I thought about a web app (non-Electron) in the past, too, and it just seemed even clunkier. For example, I would really like the ability to have the same model open in multiple windows, so I could see different parts at the same time. Doing that in a browser window would be awkward at best and hard to sync changes between windows. Plus, how do you really launch the app? Command-line only? Shell scripts? On the Mac especially, you'd not have the custom menus or app icons.
JavaFX + Scene Builder to edit the FXML still seems the "sane" option to me. Not that there is a lot of sanity. Java gave up on the desktop a long time ago. Kind of sad because Sun worked with NeXT in creating OpenStep and could've made Java's UI OpenStep-based, instead of AWT and then Swing. In some ways, OpenStep is still alive in macOS and iOS. And UI apps in Java leave us wanting. mrg PS. I'm using Spring + Thymeleaf at work currently and I REALLY miss Tapestry. On Tue, Dec 14, 2021 at 8:24 PM Lon Varscsak <lon.varsc...@gmail.com> wrote: > I've thought about this before for apps...what if the app runs a web app > (using whatever stack Andrus decides...maybe Tapestry) as the backend. I > don't know if that's possible. > > Also, on JavaFX...I wrote an app in it recently and it's decent. It still > seems to be alive via openjfx.io, but I could be wrong. > > On Tue, Dec 14, 2021 at 5:49 PM Michael Gentry <blackn...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > > I've considered an Electron app in the past. One negative is you lose > > access to existing Java code, but perhaps there is a way around this I've > > not seen. > > > > Examples: > > - Existing code to read model XML files. > > - JDBC drivers. > > - Velocity (assuming we want to continue using Velocity templates). > > > > For anyone curious, I thought JavaFX was looking good before I lost > > momentum: > > > > https://github.com/apache/cayenne-modeler > > > > If you look carefully, you'll see some of the extra features in the > > screenshots I was planning on adding, plus multiple windows (same project > > or different projects) in the video. > > > > > > On Tue, Dec 14, 2021 at 6:58 PM Lon Varscsak <lon.varsc...@gmail.com> > > wrote: > > > > > What about an Electron app? 😬 > > > > > > On Tue, Dec 14, 2021 at 3:59 PM John Huss <johnth...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > > My 2 cents is that Java desktop UI is effectively dead. So switching > to > > > > another UI library that is either already dead or is dying isn't a > > great > > > > use of time. So I would try to change it as little as possible. > > > > > > > > For the tables with editable cells problem, my recommendation would > be > > to > > > > move editing into a separate "inspector" area that is laid out as a > > > > vertical form. Then the table can be read-only. > > > > > > > > For layout, I liked MigLayout when I did Swing apps back in the day. > > But > > > > that doesn't solve the problem with the existing usage of JGoodies. > > > > > > > > > > > > On Tue, Dec 14, 2021 at 12:37 AM Andrus Adamchik < > aadamc...@gmail.com> > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > I see a couple of problems with the current UI (beside it being > > > > > subjectively old) : > > > > > > > > > > * We are effectively blocked from any significant evolution of the > > > > > Modeler. Any time we want to do anything fancy (e.g. improve > > usability > > > of > > > > > tables with editable cells, etc.), we quickly run into the wall > with > > > > Swing > > > > > capabilities. > > > > > * JGoodies library that we depend heavily upon for layouts is no > > longer > > > > > free/open source [1], creating risks for JVM upgrades. > > > > > > > > > > So modernization of the Modeler is a practical matter. > > > > > > > > > > Looks like Fleet is not using Compose [2], but a lesser known > > JetBrains > > > > > Toolbox does [3]. And everyone admits it is still raw. > > > > > > > > > > Andrus > > > > > > > > > > [1] https://www.jgoodies.com/downloads/libraries/ > > > > > [2] https://twitter.com/jetbrains/status/1465245360973131777 < > > > > > https://twitter.com/jetbrains/status/1465245360973131777> > > > > > [3] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > https://blog.jetbrains.com/kotlin/2021/08/compose-multiplatform-goes-alpha/#toolbox > > > > > < > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > https://blog.jetbrains.com/kotlin/2021/08/compose-multiplatform-goes-alpha/#toolbox > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Dec 14, 2021, at 12:48 AM, John Huss <johnth...@gmail.com> > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > I believe that compose UI library is used to build the new > upcoming > > > IDE > > > > > > from JetBrains called Fleet. So I expect it will continue to be > > > > supported > > > > > > unless that product completely flops. > > > > > > > > > > > > I don't mind the current modeler UI. It's good enough for me. > > > > > > > > > > > > https://www.jetbrains.com/fleet/ > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Sat, Dec 11, 2021 at 2:15 AM Andrus Adamchik < > > aadamc...@gmail.com > > > > > > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > >> A datapoint to our perennial discussion of technology to use for > > the > > > > > >> future CayenneModeler... With Swing being old and crusty, and > > JavaFX > > > > no > > > > > >> longer supported by Oracle, perhaps we should be looking for > > > something > > > > > >> fresh. I just came across a new "Compose Multiplatform" desktop > UI > > > > > >> framework by JetBrains [1]. It is programmed in Kotlin and is > > based > > > on > > > > > >> Google toolkit for Android. Their GitHub examples [2] are not > that > > > > > visually > > > > > >> impressive, but I would imagine it is a matter of styling. A > > > million $ > > > > > >> question is whether it will be around and open source in 10-15 > > > years. > > > > > >> > > > > > >> Anyone knows anything about it? > > > > > >> > > > > > >> Andrus > > > > > >> > > > > > >> [1] https://www.jetbrains.com/lp/compose-mpp/ > > > > > >> [2] > > > > > >> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > https://github.com/JetBrains/compose-jb/blob/master/artwork/readme/apps.png > > > > > >> > > > > > >> > > > > > >> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
