On Tuesday 19 September 2006 17:14, Les Ferguson wrote: > I know if I was still writing software (as opposed to writing about > writing it) I would go for WXPython myself; I am not convinced that the > web-server/web-browser based model is necessarily the best, when a more > powerful user-interface can be developed in a cross-platform toolset, > and can also make use of web-service architectures when needed.
In my practice, we use a mixed model. Some features, like for example browsing / tagging pathology results, can be accessed either through web browser or through wxPython based GUI. Some of my front desk staff prefer the browser interface and use it consistently, some the wx GUI. Also taught me a lesson that what I perceive as a good and responsive UI, is not neccessarily perceived as such by others in my practice - people have different workflows and aesthetic preferences. Having a well designed databased backend (whether it is a document store as Jon envisions it or a relational database) makes separation of frontends (and allowing plurality of front ends) so easy. (And no, David, I am not using any middleware any more - but I design each front end a la MVC or MVP model with clean separation of UI from functionality) With AJAX one can actually get a long of traditional GUI like responsiveness and interactability from browser based interface - but the one thing that was and is a bugbear is printing. Javascript does not let you select printers nor set default print parameters. In this silly world where we have to print on forms (! a bit like tying a Porsche to a couple of horses with the driver sitting on the Porsche roof cracking the whip) most of us will have to use multiple printers / paper trays depending on context. My "solution" was to implement printing as xml-rpc functions in python (via CUPS module), and call these xml-rpc functions via javascript in order to print out. I hate such hacks, they make installation and maintenance troublesome. Horst _______________________________________________ Gpcg_talk mailing list [email protected] http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk
