Re: [Fwd: Re: [Java-gnome-developer] Java-GNOME thoughts]

[<fer...@lo...>]

Elias,

> > I have used both Apache FOP and JasperReports. The second is much speedier and
> > easier. iReports is an open source project that provides a visual designer for
> > JasperReports, but it uses Swing. A GTK+ version of iReports would be a
nice start.
> 
> What is iReports?

A visual, iteractive, WYSIWYG designer that generates JasterReports XML report
descriptors.


> Also, a report designer for a database tool woul dhave 
> slightly different needs than a standard report designer (such as the 
> one for jasper reports).

Of course. But an Access clone needs both (forms and reports).


> > Using the same glade XML format has advantages: ability to work on form
> > rendering/execution before the visual designer is working; use of a
> > stabilished, well-known format; option to import/export forms to other
> > development tools; use the libglade infrastructure already provided bu
java-gnome.
> 
> Yes, but the needs of a form designer and a GUI builder like glade are 
> very different, don't you shink? One would have to shoehorn the 
> functionality into the glade format, unless it is extremely flexible.

I can't see many difference between a form designer and a GUI builder. They
look and act the same. The differences are on the programming language used to
code event handlers. Glade does not define event handles, it just draws the
forms, the rest you have to write.

So glade XML format wouldn't constrain anything. Of course, you won't put, say,
javascript (rhino) or python (jyton) code inside a glade xml file, but the
glade xml file could be stored inside a BLOB field or inside a JAR file,
alongside with other files or fields that contain the code for the event handlers.

And so you could mimic glade using Java-Gnome (so you can visually draw forms)
but your interface would not be a generic form designer like glade, it would be
directed to easy programming and tying to data sources, just like access. The
"glade clone" for the Java-Gnome-Access would contain more funcionality than
glade itself, except that it won't have to generate C, C++, Ada, Eiffel and
Perl code to rebuild the forms without reading the xml file.


[]s, Fernando Lozano