Ed Leafe wrote: > On Feb 15, 2008, at 8:34 AM, Michael Hipp wrote: > >> 1. How difficult is it to re-use things designed in the ClassDesigner? >> >> I'd love being able to use the GUI designer - it might even make >> sizers >> tolerable. But I have *dozens* of nearly-identical screens. >> Example: a >> grid from which the user picks a record to edit but with variations in >> number of columns, headers, column formatting. I don't want to have to >> start each one from scratch when plugging in a few parameters in the >> right spot could have it done once in a reusable fashion. > > There is a menu option for 'Save as Class'. This will save either a) > everything in the form, but not the form itself, or b) only the items > that are currently selected. You can then add those saved classes to > other designs, using the 'Custom Classes' option when you right-click > on a slot. Once those custom classes are added to other designs, you > can modify them as needed for that particular form. > > In the spirit of full disclosure, this is one area that has been > tested almost exclusively by me. That means that if you do things like > I do, you should have no problems. But since everyone does things > slightly differently, odds are that you may encounter glitches and/or > bugs. If that happens, don't assume that you did something stupid and > try to work around it; please report it so that I can look into it and > correct anything that isn't working as it should.
This sounds good. >> 2. What if I wanted to use a different "model" underneath the UI >> part of >> Dabo? >> >> What do I lose if I give up bizObjects in favor of, say, SQLAlchemy or >> the model from Django? It probably goes without saying that having one >> model is better than two. > > If there is one thing that makes Dabo Dabo, it's the bizobj layer. > You can ideally swap out the data layer with something like SQLAlchemy > for data access and still have things work. You can ideally swap out > the UI for Qt or Tkinter or even a web-based interface and still have > things work. But since the bizobj layer sits in between the two and > acts as the API glue between the two, you could not remove it and > still have something that could be called Dabo. > > If you have some existing logic in some other system that you'd like > to re-use, however, it would make more sense to have the bizobj make > calls to those external systems to do validation, etc., and then > interpret the returned information. Out of ignorance, my question probably doesn't fit the dabo architecture well. In many designs, the "model" is anything from business logic on down to the database. But it sounds like you distinguish heavily between the dabo.db and dabo.biz layers. So something like SQLAlchemy is more akin to the db layer rather than the "business logic" layer. I don't have a picture at all of how the bizobj stuff works, but maybe that can be fixed with the tutorial. >> 3. How does one get started with Dabo? >> >> I've watched several of the screencasts and have read a lot at the >> wiki, >> but I'm still looking for the "Get Started With Dabo Building Your >> First >> End-To-End Real Application" tutorial. > > > That's my fault. I started one, and then got swept up in this whole > "move-halfway-across-the-country-leave-your-family-behind-start-a-new- > job-and-find-a-new-apartment" back in late November, and work on that > tutorial stalled. It's not ready for distribution yet, but I will send > you a link to it off-list. Thanks for the answers. I'm reading the tutorial now. It's off to a good start. You write well. Michael _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/dabo-users Searchable Archives: http://leafe.com/archives/search/dabo-users This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/dabo-users/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
