Hello,
Senko Rasic has created a new XUL dialect dubbed
Remote Interface Markup Language (RML) that lets you
create UIs using XML.
Senko writes:
RML knows of several user interface objects. The
language definition isn't complete yet, but it is
intended that all most-used ui objects (widgets)
should be represented in the language.
In current version, RML supports:
* windows
* labels
* buttons
* inputs (one-line text/password entry boxen)
* textboxen (multi-line text entry boxen)
* combos (inputs with drop-down menu)
* checkboxen (toggle buttons)
* lists
* trees
* frames
* notebooks
* menus
In case you wonder how RML looks like in action.
Here's a sample:
<window name="win" title="Hello Window" w="200"
h="70">
<label name="l" x="10" y="10" w="180" h="20">
Hello World!
</label>
<button name="b" x="10" y="40" w="180" h="20"
events="click">
Click me!
</button>
</window>
Now if you wonder why create a new language. Senko
compares RML to UIML (User Interface Markup Language),
LibGLADE, Mozilla XUL and XWT (XML Windowing Toolkit).
Senko writes:
RML is not yet another language (nor the best one)
for describing user interface properities. For
'static' usages (in which GUI is pre-designed and
markup language serves just as a convenient way to
store it's representation) there are already several
proposed languages:
* UIML ...
* LibGLADE ...
Both these languages are much more expressible than
RML, but that comes with a price - the complexity
(especially if compared to, for example, HTMLs form
elements). Most of required structure, properities and
events can be adequately described by a lot simpler
language (which RML intends to be).
Also, RML's main purpose isn't to obsolete HTML-s
form element entirely. HTML provides an adequate
support for Web forms and interactive content. On the
other hand, any non-trivial user-interface is
extremely painful (if not impossible) to express in
standard HTML; and this is the main reason for RML.
For what Senko says about Mozilla XUL and XWT read
the page titled "Are we reinventing the wheel and
toothbrush here?" online @
http://software.senko.net/rml/others.html
Senko is not all talk but - hold your breath -
Senko has created three prototypes (all BSD-licensed)
using Swing/Java, Gtk+/C and Windows/Visual Basic.
And to top it off Senko has written two RML
tutorials, one for Perl and one for PHP.
Full story @ http://software.senko.net/rml
and http://software.senko.net/rml/rml.txt
and http://software.senko.net/rml/files.html
and http://software.senko.net/rml/tut/perl.html
and http://software.senko.net/rml/tut/php.html
- Gerald
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