Ben Bangert wrote:
For those concerned about the fact that these helpers use ProtoType and
Scriptaculous, it should be noted that Mochikit 1.3 will include
equivalent functionality. This should make it seamless to use Mochikit
instead with no or minimal changes to the helper functions.
(What I wrote below is not directly related to what you guys were doing
with RoR's Ajax helpers. Thank you for the job well done.)
My only problem with RoR's approach in general regardless of underlying
library is it is very low level. Essentially it is a way to propagate
some events to the server. I am not sure I like the idea of callbacks
for every sneeze. David (of RoR) really dislikes programming client
side, so he moved everything he could server-side. Do we really want to
replicate RoR? I prefer to see more widget-oriented approach.
Saying that I don't see any problem using this approach to augment
legacy apps. It makes perfect sense to do it server-side way:
1) Do something without Ajax.
2) Incrementally add Ajax to different places.
While it reminds me of extending command line utility with GUI dialog
boxes in some places, it works. We have to support this style of Ajax.
But it would be better if we offer something more original and more useful.
Thanks,
Eugene
PS: Just take a look at local apps. While you can draw pixels, track
mouse pointer, and catch keyboard keys, usually it is better to use
stock widgets. This way you can concentrate on core logic of your
application instead of doing somebody else's work.
