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RE: SWT History and Design Decisions (WAS: [platform-swt-dev] AWT Toolkit using SWT (was: From Swing to SWT))

Title: Message
Sounds like I'm missing my mark. Bummer. Well, annoy or debate, I gotta do one of them ;)
 
[Thanks for the kind words, btw]
 
Can't see the tool yet -- not ready to show. Getting there, though. I've been low on free time lately, prepping to teach a patterns class at Hopkins ;)
 
Wrt the generated code, I plan to have at least two generators that I'll write -- one that generates VAJ like code, and one that generates XMLTalk or something like BML or the long-term persistence stuff that Sun does. Not that I recommend the resource file approach, but I wanted to show it was equally as easy to do. (Note that I had been planning to do this before this thread, though this thread has confirmed that folks are interested in something like that.)
 
My hope is that as people see the generated code, they'll give me feedback, or perhaps create alternative code generators. A kind of community optimization, if you will...
 
-- Scott
-----Original Message-----
From: platform-swt-dev-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:platform-swt-dev-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Christian Gruber
Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 6:01 PM
To: platform-swt-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: SWT History and Design Decisions (WAS: [platform-swt-dev] AWT Toolkit using SWT (was: From Swing to SWT))

Oh please, Scott… you’re less annoying by half than most of the people in the workplace. You bother to consider this stuff, after all.  That’s more than most.  I’m beginning to feel that this is a familiarity/comfort debate, because I can see theoretically how your tool would serve many of the requirements I would have in a builder.  But the resulting code leaves me feeling uncomfortable, and I think it’s mostly what I’m used to.  Where can I see this tool of yours?

 

Regards,

Christian.

 

-----Original Message-----
From: platform-swt-dev-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:platform-swt-dev-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Scott Stanchfield
Sent:
Monday, January 20, 2003 11:11 PM
To: platform-swt-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: SWT History and Design Decisions (WAS: [platform-swt-dev] AWT Toolkit using SWT (was: From Swing to SWT))

 

Hey, I live to annoy ;)

 

That depends on the UI builder. Most javabean-based builders use live components to display what the UI will look like (as does mine). Some even have two modes: design and "live". "Live" mode basically lets you assemble and test a UI all at once. I'm not a big fan of live mode as I believe you're apt to get yourself into some unusual states if you edit on the fly.

 

Manipulating the objects live can be done with either representation. In my builder, I keep a "live" version of the UI offscreen to take snapshots. I suppose I could expose that, but I'm not sure. If I do, it'll be a low development priority for me. I found development in VAJ to be quite quick, and the compile-test cycle didn't feel like it got in the way. I've actually done live work with customers using it (and they loved the experience ;)

 

VAJ supported (and my builder supports) subclasses, but mine allows easy framework creation (you can create a GUI and when using it, add components into that GUI if you provide a containerDelegate specification in the BeanInfo.)

 

Bringing up the HCI/HF end of things is a great point, and where I feel that my pluggability can really be an advantage. A different set of plugins could be used to present a different user experience, as well as generate code (or resource files). Kinda like the way custom tags make it easier for non programmers to do JSPs (when programmers write the tag handlers), different manipulations could make a UI easier for non-programmers.

 

-- Scott


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