Hi,
This post is to determine the requirements of a common skinning module for
MyFaces and potentially for JSF 2.0 if good enough. It's following the post
about skinning from the previous days. I'll leave this post opened for 72
hours then we'll start designing accordingly, most likely starting from what
I proposed in the aforementioned skinning post with some potential changes
to fit the requirements we're going to choose.
Paul Rivera proposed the following list:
from trinidad:
- basic css style skinning
- global styles/aliases
- skin extensions
- skin additions for custom component developers
- properties skinning
- icon skinning
- text skinning / translations
- using bundle-name
- using translation-source
- skin variants based on:
- agent name
- agent version
- platform name
- accessibility-profile
- direction (:rtl)
- locale (@locale, :lang) -> Accdg to the skinning guide, this is not
yet implemented in trinidad
- dynamically changing skins at runtime
- compressed styleclass names feature
- CHECK_FILE_MODIFICATION feature
- And as Jeanne mentioned, compatibility with portals. I don't have much
experience with portals. I will probably need to look more into this.
added requirements:
- tomahawk-support: make use of AddResource and ExtensionsFilter
- generic-support
Personally I disagree quite a lot with that list. Not that those aren't nice
features, it's just that they're implementation details and not API
requirements imho. I would indeed like to see a special implementation
support all that, I would just not link them o the base API in any way.
Among other thing it expose way too much about the rendering technology
being used and nothing about the extensibility requirement that fits JSF
architecture. My own list would look like the following. It's a priority
list so I believe overdoing a lower requirement at the expense of the higher
shouldn't be done:
The skinning module should
1. Be pluggable like other JSF modules (various handlers)
2. Allow skin composition and extension for maximum reuse and enforce
better interoperability between various extensions
3. Allow skin change at runtime
4. Be localizable
5. Leverages existing API (JSF 2.0) whenever possible rather than adding
extra classes and methods
6. Be independant from the rendering technology used (not necessarily CSS
for HTML render kit)
7. Allow maximum compatibility with existing skin/theme modules
(Trinidad, IceFaces, Richfaces), not necessarily by providing direct support
for those feature but by allowing extension to implement those features
using the module's API
8. Be fast, the module shouldn't induce an inherent performance overhaul
My list is way more general, but you can place some of what Paul mentioned
in one of them so here's Paul list again but with what requirement it would
fall in in my list. The elements in green are covered by the requirements,
those in red are implementation detail that shouldn't be required for all
implementation and the skin's general contract. Elements in blue are those
that should have a requirement but currently don't because I don't know how
to put them down or if they really should be requirement and finally,
elements in orange are relevant but that I didn't consider in my proposed
API (which is a problem):
from trinidad:
- basic css style skinning (implementation detail, not a hard
requirement)
- global styles/aliases (implementation detail, not a hard requirement)
- skin extensions (REQ 2 through extension)
- skin additions for custom component developers (REQ 2 through
composition)
- properties skinning (Not currently a requirement)
- icon skinning (Not currently a requirement)
- text skinning / translations (REQ 4)
- using bundle-name
- using translation-source
- skin variants based on: (implementation detail, not a hard requirement,
could be implemented at RenderKit level, Factory level or loader level with
what I proposed)
- agent name
- agent version
- platform name
- accessibility-profile
- direction (:rtl)
- locale (@locale, :lang) -> Accdg to the skinning guide, this is not
yet implemented in trinidad
- dynamically changing skins at runtime (REQ 3)
- compressed styleclass names feature (implementation detail, not a hard
requirement)
- CHECK_FILE_MODIFICATION feature (implementation detail, not a hard
requirement)
- And as Jeanne mentioned, compatibility with portals. I don't have much
experience with portals. I will probably need to look more into
this.(REQ 1, through module override the portlet bridge could most
likely achieve
it, adding explicit support for that would go against REQs 1, 5, 6 and 7 I
think)
added requirements:
- tomahawk-support: make use of AddResource and
ExtensionsFilter(implementation detail, not a hard requirement)
- generic-support (implementation detail, not a hard requirement)
Regards,
~ Simon
