I personally hadn't used GXP before WIAB but it wasn't very hard to get up to speed despite lack of decent documentation.
I initially was revolted by GXP, but after figuring out how to do what I need, I think it's actually quite good. * Your output can't possibly have malformed XML as the template is embedded in xml. (somewhat like xsl). * It further checks your output is well formed HTML. * It cleverly escapes things "the right way" depending on what context you're in. * It's a small and lean library. I won't bother listing the negatives, I agree with what Michael already said (except the "immature" one - not sure what metric that's based on or what the tangible negative side effects are. I haven't come across any "bugs" or other annoyances yet, which immature projects tend to have). Are we using templates that much at all? I think our use is pretty minimal so it doesn't really matter what we do for the time being. Just trying to balance the argument. Eventually I think we should probably stop using it due to the fact that it appears to be stale (though I know it's used a lot internally, I guess they're not very conscientious about pushing updates). I'm not sure if velocity is or is not a good alternative, I'm not very familiar with it. If we switch to anything it should be on the technical merits and relevance to our project, not just because it's apache. Dan Στις 15 Μαΐου 2011 3:39 μ.μ., ο χρήστης Michael MacFadden <[email protected]> έγραψε: > JSP is not really in the same class as GXP, Velocity or FreeMaker. All three > of these were implemented to account for the shortcoming of JSPs. You would > need to read into the documentation of these projects for a detailed > discussion on the rationale behind this. > > I don't know that we need to switch, I just have some concerns. Namely: > > - New developers aren't familiar with it. > - The project isn't mature. > - There are only two committers. > - There haven't been any meaningful commits since May of 2009. > - There hasn't been a release since 2008. > > Basically it looks like an abandoned project. I worry that it isn't > documented well, and isn't being maintained. It's entirely possible and > likley that some time in the future it won't be compaitble with the latest > java frameworks, or at the least won't remain relevant. > > I am not sure how wise it is to build out our interface on that technology. > It seems like it was primarily chosen based on it's associate with Google > (basically eating their own dog food, etc). > > ~Michael > > On May 14, 2011, at 10:29 PM, Yuri Z wrote: > >> Well, I think JSP or JSF makes more sense than Velocity, but I don't think >> we have a real need to switch. I also struggled with GXP when using it for >> the first time, but when you get used you start to like its advantages. >> >> 2011/5/15 Lennard de Rijk <[email protected]> >> >>> On Sat, May 14, 2011 at 17:45, Michael MacFadden < >>> [email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> I have heard many comments from new developers on wave who were trying to >>>> modify or add these kinds of pages struggling with figuring out how to >>> use >>>> GXP. I guess this is in part due to the lack of documentation. Is GXP >>>> widely used outside of Google? I had not heard of it until I got >>> involved >>>> with WiaB. >>>> >>>> >>> Afaik not. Django is very popular but requires Python based projects :). >>> I'm >>> not sure what is often used for Java. >>> >>> Greetings, >>> Lennard >>> >>> >>>> ~Michael >>>> >>>> On May 14, 2011, at 4:31 PM, James Purser wrote: >>>> >>>>> I can +1 the bit about poor documentation >>>>> >>>>> On Sat, May 14, 2011 at 2:54 AM, Yuri Z <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> I think that the main advantage is that GXP verifies the HTML so it >>>> ensures >>>>>> that if gxp templates compiles then the HTML is valid. Also it is more >>>>>> secure. >>>>>> The greatest issue with GXP is very poor documentation. >>>>>> 2011/5/13 Michael MacFadden <[email protected]> >>>>>> >>>>>>> All, >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I am not advocating a change at all, just looking for some info... >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I noticed that we use the Google XML Pages (GXP) technology for some >>> of >>>>>> the >>>>>>> UI in WiaB. I understand why you would want to use a template based >>>>>>> solution rather than raw servlest writing HTML. I also know what the >>>>>>> benefits are over traditional JSP pages. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> However, what are the advantages of GXP over something like Apache >>>>>>> Velocity? Just looking to understand. Thanks. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> ~Michael >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> James Purser >>>>> Collaborynth >>>>> http://collaborynth.com.au >>>>> Mob: +61 406 576 553 >>>>> Wave: [email protected] >>>> >>>> >>> > >
