[Jchassis-devel] JChassis post-release update

[<sjs...@ya...>]

Hi all,

Just a quick update on the progress of JChassis. No doubt you saw
the release of version 0.1 a couple of weeks ago. It was a very
satisfying occasion to produce something that was carefully
planned, designed, written, tested and documented, unhurried by
arbitrary manager-imposed deadlines (OK, so I didn't get any
money either, but never mind, it overrated anyway).

The release news was also posted to the SourceForge and Freshmeat
news facilities.  I've got a good screenshot of the JChassis
announcement on the front page of the Freshmeat site (see
attachment). The number of web hits on the JChassis SourceForge
page was well over 300 on that day. There were 4 downloads as
well (woohoo - well not much really, but there again, JChassis is
still in the early stages yet, and not very useful unless you are
willing to make lots of components yourself).

I was going to take a couple of weeks off the project, but I just
couldn't stay away from it this week. I've drafted a "plan" for
the 0.2 release (see below). Also, I may do an 0.1.1 release this
weekend due to a problem in the module guide that prevented
package javadoc from being included (makes the module guide a bit
terse, but still usable).  Where is doco QA when you need it!?
(yes, Loretta I mean you - join us or be damned!)

As you can se from the plan, there are about 2 dozen new modules
to produce, and some minor tinkering with a couple of existing
modules.  These additions will solidify the core functionality of
JChassis, as well as introducing some services that are actually
quite useful this time. Several modules already have prototype
implementations (jc_ui_if, jc_ui_awt, jc_ui_swing, jc_ui_gtk,
jc_event_*, jc_termctl_* and jc_termgui)

Further in the future, version 0.3 of the SDK will concentrate on
polishing services for client-side and standalone
applications. Version 0.4 will introduce server-side
functionality (thread pools, transactions, remote services,
... etc?). I think version 0.5 will see the transition from alpha
to beta - well that's my intended versioning scheme anyway.
Somewhere down the track, Version 1.0 will signify the first
polished non-beta release.

If you are interested in getting involved with one or more areas
of work outlined below, then let me know now so that can start
scheduling. Any other ideas for the project are welcome too!!!

Cheers, Sam.


Plans for JChassis SDK v. 0.2
=============================

New Features
------------

* investigate using SAX 1 and MinML to save space: mabye use SAX
  2 ParserAdapter class

* eliminate the BasicServiceContext interface if possible

* define a shutdown service & default implementation (perhaps
  some generic event handling service to base this on?)

* first "real" version of JChassis UI + implementations (AWT,
  Swing, GTK)

* ANSI console implementation of JChassis UI

* J2ME MIDP compatible implementation of the core framework &
  config. loader

* internationalization (I18N) of strings and icons (and other
  resources?)  by table lookup - jc_ui_if should depend on this

* resource location (and access) service

* user preferences service?  (based on JC Storage service)

* ability to flag deprecation of modules in jcmodule.xml file
  (using module metadata?)

* rename jc_ui_if to jc_ui (because its not just a service
  interface)? Or maybe just split module into jc_ui_util
  (utilities) and jc_display_if (the Display service interface)

* more example programs: more complex this time?


Defect Fixes
------------

* javadoc package summaries were not being included in the module
  guide for some reason (this is now fixed in CVS)


New Modules
-----------

jc_event_util: generic event handling utilities

jc_event_if: generic event handling service interface

jc_event_impl: default event handling service implementation

jc_i18n_if: service interface for I18N string & image resource
lookups

jc_i18n_impl: default implementation for I18N string & image
resource lookups (depend on jc_resource_if)

jc_resource_if: resource location service interface

jc_resource_impl: default resource location service
implementation (e.g. uses default Java classpath-based resource
location)

jc_termctl_if: terminal controller interface

jc_termctl_ansi: ANSI/vt100 terminal controller

jc_termgui: an simple GUI toolkit using any terminal control
interface

jc_ui_if: generic UI interface

jc_ui_awt: an AWT implemention of the generc UI interface

jc_ui_swing: a Swing implemention of the generc UI interface

jc_ui_gtk: a GTK binding implemention of the generc UI interface

jc_ui_term: an implemention of the generc UI interface using
jc_termgui

jc_shutdown: shutdown service - notifies listeners when
    application is shutting down

... possibly ...

jc_sax1parser_if: SAX 1 parser interface

jc_sax1parser_impl: default SAX 1 parser

jc_core_midp: MIDP compatible core implementation

jc_coreloader_midp: MIDP compatible core configuration loader
implementation

jc_ui_swt: an SWT (Eclipse) implemention of the generc UI
interface


Module Changes
--------------

... possibly ...

jc_basic: elimination of the BasicServiceContext class

jc_prefs_if: a user preferences service interface

jc_prefs_impl: a default user preferences service implementation
(depend on jc_store_if?)


=====
Sam Stainsby

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