[ This suggestion based on a conversation with Roland Huss ]
"Craig R. McClanahan" wrote:
> In future versions of Struts we will be integrating the ability to create
> client side validations.
As we start work on the 1.1 task list, I would like to suggest that we
start thinking in terms of a core Struts framework that can be
supplemented by any number of extensions. (As Roland Huss put it,
something like Java and Javax.)
A good example of this is David Winterfeldt's Validator servlet. The
design plugs cleanly into the framework by extending the standard
classes. Once it is there, it feels like it part of the framework (I
even configure it from struts-config!) -- but I could just as easily
leave it out if I wanted. Or plug in another Validator instead.
The same would probably be true of Oleg's BeanFactory. Plug it in. Plug
it out. Plug in something else.
Struts now has the reputation of being a "lightweight" framework, which
I think is a very good thing. But at the same time, we would all like to
see Struts enhanced with additional functionality. If we start to add
that functionality by encouraging an extension model, we can keep the
core framework lean and still provide the advanced functionality many
applications need.
This would also encourage an environment where developers can develop a
full-blown extension -- like Cedric and David have done, and Oleg is
doing -- gain community support, and then have it voted into the
distribution. But, once voted in, it would not bloat the core
distribution, but be a true enhancement that people could snap in by
choice.
Another good place to do this is with the taglibs. Besides the standard
tags, we might also distribute a struts-ext library with tags that,
while useful, you may not need to write a standard application. This
library may be closer to a "sandbox" or a "commons" than the libraries
we distribute now. A tag might start here in a nightly distribution (via
a Committer), and some might eventually be moved to the core
distribution if many people come to consider it indispensible. This
would relieve the pressure of deciding whether a tag needs to part of a
lightweight framework, while encouraging developers to share their work
with the rest of the community.
So my proposal is that Struts 1.1 be organized into a core framework
distribution, as we have today, supplemented a struts-ext distribution
with standard enhancements. This would be a bundling change only, and
entering new packages into the struts-ext distribution would be held to
the same high standard as the core framework.
-- Ted Husted, Husted dot Com, Fairport NY USA.
-- Custom Software ~ Technical Services.
-- Tel 716 737-3463.
-- http://www.husted.com/about/struts/
