Talented Pivot Developers, Users, and Supporters, I like Apache Pivot, but I want to like it even more. I want to know it. I want to be able to use every class and method of it, explore it, know the ins and outs of it; know where it excels, what its limitations are, and write a challenging project with it. If I don't know how to do something with Pivot, I want to be able to click on a link or (if I have to) pick up a reference that has the info I need to figure it out. But at the moment, my experience with Pivot has not left me with confidence that I can know Pivot well enough to be successful using it.
Believe me, I've tried. I worked through every tutorial, writing minor variations for each, moving code around, using different components, exploring the various ways to write action handlers. I used the Component Explorer, wondering, "Why aren't the major containers, like Window, Frame, Sheet, etc. included?" I've studied the API, learning the details I could for most every element of the Framework I've used throughout the tutorial experience. Then I struck out on my own. I wrote some basic interfaces in bxml, toying with ideas I have for a project I'd like to write in Pivot. Those went well, they looked okay, I've learned to like the bxml interface design approach - in fact, I don't want to give it up - but there were nagging questions I couldn't answer. "Be patient," I told myself. "Keep plodding along, and the details will come." Then I gave myself an assignment I thought might answer some of the nagging questions: Take an interface I'd already designed in bxml and rewrite it completely in Java. The interface included a Frame with a MenuBar, 2 MenuBar.Items, each with a Menu with 2 Menu.Items, Border, TablePane with columns and rows, BoxPane, and a couple Expanders. No function, just the shell of an interface. I couldn't do it. I tackled the task, incrementally writing each part in the same order as listed above but got stuck early on at the MenuBar and Menus. I could not find the information I needed to accomplish what should be a relatively (I thought) simple thing. I could accept that maybe it was a stupid idea. Why write an interface completely in Java that can be defined easily in bxml? I don't know. Why not? Shouldn't I be able to? Or if it's not possible, shouldn't that be documented somewhere? I could have accepted it if I thought it were true, but I don't. So I walked away from Pivot, thinking what I wrote in the first paragraph. So that I don't come across as just a complainer, I'm volunteering. I'm still excited about Pivot's potential, I believe in it and am impressed by Apache's projects overall, and I'll help in any way I can to improve Pivot's packaging to enable it to be more widely adopted. But I shouldn't bound or limit my offer to help. I'll simply do whatever I can to help, period. Just let me know what I can do. Until Pivot's documentation or usability improves, I'll work on my project using plain ol' Swing. Greg Brannon Hughesville, MD USA (443) 684-2064
