I'm not totally up to speed on the JUMPConfiguration class, although I think
that I understand its basic purpose.
I think it would be a good idea to have the flexibility of determining which
cursor tools and menus are loaded at runtime via an XML file and that it
would be a good evolution of OpenJUMP. As a general rule, I think that a
customization that wold be typically performed by a user and not a developer
is a good candidate for capture in a text file instead of Java code.
I also like the idea of using XML to describe GUI components. As I mentioned
before, Autodesk now uses this type of system in its CAD products, and it
sure has made customization of the GUI by the end user a lot easier.
However, I'm concerned about a couple of things when I think of this type of
change. (1) Simplicity, especially from the plug-in developers perspective.
I don't think it would be wise to require plug-in developers learn an
additional GUI toolkit. If we can use the toolkit in the core without
requiring it for plug-ins, I'd feel better. (2) Dependability. I'm
discovering that the GUI of a program is the hardest part to test, and no
matter how you slice it we're adding another layer were problems could
creep in.
I took a look at both SwiXML and Bouy. SwiXML seems to be simpler, and is
used only for the generation of the GUI, while Bouy seems to actually wrap
Swing functionality. Bouy has some type of IDE/GUI Builder, but it ins't
released under an open source license for commercial uses. This doesn't
prevent you from using the library, but it is something to consider.
If we were to use a library to support XML defined GUI components I think
I'd be leaning towards SwiXML. Does anyone know how well supported the
development of the library is?
We can always try out SwiXML or Bouy in a plug-in before attempting
something with the core. This will let us get a feel for it.
If we get serious about this change we should see what other type of GUI
improvements developers might be experimenting with so we don't derail their
plans.
The Sunburned Surveyor
On 5/8/07, Larry Becker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hmm, I'm with you on installing plugins, but I'm not sure I agree that
the UI stuff should (or could) be configurable in the same way.
How about I get plugin support working and you can take it from there?
Perhaps I'll like the UI stuff after I see it in action.
regards,
Larry
On 5/8/07, Michaël Michaud <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hi Larry,
>
> I must admit I even did not think about extending
workbench-properties.xml.
> The feature request you refer to and your proposition meet exactly my
> questions.
> I understand that you think about extending workbench-properties.xmlwith
> specific tags representing jump's plugins and ui elements like
> menu-items and tools
> without using a specific library.
> I'm still not sure about the best approach, but it would be a great
> feature for OpenJUMP.
>
> Michaël
>
> Larry Becker a écrit :
>
> >Hi Michaël,
> >
> > I believe the OJ feature request that you are referring to was
> >submitted by Steve Tanner:
> > "Have JUMPConfiguration.java in XML file.
> >
> > Ugo added the following comment:
> >
> >Ugo Taddei: �Has anyone thought about changing the
> >JUMPConfiguration.java to an xml-based config? That is,
> >instead of hard-coding all those plug-ins at compile
> >time, the app would generate them a runtime. I say this
> >because (1) JUMPConfiguration is rather long and (2) in
> >a project we only had to change the order and
> >availability of plug-ins, and commenting them out was a
> >solutions. It'd have been more elegant to do that with
> >a text file�.
> >
> >If I understand this feature request right, it is referring to
> >supporting something like the development-only
> >workbench-properties.xml file (or perhaps just it).
> >
> >I think this would be a great idea and have been considering working
> >on it. If I could get runtime support for workbench-properties, would
> >that meet your requirements too?
> >
> >regards,
> >Larry
> >
> >
> >On 5/8/07, Michaël Michaud <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >
> >
> >>Hi,
> >>
> >>I take advantage of this mail to extend the question to a more general
> >>feature request...
> >>
> >>I have noticed that the oldest OJ's feature request is having an xml
> >>configuration file for OpenJUMP (feature request from Jon). A few days
> >>ago, I decided to have a look in some of OpenJUMP's classes where the
UI
> >>initialization happens to see how difficult it would be to do it.
> >>There are two libraries I am interested in for UI design : swixml and
> >>buoy (I think E. Soldin used swixml for one of his plugins and I used
> >>buoy for 'simple query' plugin).
> >>Modifying OpenJUMP to use buoy would be a great project, but far too
big
> >>for me, so I started to look how to benefit from swixml.
> >>After some hours trying to figure out how to put jump's UI elements
into
> >>a swixml hierarchy, I still had no result, and started to wonder what
is
> >>the better solution : to refactor some of OpenJUMP's ui classes and
> >>maybe create some specific swixml tag until I find a way to make OJ ui
> >>fit the swixml model, or to create a specific xml representation of
> >>OpenJUMP's ui elements.
> >>
> >>If JUMP's designers or swing gurus have some advices to give me or
some
> >>experience about this problem, they are welcome.
> >>
> >>Michaël
> >>
> >>Stefan Steiniger a écrit :
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>>adding menu items to existing ones is one of the great things of JUMP
..
> >>>thanx to Martin and Jon
> >>>
> >>>Geoffrey G Roy schrieb:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>>To the Gurus
> >>>>
> >>>>I understand how to create a Main menu item, and to add one or more
> >>>>items to it when a plugin is loaded. What should happen if two
plugins
> >>>>create the same Main Menu item, and try to add different items to
it???
> >>>>
> >>>>My initial testing seems to indicate that the last loaded plugin
appears
> >>>>to replace the menu created with the first loaded plugin. Is this
> >>>>behaviour correct, or can be be avoided.
> >>>>
> >>>>Geoff
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
>
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