We could minimize name conflicts if resources had namespaces. :|


On Wed, 29 Aug 2007, Elliot Winard wrote:

I don't know about removing the platform warnings.

If I include two libraries that have resources with conflicting names, I want to know about it. For example - I might include multiple libraries , each defining a 'logo' resource and expecting the logo to be sized a certain way -
  <include "mailwindow" />
  <include "stockwindow" />

I want the compiler to tell me that the stockwindow's logo is overwriting the mailwindow's logo. Warnings are informative, non-fatal and should be used to provide this kind of information. This proposal skirts CSS altogether. If this gets implemented as proposed then the display of warnings should be configurable at compile-time. I think it would be confusing to users if resources (or classes or instances) get clobbered without any warning.
-e

Sarah Allen wrote:
I think this is an excellent proposal. cc'ing laszlo-user to see if other folks developing in LZX have strong feelings about this ...


On Tue, Aug 28, 2007 at  3:12 PM, Bret Simister wrote:


Currently, in the OpenLaszlo platform, it was decided that declaring a resource twice within an LZX app causes a server warning. This was intended to help developers just in case they accidentally overrode a resource that had already been declared in another library.


<!-- the following code produces a warning, but still compiles -->
<canvas>
    <resource name="logo" src="logo.gif" />
    <resource name="logo" src="logo2.gif" />
  <!-- view appears with logo2.gif -->
    <view resource="logo" />
</canvas>



At this time, I would suggest that the platform remove these warnings and have the last resource declaration override all other previous declarations.


Here is why...


OpenLaszlo now has a CSS implementation. It gives developers an elegant method of skinning their applications. This works, currently, by first declaring a resource


<resource  name="someimage_rsc"  src="somepath/someimage.jpg" />


and then referring to that resource in a CSS selector


view[name="someview"] {
resource: someimage_rsc;
}





If a developer builds a library ....


  myCustomLibrary      ( folder )
     library.lzx
myresources.lzx ( contains many resource definitions including 'lowerRightCorner_rsc' ) mystyles.css ( contains many selectors including one that references 'lowerRightCorner_rsc' )
     ...             ( other class and source image files )


where  library.lzx  includes both   myresources.lzx and mystyles.css
     Then library can be used with a simple inclusion in the main app.


<canvas>


<include name="myCustomLibrary" />


<!-- instance of a class from myCustomLibrary -->
<mycustomclass />


</canvas>




Let's assume that " mycustomclass " contains a number of resources, and that you ( as a developer ) only want to change one of those resources . The simplest method to accomplish this would be ...


<canvas>


<include name="myCustomLibrary" />


<!-- override resource definition "lowerRightCorner_rsc" defined earlier in myresouces.lzx --> <resource name="lowerRightCorner" src="my_new_path/my_lower_right_corner.jpg" />



<!-- instance of mycustomclass that will now display the new resource based on the unchanged css selector -->
<mycustomclass />


</canvas>


Currently, this code would cause a compiler warning. To avoid these warnings ( without changing OpenLaszlo ) the resouces.lzx file(s) and possibly the library .lzx would have to be edited.


If instead, we allow for resource overriding, then ...


1) the original CSS and  resource files will remain unchanged
2) The old resource for " lowerRightCorner" would NOT be included in the app 3) There would be clean separation between external libraries and the skinning of theses libraries included in an application.










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