Hey all,
Let me describe what I have been imagining as the ideal widget for what I am
writing:
1 - it can look to its environment to determine how to render itsself
- am I on an HTML page or something else?
2 - it has properties that can be set and remain static no matter who's
using it
- size, shape, colour, max, min
3 - it has properties that are customized by the individual user of the
widget
- current value, theme choice,
4 - it can tell developers and environments what it can do
- switch_on, switch_off, increment, decrement, etc.
5 - it is capable of persisting from invocation to invocation
- user 1 sets current_value to x - which always comes back for user
1
6 - it can look to its environment for interhitable properties
- global theme choice, global font, etc.
7 - templating systems know how to call widgets
- because they always use the same method to display themselves
8 - widget can interact with each other
- increasing value on slider widget changes current record # value
for database record widget
9 - access restrctions
- users can override some values but not others
- not everyone can even use this widget, etc.
10 - multilingual
- some things are language neutral others are not - "size" would
probably be neutral whereas "label" would be language sensitive
11 - above all it is easy to use
- ie/ don't make me set a zillion properties just to make it work!
I am going to throw out a buzzword, gasp, which may serve as a model for
what we are talking about: JavaBeans. I do feel there is a lot of additional
complexity there but it is along the right direction IMHO.
If you translate my wishlist into technologies I think I am talking about:
A - a good persistant object management environment
B - user sessions
C - integration of widgets (objects) to user sessions
D - Object API (properties and methods) which are consistant and
predictable
E - self documenting objects
This is what I have been looking for/writing myself! I am really eager to
chip in on this project and get it going ASAP - but do acknowledge the need
for hearty discussion about what people really want not just my own views.
:))
Jay
