RE: [Springframework-developer] spring-rcp project

[Cameron B. <ca...@da...>]

Is there anywhere we can get this code from in the meantime.
 
I am really keen on having a look at the code for the rcp.
 
If not, I'll certainly check it out from the new module, when it arrives.
 
Thanks,
 
Cameron


  _____  

From: spr...@li...
[mailto:spr...@li...] On Behalf Of
Keith Donald
Sent: Tuesday, 17 February 2004 12:29 AM
To: spr...@li...
Subject: [Springframework-developer] spring-rcp project


There are several things initially I'd like to see the spring-rcp project
will provide:
 
- A way to build configurable, GUI-standards following Swing applications
faster by leveraging the Spring container and a rich library of UI factories
and support classes.
 
More specfically right now I have:
- A core action framework that allows for centralized configuration of Swing
actions and appropriate handler registration based on the current active
view.  Action configuration -- as well as action contribution policies (to
menus/toolbars), can be defined externally to the code as Spring bean
declarations.
- Multiple window support/management, page configuration, and view
management.  The ideas here are very much based on Eclipse's
perspective/view concepts.  Currently views can be defined in the Spring
container, associated with one or more pages, and a default page can be
configured to load at startup.
- Common support classes for various rich client requirements including:
dialogs, wizards, input validation, button bars, internationalization,
image/icon caching, progress monitoring, UI threading (aka classes promoting
responsive UIs), tree table/property sheet, table sorting/high-volume table
updates, GUI standards helpers, help/about, etc.
- Some basic support for persisting UI state and UI preferences (needs to be
developed further.)
 
I hope this provides some good background info on the project.  I see it
adding the most value to people needing to develop Swing applications and do
so in a way that promotes consistent, well-designed, configurable Swing
applications.  IMO Swing is more mature than Eclipse/SWT -- and does some
things better (for example, JTables can scale much better than SWT tables.)
I also think the old days of Swing apps 'not looking native' and not being
performant or web-accessible are gone with JDK 1.4.2 and 1.5 and webstart.
The main issue I see with Swing is there are a limited number of
higher-level abstractions/frameworks out there that assist in making the
toolkit simpler & easier to use, and a limited number of design best
practices.  The the goal of spring-rcp is to provide that.
 
Project dependencies to date:
- commons-lang
- jgoodies-forms
- TableLayout
- Spring (obviously) :-)
 
Keith