Re: [platform-swt-dev] Pivot/SWT

[Silenio Quarti <Silenio_Quarti@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I had a quick look at your demos. Nice
work!

We would be interested in the port from
a diffrent view: it would be a great test for SWT graphics. Please let
us know of any issues you may find. The browser integration is indeed very
challenging. You might be able to use the SWT_AWT bridge for this.

Silenio

From:	Greg Brown <gkbrown@xxxxxxx>
To:	platform-swt-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
Date:	02/17/2010 09:59 AM
Subject:	[platform-swt-dev] Pivot/SWT
Sent by:	platform-swt-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx

---

Hi all,

I recently joined the SWT developer list and would like to introduce myself.
I am one of the founders of Apache Pivot, an open-source platform for building
RIAs in Java:

  http://pivot.apache.org

Paraphrasing our web site, Pivot "combines the enhanced productivity
and usability features of a modern RIA toolkit with the robustness of the
industry-standard Java platform...[It] includes features that make building
modern GUI applications much easier, including declarative UI, data binding,
effects and transitions, and web services integration." 

We created Pivot for two primary reasons:

- To provide a viable option for developers who want to build rich client
applications in Java (or any other JVM-compatible language). Of the three
major RIA platforms (Flex, Silverlight, and JavaFX), none support the Java
programming language or any of the popular JVM scripting languages such
as Groovy or Scala: Flex applications are written in ActionScript, Silverlight
applications are built using .NET, and JavaFX applications are built with
JavaFX Script. Pivot allows Java developers to build RIAs using technologies
and APIs they already know.

- To provide a truly open alternative for RIA developers. While they may
be open source to varying degrees, Flex, Silverlight, and JavaFX are still
proprietary platforms that are driven by corporate objectives. Since its
inception, Pivot was envisioned as an open-source project and is driven
entirely by the software development community.

Like Swing and JavaFX, Pivot rendering is currently based on Java2D. We
had originally wanted to use SWT because we believe it is a superior alternative
to AWT. We ultimately went with Java2D because it was not possible to deploy
SWT apps in a browser, one of our primary use cases. 

However, browser deployment aside, there are numerous advantages to using
SWT over Java2D:

- It would allow Pivot developers to reach more users by building Eclipse
plugins or RCP applications using Pivot.

- It would make it considerably easier to build a Pivot GUI builder in
Eclipse, a much-requested feature (we already build the platform itself
in Eclipse).

I am curious to know if there would be any interest in such a port. Pivot
is architected in such a way that the impact of migrating to SWT would
be minimal to most applications. Only applications that rely on custom
Java2D-based rendering would need some rework. However, the level of effort
to port Pivot's "skins" to SWT would be non-trivial, so this
is not something we would look to undertake without sufficient interest
from the SWT community. 

Another major hurdle would be the lack of browser support; however, that
can almost certainly be overcome. I understand that there are some challenges
around SWT event handling in a browser, but this may not actually have
an impact on Pivot - all Pivot windows exist within a single native control
(currently, a class that extends java.awt.Canvas) and don't require blocking
calls (modal windows in Pivot block user input only, not program execution).

I believe that a combination of Pivot and SWT could be very compelling,
and I would very much like to hear your thoughts if you would be willing
to share them.

Thanks for your consideration. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Greg Brown
Apache Pivot

_______________________________________________
platform-swt-dev mailing list
platform-swt-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
https://dev.eclipse.org/mailman/listinfo/platform-swt-dev