working on a proposal for a DynBuilder ie a
>> > webbased tool to build DynAPI code WITH utilising
>> > DynAPI (how cool is that, eh?)
>> >
>> > Anyway, while trying to work out the structure and
>> > model of such a tool I have begun with the task to
>> > build a GUI for it using the current DynAPI (or at
>> > least the one on my HD) to find out what in the DynAPI
>> > can be used and what else is required or desirable.
>> >
>> > So far I have created an own extension called layerpos
>> > to position a layer according to the page's borders,
>> > which I've implemented into my own class called
>> > ccreation (aimed at my ComicCreation site
>> > development). I've also compiled a new keyevents
>> > extension (using code and ideas from various other
>> > keyboard events scripts) now found in the dynacore
>> > distribution (and in my still unrelesed ccreation
>> > distribution).
>> >
>> > Now for my structure proposal I'm considering all
>> > documents, dynlayers, widgets etc - ie any part of the
>> > page under editing - as objects (Object Oriented as it
>> > should be, no?). To define a distinction between
>> > objects of the page and those of the DynBuilder, I'll
>> > call the latter for modules. Modules are essentially
>> > tools used for editing or viewing objects in the
>> > workspace (ie the page in editing).
>> >
>> > Things I think will be required (that I can think of
>> > now) and that aren't available in any DynAPI
>> > distribution to my knowledge are:
>> >
>> > * a focusmanager which enables DynBuilder to know
>> > which layer is currently in focus
>> >
>> > * a manager that reads out the avaialble properties,
>> > events and methods of an object
>> >
>> > * a manager for loading a page (or several pages
>> > maybe) into DynBuilder for editing
>> >
>> > * a preview mode for viewing the page and maybe a
>> > cookiemanager for setting preferences on different
>> > browser installation paths for prev
>> >
>> > * a CodeView (or name it CoreView maybe ;) widget that
>> > contains the current code of the page in edit
>> >
>> > * a formmanager that prepares (a standard) output to a
>> > ServerTask (so it can be recieved in any serverside
>> > language) - I've seen discussion about creating or how
>> > to build one, so maybe that one are already in
>> > progress
>> >
>> > If anybody know that any of these are already a part
>> > of DynAPi or any available widgetpack or distribution
>> > OR if anybody has any extension or widget similar to
>> > this and would share it for the DynBuilder I'd be most
>> > interested to take a look. I'd also apprieate it if
>> > someone wants to code and contribute it, just let
>> > everybody know if you take on the task. The same goes
>> > for the below even if these have less priority.
>> >
>> > Things I think is desirable (for the DynBuilder GUI at
>> > least):
>> >
>> > * an docking ability of dynlayers used as modules
>> > (tools for creating and modify objects in the
>> > workspace (ie the page in editing)
>> >
>> > * an WYSIWYG component that runs code from the
>> > CodeViewand returns modifictions made to the objects
>> > in it infinality to the CodeView and also returning
>> > the layer in focus to the DynBuilder when clicked on
>> > (or as has sprung to mind - chosen by toggling with
>> > keyboard keys - ie adding a keyevent or two)
>> >
>> > If any body is interested in getting a snapshot
>> > preview of my DynBuilder proposal GUI presentation,
>> > just let me know and I'll send over a full
>> > distribution including the working set of dynapi, my
>> > custom ccreation class and examples. Mind you I
>> > haven't done any testing besides in IE 5.01 and NS
>> > 4.76 though and there are to be expected a few bugs
>> > here or there including missing parts. The code and
>> > filestructure though could work as a better outline of
>> > where I'm at in this stage.
>> >
>> > If anybody have comments, suggestions or additions to
>> > this proposal, please do post'em to the widgetdev list
>> > or notify me. Mind you I do not wish to monopolize the
>> > development of this, so please, please let me have
>> > some input - even if you are a strong opponent to this
>> > proposal. If you however like it and want to become a
>> > part of DynBuilder team and contribute to its
>> > development mind you all doors are open to do so since
>> > this no less open source than the rest pf DynAPI (or
>> > sourceforge) - my main focus is to make the DynBuilder
>> > as open for extensability as DynAPI itself at least,
>> > hence its an extension of DynAPI itself.
>> >
>> > Henrik V�glin [[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>> >
>> > =====
>> > // Henrik Vaglin
>> >
>> > **************************************************
>> > Visit my comics artpage at
>> > http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/hvaglin?d&.flabel=fld5&.src=bc
>> > **************************************************
>> >
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CaseBank Technologies Inc. 905.792.0618 x519
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