I seem
to have gotten myself into a heated discussion on the OpenBase developer's list
regarding Witango vs. Cold Fusion. It started because someone posted a list of
instructions (which were lengthy) on how to port ColdFusion code to the OS X
platform. It has snowballed from there. The ColdFusion supporter provided what
he thought was a simple phone list program by displaying the CF code needed. I
responded with a 'drag a search builder...' which I think would open the eyes up
of anyone who wanted ease of use.
Here
is what I hope was my last post to that list on this topic. If anyone wants to
join in and/or pick up where I left off, the subscription info is available at:
http://store.openbase.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/OpenBaseStore.woa/1/wa/DeveloperML
**********
I also
did not mean for this to become a bashing session. I simply wanted to make the
readers of this list (a strong database community) aware that the Tango product
that they may or may not have been familiar with was back and moving forward. I
ended my last post by suggesting that the readers decide for themselves. I
thought that I had written a diplomatic post and yet I feel that each response I
saw was negative and an attack on the product. The responses also contained
misinformation. The editor does not restrict you with regards to
expanding/collapsing the outline and without a specific example, I
can't think of a reason for a support person to go into the XML code
to fix something that the editor created. I'm not suggesting that it didn't
happen, I'm saying that I can't think of a reason why it would happen. Prior to
my time in Professional Services, I was a senior support rep for the
product.
With
regards to the phone list, here's how Witango would handle
it:
Open a
new Tango Application File (TAF)
From
the action pallet, drag in a search builder action.
On the
search tab of the builder action, drag in the field(s) (from the database
pallet) you wish to use as search criteria.
On the
results tab of the builder action, drag in the field(s) (from the database
pallet) you wish to display to the user as the results of the
search.
Click
on 'build actions'.
Save
the file.
Not
one line of code is written by the user in this example. This is Witango 101,
one of the first things that the tutorial discusses. If you don't like the
formatting of the code that is generated, open the Results HTML window of the
search action and there is all of your HTML and Witango code. Want to allow the
user to click on a result line to see the detail? Go back to the builder, click
on the detail tab and drag the fields from the database pallet that you want to
display on the detail page. Want to allow them to edit certain fields? Select
the fields and click on Allow Update. Want to allow the user to delete a record?
Click on Allow Delete.
Click
on Build Actions and resave the file.
I did
do what I thought was some good-natured bashing in my original post when I
suggested that the steps required to use Cold Fusion on Mac OS X seemed lengthy
compared to the cross-platform abilities of Witango. The original Tango product
was developed for the Mac platform, it wasn't an attempt at a port from Windows.
The new owners of the product have a strong Mac background and are committed to
the product on ALL platforms.
If
anyone wishes to know more about Witango I will be happy to provide them with
information. Otherwise this will be my last post on this
thread.
Thanks,
Steve Smith
Skadt Information Solutions
Office: (519) 624-4388
GTA: (416) 606-3885
Fax: (519) 624-3353
Cell: (416) 606-3885
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web: http://www.skadt.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Dick Applebaum [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: August 26, 2002 10:40 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [OB-Dev] [OT] Witango was OB ColdFusion MX Jaguar
On Monday, August 26, 2002, at 04:39 PM, Steve Smith wrote:
I would suggest that you look at the new owners and make your own decision
with regards to their stability and commitment. Each person's opinion is
based on their own needs.
How do I do that -- there is no information on their site? Why?
I don't disagree with the comments you've made about the editor. For some
this has been a sore point, for others the attitude is 'who cares?'
Personally I enjoy using the editor and have always been happy with the code
that it has produced for me. I would point out that the editor does provide
methods to bypass the standard actions (search, update, insert, control
structure, mail, etc.) through either the use of a direct dbms action (you
write the sql expression, the server just passes it on to the db engine) or
through the use of Witango metatags (calculation, array, variables - with
multiple scopes, control structure, mail, etc.).
You were mistaken about the expansion-contraction of the outline levels in
the editor. Each can be opened or closed independently of any other.
No, I think you are wrong... the thing that attracted me to the editor was the outline format -- something I have been playing with as a programming interface since Dave Weiner's "Think Tank" (circa 1980).
The expand/colllapse was constrained by the editor -- I lobbied very hard with the Pervasive people to change this.
Easy
mistake and your recall of the other features is pretty good after a 2 year
absence.
In the 7 years that I've worked with Tango and Witango, I've never found a
situation that did not have a solution that could be written within an
application file using the editor. Yes there were times when I needed to
call external applications (Tango has always supported this, including the
ability to call an AppleScript) and more recently with the support for com
objects, Tango class files, and JavaBeans I find myself trying to use more
of these. However I've never had the need to go into the XML files
themselves to make modifications.
I manipulated the XML files at the direction of Tango (Pervasive) support & development people-- it was the only way to compensate for some of the product deficiencies & code-generation errors (at that point in time). Believe me, I did not want to learn and fiddle around with XML files (with the subsequent need to abandon the macros).
But then I am more of a solutions builder rather than a code generator. My
guess is that you are someone who has welcomed the switch to OS X and goes
beyond the GUI interface regularly, you need to see the low level. There's
nothing wrong with that. It's what gives us different perspectives.
Actually, quite the opposite -- I like OS X because it brings a superior GUI, and a wealth of programs such as the various RDBMS systems.
I like OS X 'cause I can sit in the kitchen play songs on my laptop that exist on a hard drive on the computer in the den (without doing anything special).
I prefer ColdFusion over Perl, ASP, PHP because I can be more productive... these and WebObjects, Java, (and to some extent Tango) have a much steeper learning curve than ColdFusion .
Here's what I mean -- here's a complete program that queries a database, and builds a phone list for a specific department (submitted on a form on a prior page):
There are only 2 ColdFusion Commands:
<cfquery>....</cfquery> to query the database and store the results in an array
<cfoutput>...</cfoutput> to iterate over the array and print a line (a HTML table row) for each row in the array
#variableName# denotes a ColdFusion variable
The rest is just standard HTML
That's all there is, no setting/killing connections, no instantiating objects, that's it-- and it's all there in front of you!
The program:
<cfquery name="getPhone" datasource="OpenBaseTest">
SELECT LastName, FirstName, Phone
FROM Employees
WHERE Department='#Form.Department#'
ORDER BY LastName, FirstName
</cfquery>
<h1>Department Phone List</h1>
<table border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3">
<tr>
<th>Name</th>
<th>Phone</th>
</tr>
<cfoutput query="getPhone">
<tr>
<td>#LastName#, #FirstName#</td>
<td>#Phone#</td>
</tr>
</cfoutput>
</table>
here's the output
