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AJAX Development with ]project-open[?!

2011-05-13
2012-11-13
  • Frank Bergmann

    Frank Bergmann - 2011-05-13

    Hi,

    Just to let you know about current thinking in the ]popo[ partners:

    - Sencha (www.sencha.com) is a JavaScript library based on YUI tables etc.
    - The Sencha GUI style in similar in thinking to the OpenACS/]po[ "ad_form" form-builder approach:
      You define fields and columns in a declarative style.
    - Developing GUIs using Sencha is quite efficient - a lot more efficient then using JQuery or similar libraries.
    - We are currently working to modify the intranet-rest ]po[ REST interface in order to serve as a _generic_
      data-source for Sencha "stores".
    - This way, GUI developers don't even have to know TCL in order to create innovative integrated GUI screens
      and applications.
    - In the future it might even be possible to run pure Sencha GUIs without AOLserver. We would only have
      to port the intranet-rest interface to PHP or a similar language.
    - This way customer, partners and others might quickly create new standalone "sub-applications"
       which could still be extended with the "full" ]project-open[ if that is necessary.

    These are some of the oportunities that Sencha could provide to ]po[ in the future. We're curious about
    your feedback…

    Currently, we are actively working on the extension of the intranet-rest interface and one partner is
    developing a "Ticket application" probably in "pure" Sencha. This application could already be running
    in a few weeks.

    Thanks again to Malte Sussdorff for pushing the Sencha library in several talks and discussions.

    Cheers!
    Frank

     
  • Luigi Gregori

    Luigi Gregori - 2011-05-28

    We also use sencha for other projects. It's powerfull. I found very interesting " In the future it might even be possible to run pure Sencha GUIs without AOLserver. We would only have  to port the intranet-rest interface to PHP or a similar language", as it's a bit difficoult to find tcl/aol programmers.

    Bye.

    Luigi Gregori

     
  • Malte Sussdorff

    Malte Sussdorff - 2011-06-02

    I would advise to be considerably cautious with the "without AOLserver" part. As mentioned on the developer list already here is why:

    * You would need a framework for user management which is OpenACS Database aware
    * You would need to find ways to accomplish internationalization (as this is done in OpenACS)

    Additionally you will run into issues with Dynfields and Dynviews as the columns would need to be created on the fly from the database as ExtJS code. So your framework would need to include code to achieve these things as well.

    This being said, if you follow the minimal requirement to have an *.tcl for user login and a .adp for internationalization you can stuff all the ExtJS code into the ADP or generate in your .tcl file with a minimum amount of knowledge of TCL or ADP to begin with. Which is a huge leap forward from having to know the inner workings of TCL and .ADP to amend pages.

     
  • Frank Bergmann

    Frank Bergmann - 2011-06-25

    Hi,

    Just to let you know about the latest developments:

    Next week (June 27th) we'll have the first go-live with
    the new Sencha AJAX functionality. We've created a
    pure Sencha front-end for the intranet-helpesk package
    implementing "agile" web-pages with tickets, companies
    and contacts and certain custom logic. The package is
    called intranet-sencha-ticket-tracker and is available on
    CVS HEAD. Please make sure you also update the rest
    of your system, because the Sencha back-end needs the
    latest version of the intranet-rest REST interface.

    We're thinking about setting up a special Sencha development
    session for the ]po[ developer conference planned for
    September. Any interest?

    > without AOLserver

    Well, there are no plans to do that, but we're trying to keep
    this idea in the "back of our heads". For example, we try to
    reduce any customer JSON data-sources, and try to handle
    all requests in intranet-rest.

    Cheers!
    Frank

     

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