Re: [PHP] Creating rich interfaces for web applications??
Geoff Caplan wrote: Hi folks I have been looking for a practical way to create rich dynamic forms in the client using PHP, and would appreciate any pointers to workable approaches. With the launch of .Net I suspect that customer expectations are going to change, and good old plain HTML will begin to look dated. I am thinking of client-side functionality such as lists that can sort and filter, cascading dropdowns, drag and drop, validation in the client that is double-checked on the server etc etc. I am doing quite large and complex applications, so there is no way to code the client side stuff by hand - I need some kind of dynamic library. This is for intranet use, so I will be able to specifiy the browser verion to be used, and any plugins required. If you don't want to use HTML/CSS and are not bound to use a webbrowser, you could try to use PHP-GTK - it lets you build GUI's very quickly and easily, and works on Win and UNix machines, the Data Processing can be done in the same way you always did when coding PHP. It is in an early stage, but there are already some interesting applications, as a Mail Client and an editor. look at http://gtk.php.net and subscribe to the Mailing Lists there if you run into problems. There seem to be all kinds of technologies emerging, but most of them are either too immature, too slow (such as Flash based solutions - see www.carels.com), or are based on Java. For all its shorcomings, some kind of XML/DHTML solution seems best, and I guess it will improve as Browsers catch up with CSS2. hmm, my experience with JavaScript is not much better than with Java - both are error prone, lead to browser crashes, and are slow or just don't work, if things get real comlicated and beyond displaying a page with some text and links and rollovers. I have spotted a very nice Java/Tomcat solution, for example (see isomorphic.com), which shows what can be done. But the only DHTML/PHP library I can find is dynapi, which looks promising but is still a bit limited so far as functionality goes and the documentation is kinda thin. aehm, above you are talking client-side, now here Java/Tomcat /PHP, it's all server side... what is your _real_ problem? Creating Lists and all that sort of things which are easily to program and maintain for developers - either client or server side, or what? Are you just looking for a library that helps you to build forms and things like that dynamically? henning -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To contact the list administrators, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [PHP] Creating rich interfaces for web applications??
Oops - forgot to send this to the list... Henning aehm, above you are talking client-side, now here Java/Tomcat /PHP, it's all server side... what is your _real_ problem? Creating Lists and all that sort of things which are easily to program and maintain for developers - either client or server side, or what? Are you just looking for a library that helps you to build forms and things like that dynamically? Sorry if I didn't make it clear enough. I am talking about creating client-side code dynamically on the server. For example, I have an application that generates a data-entry system dynamically from a data-dictionary and config files. Right now, it serves up HTML 3.2, but I would like to be able to offer a more windoze-style interface, with tabs, drag-and-drop, spreadsheet style grids, fancy combos etc etc. I am extending the app to include some CRM stuff, so I would also like calendar widgets and stuff like that. But it must be fast and reliable. So maybe HTML is still the only way to go. Geoff -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To contact the list administrators, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [PHP] Creating rich interfaces for web applications??
Henning I did not work a lot with applications in PHP-GTK until now to say something about speed and reliability ( the list may answer those questions, i am only working on the translation of the manual for now), but I think it's worth a look at, and i know there are already some people out there who use it in a commercial environment. I think PHP-GTK is a great project, but I really do need to create the interface on the server and send it to some kind of thin client. But as you, maybe DHTML is just too unstable. I don't know if there is some kind of commercial plugin that does this and will work with PHP. You can do forms in Flash, and they seem to be stable, but they are much too slow. Geoff Caplan -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To contact the list administrators, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [PHP] Creating rich interfaces for web applications??
Geoff Caplan wrote: Henning I did not work a lot with applications in PHP-GTK until now to say something about speed and reliability ( the list may answer those questions, i am only working on the translation of the manual for now), but I think it's worth a look at, and i know there are already some people out there who use it in a commercial environment. I think PHP-GTK is a great project, but I really do need to create the interface on the server and send it to some kind of thin client. It might seem that I am advocating PHP-GTK too much, but even this is possible. PHP-GTK Apps would run on any X or Windows System where you have the GTK Libs and PHP compiled - nothing more needed. I am not shure but it might even be very well that these both together still use less memory than a webbrowser - in RAM and on HD or when beeing fetched over the network at boot time. When really want to write your application in PHP instead of C/C++ or maybe Java I would still consider it better than DHTML. I don't know if there is some kind of commercial plugin that does this and will work with PHP. You can do forms in Flash, and they seem to be stable, but they are much too slow. What exactly is too slow with flash? dynamical genberation with action script? You could generate your content and data with PHP and display it with flash. henning -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To contact the list administrators, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [PHP] Creating rich interfaces for web applications??
Hi What exactly is too slow with flash? dynamical genberation with action script? You could generate your content and data with PHP and display it with flash. I have just been talking to the engineers at Carrels, who have produced a Flash based system for rich forms, but I said I found it too slow and they agreed. Downloading and rendering the movies is just too slow, even if they are cached on the server, so Carrels are creating their own specialised plugin for forms, and also talking with Macromedia about how this aspect of Flash can be speeded up. The Carrels solution may be a solution once it is out of beta, but for now, Flash doesn't seem to be the way to go. I am thinking of using Flash to produce printable documents, though, such as letters, labels and invoices. I think the Flash format is easier to handle than PDF, and is generally faster all round. There is an interesting looking commercial product which looks a bit like Macromedia Generator, but which has an PHP api. Have you ever heard of this? http://www.blue-pac.com/products/phpturbine/default.htm Geoff -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To contact the list administrators, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
