Hi Thomas,
Really an excellent email this one -- I'm sure that this belongs in the
wiki docs somewhere where new users would read it.
I've figured these things out, but I'm sure it would have been a very
informative read for me at some point not long ago, and I'm sure there
will be future qooxdoo converts who will benefit from it...
I've read the docs on the wiki many times and can follow the gist of
them, but where it get tough it trying to make first steps in
modifying/changing the contents of the config.json file. A few really
simple examples of how to start with a project skeleton's
config.json/manifest files and then make small and easy to follow
changes, would be a huge help. At the moment I read and think I've got
some insight on how some specific config bit works, but when I try it
out I either get cryptic errors in the generatory.py console or it just
doesn't do anything.
For example: a short and simple wiki page of how to extend an existing
job (for a newly created Skeleton proj) that then makes several simple
and easy to follow changes to say 'build' or 'source'. Once new users
can get something working, it quickly becomes easy to keep
trying/changing things and soon one has the required insights as to what
magic is happening behind the curtain :-) .
Keep up the great work!
Cheers,
-Chris
The Tool-chain (config.json, jobs, etc) is still over my head. I'm
hoping that there are a few more wiki docs/how-to's in store, from
those who feel comfortable with this stuff.
I mentioned in another post there are just three wiki documents
concerned with the 0.8 generator configuration. These are:
- a general overview page
(http://qooxdoo.org/documentation/0.8/generator_config)
- a reference page for the config keys
(http://qooxdoo.org/documentation/0.8/generator_config_ref)
- a page with assorted paragraphs on various config topics that deserve
a bit more background
(http://qooxdoo.org/documentation/0.8/generator_config_articles)
There is also a more general document on the generator, but this is more
like your typical product feature-list flyer
(http://qooxdoo.org/documentation/0.8/generator). So it's more about
impressing than informing you :).
Of the basic structure, every application/library must contain a
config.json and a Manifest.json file in its top directory. From this
directory, a 'source/class' subdirectory is expected, which contains a
name space subdirectory and some class files therein. All other
subdirectories in the top directory are then created during generator
runs ('build', 'api', 'test', ...).
The most important of these sudirectories is of course 'source' since it
contains your source code. Aside from the '<name space>' subdirectory it
has to have a 'resource' subdir (for icons, style files, flash files,
etc.) and a 'translation' subdir (for string translation files). All
these are mandatory, but might be empty. During a 'generate.py source' a
source/script directory is created which contains the generator output
(basically a Javascript file that references all necessary class files,
icons, etc.). This one has to be referenced from the application's
index.html (usually in source/index.html).
The 'build' dir (created with 'generate.py build') has a very similar
structure as the 'source' dir, with 'script', 'translation' and
'resource' subdirs. The main difference is that everything that is
necessary for your application to run is copied under this common root,
and that the generator output script in 'build/script' contains the
actual class definitions, not just references to their source files. The
build dir is therefore self-contained, and doesn't have references that
point outside it.
Create some vanilla skeleton apps (with 'tool/bin/create-application.py
-t [gui|migration] ...') and look at their initial file structure, to
get a feel for it. Tailor the source/class/<namespace>/Application.js as
the main application entry class, add further classes to your needs, and
let the tool chain take care of the rest. You will have to run
'generate.py source' initially, and then once in a while, and you can
just try out your app opening source/index.html directly in your
browser, reloading it to see changes to the code. If you are comfortable
with that, run a 'generate.py build' and open build/index.html in your
browser. If that is fine, copy the whole 'build' tree to your web server.
HTH,
Thomas
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