[opencms-dev] Google Web Toolkit

[Jonathan Woods]

Hmm.  How about the following as a way of documenting what we might as well
call the HTTP API?  Sorry it's a bit of a stream of consciousness.

1.  Interaction with OpenCms is stateless, isn't it, apart from the cookie
keying into an instance of CmsObject and thereby carrying the notion of
current project and current site?  So we could carry out every possible
operation through the Workplace and record a log of HTTP accesses, and that
would span the HTTP API space.

2.  Some HTTP calls are 'do this' (of interest to us), others are 'tell me
what to display'; the latter are either 'tell me how to make this look nice'
(not of interest to us) or 'give me the value of this thing' (of interest to
us).  We could filter out the recorded HTTP access log to remove rubbish
(image accesses, frameset components which aren't of interest, other
decorative things) and end up with just the calls to 'do this' and 'give me
the value'.  Associating them with our Workplace actions would be a good
starting point for documenting the HTTP API.

I don't imagine even Alkacon have this level of documentation, because
things have inevitably been built up by accretion.  This feels like one of
those times when things are just ripe for refactoring!

Jon

-----Original Message-----
From: opencms-dev-bounces at opencms.org
[mailto:opencms-dev-bounces at opencms.org] On Behalf Of Alessandro Magnolo
Sent: 01 June 2006 09:19
To: The OpenCms mailing list
Subject: Re: [opencms-dev] Google Web Toolkit

On 5/31/06, Jonathan Woods <jonathan.woods at scintillance.com> wrote:
> I like it.  Yahoo have one too (and several others, I imagine) - we're 
> probably spoilt for choice.

GWT (Google Web Toolkit) and YUI (Yahoo User Interface library) both use
AJAX technology, but they have very different approaches.
GWT compiles pure java code to javascript executable code, letting you
ignore (at least this is what they promise) that the final code will run in
a browser.
YUI is a library of utilities and UI controls to use as building blocks for
javascript interfaces.

> I think the safest first step in this work would be to get a nice 
> clean interface into Workplace functionality before trying to change much
there.

I second this. This would also greatly benefit the implementation of the
accessible interface I wrote about before, as it could be built on the same
API.

Alessandro Magnolo

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