On 10/23/07, Don Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > * Ability to customize XML and JSON output (declare a result named > "NAME-EXTENSION", e.g. "success-xml"
Why not make this "name.extension", and make it part of the core framework? Instead of just having one default result, we could have a default result for various extension types. Not just for this plugin, but for all XWork2 applications. > The reason all the Rails features are supported is a blatantly copied > their design and conventions. In addition to easing the transition of > one familiar with Rails and using a proven design, it means clients > written for Rails apps will work with no changes. I'd suggest that then we just call this the "Rails" plugin, but I believe that Rails is a protected mark. In any event, we might want to start thinking of this plugin as a way to run Rails-type applications in a Struts environment, and perhaps come up with a name that communicates that goal. > The pieces that are > missing are the backend, database-touching stuff like ActiveRecord or > the automatic HTML generation. So while you wouldn't get the quick > initial development speed of Rails, you get all the core framework > support and then some. Oh, I don't know. Throw in JPA and some Maven archetypes, and you could hit the ground running for the common use cases. A key technique might be to develop archetypes that we could run for adding new pages/actions/entities/tests to existing applications. Between POJO Actions and codebehinds, we might be able to do useful CRUD with zero lines of Struts framework code. MyEclipse has some stunning DAO generation and JPA integration capabilities. For what we can't do with our plugins, we might be able to do with Eclipse plugins. > Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to make Struts 2 go up against > Rails, Why not? A lot of teams do not have a snowball's chance of adopting Rails anytime soon. But, they might have a chance of moving from Struts 1 to Struts 2, and then adopting the "agile" prototype. I think a lot more of us would use Rails if we could, but the reality is that we can't, and Struts with a Rails workalike plugin is going to be the next best thing. > but rather, I think it is past time we applied the lessons of > Rails' Rest support to a Java framework and I think Struts 2 is the > perfect match. I think we all have the same goals, the question is how can we achieve those same goals from a Struts/Java perspective. It's my understanding that Rails is as much about mindset and culture as it is about code. There are a lot of ways we can streamline the way we write Java code, so that we can do more with less. A lot times it seems to me like we Java developers go out of our way to make more work for ourselves., The real lesson Rails is that we should stop following voo-doo conventions that exist for no apparent reason, and create new conventions that actually help us do more with less code. -Ted. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
