Hi Brian,
Pretty interesting...
But there's a caveat in putting everything in the database.. A few years
back, DB companies were evengelizing that the DB should be the repository
of all information presented in the web page.. Pretty interesting piece
but early adoptors soon learned that doing so required tons of resources
from the database, which made then slow as hell. On example of this is
Informix' Web DataBlade.
This is the very reason why application servers came about.. so there can
be separation of presentation generation (JSP, ASP, PHP) from the business
logic, and the database.
An alternative that I can suggest to Orly is JavaServer Pages (JSP) Custom
Tags. JSP custome tags are actually vanilla JavaBeans that are called by
the JSP engine whenever encountered. Here's a possible JSP tag lib:
<XX_FORM name="pangalan" sqlview="SELECT first_name, last_name">
<XX_INPUT type="text" displayname="First Name" sqlfield="first_name"/>
<XX_INPUT type="text" displayname="Last Name" sqlfield="last_name"/>
</XX_FORM>
Following the JSP tab lib API, your XX_FORM, and XX_INPUT JavaBeans can
get the data from the DB then from the params, generate the form elements
within the bean.
HTH
jeff --
On Sun, 30 Jul 2000 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
#
# Orlando Andico writes:
# > hello all,
# >
# > i'm pretty sick of writing html forms (big form, updates or inserts into
# > database table). so i've decided to write a dynamic form generator: you
# > give it some input (an XML file describing the form [title, colors,
# > fonts], DBI connection DSN, input attributes [type, validation rule, LOV
# > source if it's multiple choice, etc] etc) and it spits out the HTML if
# > there's no input, and processes the input if there is.
#
# Hehe, I wouldn't even bother with an XML file.
#
# Since you already have a database at your disposal, why not store the
# display and input options (if they're not "default") in database tables?
# That way, you don't have to struggle with an XML parser and end users don't
# have to write XML. That way the specs for the display (color, font,
# visibility, widget placement, etc.) and input options (digits only,
# multiple choice options, pick list SELECT DISTINCT somefield FROM
# someothertable, etc.) would be available to other client applications
# connecting to the database directly (e.g. those that would not have access
# to the XML file), and use that information to render the data entry screens
# correctly.
#
# Then you could use the form generator to generate a form to modify the
# display options for the form generator. :-)
#
# > it will be able to process multi-page forms (with Prev, Next buttons) via
# > a <Page></Page> tag, and do basic DBI error recovery. I've done a cursory
# > search of freshmeat and found nothing that has this functionality.
#
# You could then extend this by defining a couple of tables to store state
# machines describing the logic for your supported transactions, and you'd
# have a fully customizable web-based DB application builder.
#
# > However, I'd like to know if anyone of the list is aware of a similar
# > product (Oracle WebDB has a similar philosophy but different
# > implementation and is far more general). because i dont want to reinvent
# > the wheel.
#
# I believe there are a couple of commercial products that work as I
# described. If I'm not mistaken, that's how Oracle's WebDB works too.
# AOLserver 2.3.3 has a quick-and-dirty DB form template that works like
# that.
#
# Then, if you wanted to pad your resume with another industry buzzword, you
# could just add options to export the various datamodels into XML DTDs.
#
# > anyway below is a sample config file that describes a form (dont worry
# > there is no code or parser yet, im just writing out the config so i know
# > what features i must implement..)
#
# Just some ideas and abstractions you might want to consider. And, yes, I
# have built (and helped others build) quite similar systems before, so it is
# a workable model.
#
# Well, I should stop before I take all the fun out of it for you. The easy
# first part should be doable within a day or two if you're using a scripting
# language, but the logic really is no different whether you're using Perl or
# Java.
#
# Happy coding! :-)
#
# Brian
# --
# Brian Baquiran <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
# http://www.baquiran.com/ AIM: bbaquiran
# Work: +63(2)7182222 Home: +63(2) 9227123
#
# I'm smarter than average. Therefore, average, to me, seems kind of stupid.
# People weren't purposely being stupid. It just came naturally.
# -- Bruce "Tog" Toganazzini
# -
# Philippine Linux Users Group. Web site and archives at http://plug.linux.org.ph
# To leave: send "unsubscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
#
Jeff Gutierrez
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