Adrian wrote:
> Looks like each one of us gets to have a go at answering you. :-)
Now is my turn. ;-)
> [...] The current state of those projects is that
> any can get you started down a particular approach but with each you
> will quickly end up on your own.
... which not only I find unsatisfying.
Given that we have (at least) four approaches to the same basic problem:
- JMapPane in geotools
- GeoWidgets project
- OGC GO-1 specification
- uDig's widgets
it should be possible to create something out of it that gets people going much
more quickly. This was my idea 1.5 years ago and I still consider it a good
idea, although my first attempt to realize it with the GeoWidgets project
suffered from a series of shortcomings:
1. Building widgets for Swing AND SWT at the same time did turn out to be much
more work than I expected. Almost no chance of sharing any code...
2. Probably the worst shortcoming: GeoWidgets was a one man project, so
although I get a lot of help for my questions there was a lack on coordination,
code review and way too few feedback on the question whether I was running into
the right or wrong direction with some coding details. Partly my fault, sure!
Also I alone don't feel capable of keeping pace with the developments in
GeoTools/uDig - and I don't understand some parts of the library well enough
either.
3. Problems with the "road to go", especially
- Should GeoWidgets continue to support both Swing/AWT and SWT?
Regularily users query for Swing, JMapPane is Swing. On the other hand
I am meanwhile working with SWT/JFace and uDig also is. Hmm...
- Should it support only Geotools or should it support other GIS
libraries via an additional layer of abstraction? I tried this
and it leads to overly complicated/inconvenient APIs.
- Should it be "freestyle" (i.e. as feature rich as possible") or
should it try to follow the restrictions of some specification(s),
lets say GO-1?
- Which version of Geotools was/is stable enough but has enough
features to serve as a sustainable basis for Geowidgets without
having to rewrite half of it for the next version?
Still an issue for me.
4. Problems with the status of GeoTools, it did not support all the
features that I wanted to have in my widgets - and sometimes cannot,
since it restricts itself to a lot of specs.
(Example: No map layer groups in Geotools.)
5. Different goals. I am geared towars a desktop GIS and image processing,
GeoTools/uDig still has its priority in WebGIS (OGC) and vector data.
6. Lack of time (I am currently busy on DB related software.)
Problem is: Spending "a bit of time" on such project does not work,
it takes a lot of time just to keep up to date to what is going on
in GeoTools and uDig community and which API might be deprecated
tomorrow.
If we all have good ideas on how to solve the above problems I am definitely
willing to continue work on GeoWidgets (maybe this winter). But I think it
requires a coordinated effort between GeoTools, uDig, me and others that are
interested in and capable of UI programming. Otherwise it will not be
practicable and the result will not meet everybody's goals.
The planned step to extract some of the uDig widgets and contribute them to
GeoWidgets would certainly be a good idea - not only would it increase the
number of widgets in the GeoWidgets project, but - more important - it would
also ensure that the code base is actively used - which means better
coordination, quality control a.s.o.
(Sorry for the rant.)
P.S. Question to Amy Johnson:
Are you just looking for existing widgets (which if so?) or do you have
interest in working to improve the situation?
--
Matthias Basler
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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