As Brent said, I found having access to Pivot source and example code very helpful. I'm don't think that the 'tests' and 'examples' Eclipse projects are included in the source code distribution, but they are available from the Subversion server.
http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/pivot/trunk/examples/ http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/pivot/trunk/tests/ When learning BXML, I would often search the '*.bxml' files to find examples of syntax to specify certain things. Like how to specify the backgroundColor style for a Component's skin, or how to add a listener in BXML. These are the source code for the demos & tutorials on the Pivot website. http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/pivot/trunk/demos/ http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/pivot/trunk/tutorials/ Chris On 2 August 2011 04:27, Brent Atkinson <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Alex, > > I share the desire for a BXML editor with auto-completion. I agree that it > would make Pivot's BXML much more attractive to developers during > development. Are there any developers with eclipse RCP experience on the > list? ;D > > Having said that, a BXML hierarchy is a View from Model-View-Controller? If > that is supposed to be true it is not obvious, at least IMHO. > > Trying to map textbook MVC onto Swing, SWT or Pivot is going to give you a > headache for sure. MVC is usually a pattern for the applications, not the > frameworks themselves, though sometimes the components can follow the > pattern somewhat (like Swing's JTable and TableModel). > > I would suggest trying to understand it for what it is rather than trying to > retro fit a textbook pattern onto it. If you've seen MVC and understand why > it is advantageous, it will serve you well in understanding how Pivot is > designed. In the absence of book-style documentation, attaching the Pivot > source in your IDE and using the debugger to step through your application > when it is not working how you expect can help immensely. > > I'm fairly new to Pivot myself, but after having used it my understanding on > BXML is that it is a useful language for object creation and dependency > injection. It comes in handy for constructing the static structure of your > application's objects, not the behavior though you can use the scripting > support for some of that. Because Java is a language for describing behavior > using objects and messages (typical OOP), the two co-exist quite well. > Define the static structure using BXML, use the code-behind support to > hookup the behavioral code. It's addictively fun when you get the hang of > it. > > HTH, > > Brent > > On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 4:54 PM, Alex Ryzhov <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> >>> >>> you can probably disregard that. In practice, the Component is more of a >>> view/model and the Skin a view/controller. Does that help? >>> >>> >> http://pivot.apache.org/tutorials/platform-overview.html >> >> Yes, that's the document I read. What you are saying makes more sense but >> the picture is still messy. I brought up this issue with regards to BXML: >> Obviously, BXML is View. It defines the structure of Components, which are >> therefore View as well. But it also affects Skin which is a view controller. >> If Component is view model then why does it have methods layout() and >> paint()? >> > >
