Adam I offer to help mentor this.
Paul -- Paul Fremantle VP/Technology, WSO2 and OASIS WS-RX TC Co-chair http://bloglines.com/blog/paulfremantle [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Oxygenating the Web Service Platform", www.wso2.com On 12/20/05, Adam Peller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > AJAX Toolkit Framework Proposal > > 0. Rationale > > While the term AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML) has only recently > been coined, the underlying web standards and technologies (JavaScript > a.k.a. ECMAScript, DOM, XML, SOAP, and so on) have been around for years. > Although the term is used in a variety of ways, AJAX typically describes > techniques towards developing interactive applications on the web client > including asynchronous messaging, use of XML grammar in client-side > applications, incremental page updates, and improved user interface > controls. AJAX applications combine the rich UI experience of programmed > clients with the low-cost lifecycle management of web-based applications. > > AJAX has raised awareness of the high potential of web applications, it > has > encouraged companies to adopt rich web-based interfaces over traditional > "fat" clients, and it has spawned development activity to create toolkits > and abstractions to make AJAX-style development easier and more powerful. > This is an important trend for open source. The client itself can be > composed entirely of open-source parts, such as Mozilla's Firefox or KDE's > Konqueror, and does not require any particular operating system, helping > to > make a more level playing field for all development. More importantly, > AJAX is back-end agnostic as transactions are done over HTTP. Keeping the > client open forces vendors to keep the communication channel open as well, > and this can only continue as long as the client technology keeps pace > with > proprietary alternatives. The open, standards based communications > channel > is what drives many technologies inside Apache, so success of the open > client is vital to Apache. The mission of this project is to encourage > innovation around enterprise-strength client runtimes and tools and build > a > community which can select and nurture a select set which will be most > beneficial to the web. > > 0.1 Criteria > > Meritocracy: > > Apache was chosen for an incubator primarily because of the guidance the > community can provide. The two subprojects put forth are among the first > attempts to formalize this style of development. Additional ideas, tools > or entire runtimes may come forward and indeed would be welcomed to the > project, either wholesale as new subprojects or incorporated into the > existing code. > > Community: > > The contributed work was inspired by open source development but needs a > strong and diverse community to validate its mission and carry it forward. > A primary objective of the project is to build a vibrant community of > users > and active contributors. > > Core Developers: > > All of the initial committers are members of Zimbra and IBM development > teams. All developers have worked on open source projects before and have > experience and understanding of open source principles. > > Alignment: > > Initial implementation consists of two sub projects. > > The AJAX Toolkit Framework will provide a strategic framework for > Interactive Development Environments (IDEs) for the many different AJAX > toolkit offerings in the market. It provides a rich set of tools for the > AJAX / DHTML developer including: a JavaScript editor with edit-time > syntax > checking; Mozilla web browser; integrated DOM browser; integrated > JavaScript debugger; and wizards and development aides tuned to specific > libraries and toolkits. The Framework is extensible to support other AJAX > toolkits and has a wizard-based tool to facilitate the integration of new > toolkits in the framework. > > The AJAX Toolkit Framework has dependencies on Mozilla XULRunner and > JavaConnect, and Eclipse WTP. AJAX Toolkit Framework is written as a set > of > Plugin extensions to Eclipse. It embeds 4 other open source components: > Rhino, JSLint, Rico and Zimbra. No code modifications will be made to the > 4 open source components specified. They are incorporated to accommodate > Eclipse plugin architecture and distributed as-is by repackaging them as > part of the AJAX Toolkit Framework. > > The Zimbra AJAX Development Toolkit, the first toolkit integrated into the > framework, provides a rich client library, similar in style to traditional > object-oriented widget libraries like Eclipse's SWT. This toolkit hides > implementation details and browser quirks and makes web development more > accessible to the enterprise developer. It provides > > * User interface development > * Network communications (both synchronous and asynchronous) > * SOAP programming > * XML document creation and manipulation > * UI event handling and management > > For further information, please see the Zimbra AjaxTK whitepaper: > http://www.zimbra.com/pdf/Zimbra%20AJAX%20TK%20Whitepaper.pdf > > 0.2 Warning signs > > Orphaned products: > > The initial code submission