Update to the list about a new laszlo components framework, i'll be
putting out one source file a day until all of the files have been
introduced and spoken about. What follows is the first file to go up,
the main file, library.lzx. Tomorrow will be the first source file, in
the order they appear below, utils.lzx
Is there a more appropriate place to discuss this, or is it best that I
post here? I would like to start a discussion on several topics, over a
period of time.
As will always be the case, check out
http://code.google.com/p/viewablegroup/ for the latest. The utils file
listed below will have a liscense and comments when posted later today.
.j.
(library.lzx showing the import structure of the framework follows)
<library>
<!-- includes we need -->
<include href="base/baseformitem.lzx"/>
<include href="base/multistatebutton.lzx"/>
<!-- resources -->
<include href="resources.lzx"/>
<!-- framework classes -->
<include href="traits.lzx"/>
<include href="utils.lzx"/>
<include href="replicate.lzx"/>
<include href="layouts.lzx"/>
<include href="upload.lzx"/>
<!-- component hierarchies -->
<include href="ui.lzx"/>
<include href="reordering.lzx"/>
<include href="smoothScroll.lzx"/>
<include href="highlites.lzx"/>
<include href="toolbar.lzx"/>
</library>
---
jamesr wrote:
You can find the project, as yet unpopulated, at
http://code.google.com/p/viewablegroup/. Expect content before Nov 18th.
jamesr wrote:
Within the week i'll have that and the project hosted on google with
licensing, etc. and thus allow the list to have unfettered access to
the base i'm using for projects currently.
I don't use the CSS concept in this framework. I usually just specify
skins for a component, then override in subclasses. I see CSS as a
higher layer then what i'm operating on. It is also SWF9 ready.
There is a set of behaviors that underlie object creation and
interaction (including unique namespace mechanisms) that are
essential to readable, modern, and dependable GUI management. Traits
in particular are defined as orthogonal behaviors applied to a parent
that modify or react to events or advertise new methods and
attributes, the same as the design manual for objective-C stated i
once possessed. They allow me to annotate nodes by behavior, greatly
reducing the semantic overhead for invocation of complex actions.
What follows is a good example of the framework. It is the entire
code needed to have drag and drop between arbitrary objects and it's
representative of the approach. It's just a code snippet, but i
believe it is clear.
----
<canvas debug="true">
<!-- component hierarchies (ordered low-level to high-level)-->
<include href="../framework/utils.lzx"/>
<include href="../framework/traits.lzx"/>
<!-- this class will inherently search a given set of views -->
<class name="dragmetome" width="30" height="30" bgcolor="blue">
<multiclickable/>
<dragmatchable views="${classroot.parent.subviews}"/>
<handler name="ondragsent" args="target">
Debug.write("I (", this, ") was dragged onto", target);
target.setAttribute('bgcolor', this['bgcolor']);
</handler>
<handler name="ondragdropped" args="target">
Debug.write("I (", this, ") just got ", target, " dropped
onto me");
</handler>
</class>
<view>
<simplelayout axis="y"/>
<dragmetome bgcolor="blue"/>
<dragmetome bgcolor="red"/>
<dragmetome bgcolor="green"/>
<dragmetome bgcolor="yellow"/>
<dragmetome bgcolor="brown"/>
<dragmetome bgcolor="purple"/>
<dragmetome bgcolor="green"/>
</view>
</canvas>
More soon,
j.
Raju Bitter wrote:
Yes, I'd love to see that as well. I'm hoping for fully runtime
CSSable components with a CSS based styling and skinning approach.
That would give us a chance to zoom components in DHTML runtime and
SWFx runtime, making them much more usable for mobile devices.
Memory profile should be better as well, since wouldn't have to load
a large number of assets into the app.
But since nothing is perfect in life, I'd be happy to see any
improvement on the component side!
Raju
On Nov 12, 2009, at 2:09 AM, Max Carlson wrote:
Hi James,
I'd love to see what you've written! We're aware that the
component class model is aging and welcome collaboration from the
community.
jamesr wrote:
Rami Ojares / AMG Oy wrote:
On Nov 11, 2009 1:19 AM, "Leonardo Mateo"
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> That's not true, Flex is very powerful, thanks to ActionScript
3 and
> is a COMPLETE MISTAKE thinking that you have to use it only for
small
> and flashy things.
I don't wish to dispute that. I meant that it probably has more
GUIs and templates to get you started quickly. The downside being
vendor lock-in and being at the mercy of your software provider.
When the push comes to shove your best and ONLY documentation is
the source code. That applies to both commercial and open source
software as well as that tiny and most precious piece of software
you write yourself.
- Cheers
I would submit that open laszlo is an easier to learn and manage
language. I believe in the laszlo model, and choose it because of
that belief. However, several key concepts are missing from the
download you get from open laszlo itself. Things like drag and
drop and traits have been poorly defined if at all. The components
hierarchy is aging. I've written a complementary and more modern
hierarchy, one which i'd be happy to share with the community, if
it can tolerate incremental improvement in the documentation and
examples.
Laszlo is a view based language, like cocoa. It has not been
adequately utilized in the areas in which it excels most; this is
the root problem of the laszlo community at present, as i see it.
The premise is sound.
- james
--
Regards,
Max Carlson
OpenLaszlo.org
