Re: [Springframework-developer] Petclinic, skeletons, and sample apps

[Lars F. <lar...@gm...>]

Ken,

first of all it's good that Petclinic exists !

I would prefer to have smaller examples to get started (especially
regarding the configuration stuff). If the skeletons would provide
the examples they refer to it would be enough for me.

What I would like to be improved in Petclinic:

- Provide the features mentioned in the skeleton of applicationContext.xml
   (transaction and business object)
- Maybe add one or more use cases where a business object makes sense
- A Hibernate version would be nice  - remember this should be possible just
with a 
  different configuration :-)

There's one general question I have:

Petclinic provides *one* screen/form where an owner can be inserted or
updated
(owner id == 0 --> insert, owner id != null --> update)
Is this a preferred approach ? In my last project I've provided separate
screens 
for insert and update.

One thing I'd like to be improved in Spring (not Petclinic) is the
configuration
of the MVC part. It seems just too much to configure.

> Feel free to show no mercy ;-) 

I hope it didn't hit you too hard :-)

Regards,
Lars

> Lars,
> 
> Regarding your ongoing questions about Petclinic and the skeletons:
> 
> It was decided quite some time ago that the 1st iteration of Petclinic 
> would focus on the more rudimentary aspects of using Spring: beans, 
> context, jdbc, and web mvc. That is why there are no examples of aop, 
> transactions, or ejb in it. Its purpose is simply to help developers get 
> started.
> 
> The current version of Petclinic does not not have a separation of 
> business and persistence layers because the business layer is soooo very 
> thin. At one point it was separated but this was removed because the 
> business API was almost a duplicate of the persistence API. As it stands 
> now, it really is only about data access.
> 
> The skeletons themselves actually came along after most of Petclinic had 
> been done. As of now the skeletons are simply starting points for 
> configuration files.
> 
> I would be interested in your feedback (and that of anybody else) on:
> - how well does the ****current**** version of Petclinic help developers 
> get started with Spring ? Is it effective and  what do you think should 
> be done to improve it. Feel free to show no mercy ;-) .
> - what would you want to see in a next version of Petclinic, preferably 
> with suggestions for use cases to implement ?
> - do you think it would best to morph the skeletons into actual tiny 
> sample apps or roll associated demonstrations into bigger sample apps ?
> 
> Ken
> 
>