is based on colloborative work between IBM and > Zimbra to provide a toolkit and a framework to embed the toolkit in IDE > environment and provide additional enhancements. Both the companies > believe > that taking a joint approach and making it available through open source > will make it widely accepted and create a community and unify Industry > momentum to consolidate requirements and accelerate community growth and > enhance the toolkit to ease development of AJAX applications. > > Inexperience with open source: > > Both the companies and several of the commiters are very experienced in > Open Source environment. All efforts will be made to ensure that the work > done and momentum will be in strict adherence to open source guidelines. > > Homogenous developers: > > The current list of committers includes developers who are geographically > distributed. They are experienced with working in a distributed > environment, and with resolving technical differences. > > Reliance on salaried developers: > > All of the initial developers are paid by their employers to contribute to > this project and the employers track records for ongoing investment in > open > source communities well known. > > No ties to other Apache products: > > The initial codebase will be licensed under the Apache License 2.0.The > dependencies on other external projects are defined in the alignment > section. While there are no direct build dependencies on other Apache > projects, the development of AJAX clients will often be driven by Apache > middleware and will have a positive impact on the open source movement as > described in the "Rationale" section. > > A fascination with the Apache brand: > > The committers are intent on developing a strong open source community. We > believe that the Apache Software Foundation's emphasis on community > development makes it the most suitable choice. > > 1. Scope of the subprojects > > > The subprojects will include development tools necessary to encourage > browser-based, AJAX-style development for individual users as well as in > the enterprise. The tools will be driven by an extensible IDE Framework > and may include utilities to assist in code development, analysis, and > testing. The tools will be adaptable to different AJAX runtimes, some of > which will also be subprojects in the incubator. The initial submission > includes an IDE and one such runtime. > > These initial projects are intended merely as starting points and should > not be taken as bounding the scope of the project as a whole. Some other > potential projects may include: > > * WYSIWYG tools for building AJAX-style interfaces > * Declarative grammars or abstractions for AJAX programming > * A common data model to facilitate efficient server communication with > Javascript or DOM access > > 2. Identify the initial source from which the subprojects are to be > populated > > AJAX Toolkit Framework was developed at IBM as a set of plugins based on > the Eclipse Framework and WebTools Project. Zip files containing > snapshots > of CVS directories are provided with this proposal at > http://www.apache.org/~rubys/ajax/ajaxtk-framework-ibm.tgz and > http://www.apache.org/~rubys/ajax/ajaxtk-framework-contrib.tgz > > The Zimbra AjaxTK is available today in open source, and can be downloaded > as part of the Zimbra Collaboration Suite (choose the source code version) > at > http://www.zimbra.com/community/downloads.php. A snapshot of the AJAX > toolkit code is provided at http://www.apache.org/~rubys/ajax/Ajax.tar.gz > > 2.1 External Dependencies of the project > > AJAX Toolkit Framework has dependencies on Mozilla XULRunner and > JavaConnect, and Eclipse WTP. AJAX Toolkit Framework is written as a set > of > Plugin extensions to Eclipse. It embeds four other open source components > Rhino, JSLint, Rico and Zimbra. No code modifications will be made to the > four open source components specified. They are incorporated to > accommodate > Eclipse plugin architecture and distributed as is by repackaging them as > part of AJAX Toolkit Framework. In the future any AJAX toolkit that is to > be supported can be included as another plugin. > > 3. Identify the ASF resources to be created > > 3.1 mailing list(s) > > * ajaxtk-ppmc > * ajaxtk-dev > * ajaxtk-commits > * ajaxtk-user > > 3.2 Subversion repository > > * [WWW] https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/incubator/ajaxtk > > 3.3 Bugzilla > > * AJAXTK (AJAXTK) > > 4. Identify the initial set of committers: > > * Craig Becker > * Leugim Bustelo > * Andrew Clark > * Conrad Damon > * Ross Dargahi > * Becky Gibson > * Javier Pedemonte > * Adam Peller > * Roland Schemers > * Donald Sedota > * Parag Shah > * Greg Solovyev > > 5. Identify Apache sponsoring individual > > We request that the Apache Incubator PMC sponsor the AJAX Toolkit > Framework > as an > incubating project, with the eventual goal of graduation as a TLP. The > initial contributors feel the scope of the project doesn't clearly > overlap with any existing TLP, and is broad enough to justify eventual > TLP status. > > Champion: Sam Ruby > > Mentors: ?? > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >
