Requirements for implementing Cocoon Blocks

DISCLAIMER: I'm writing this note to this list for informative purposes 
and nothing else. Cocoon is based on Avalon but none of us cocoon 
developers want to *force* anything on the Avalon project. In fact, it 
is *NOT* mandatory that Cocoon uses an Avalon implementation (aka 
container) that is distributed from the Avalon project. At the same 
time, it would be handy and useful for both projects to converge on 
functional requirements.

                                 - o -

Cocoon needs a way to deploy cocoon-based web application at runtime.

We could do this following the WAR model of the Servlet API, but we aim 
at more advanced stuff.

So I want Cocoon to be the first web-oriented technology to follow the 
CoP paradigms.

These 'webapp components' will be called "Cocoon Blocks" (or, in short, 
COBs). These blocks will be behavioral and polymorphic. Means that I can 
have a block A (say a webmail webapp) depend on a block B (say a skin 
implemented using XSLT stylesheets).

So, block A depends on block B implementing some services to skin stuff. 
This isolates concerns and make webapp composition component-oriented 
following the good old IoC and SoC patterns.

Downside: currently, no Avalon container allows that kind of flexibility.

Result: Cocoon will *NOT* upgrade to a more modern Avalon container 
until all the Cocoon Block requirements are met. (we don't want to do 
the job twice!)

For more information, please refer to

General Page on Cocoon Block resources
http://wiki.cocoondev.org/Wiki.jsp?page=Blocks

and expecially

Detailed description of Cocoon Blocks
http://wiki.cocoondev.org/Wiki.jsp?page=BlocksDefinition

and Sylvain's comments
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=xml-cocoon-dev&m=103627852716993&w=2

and subsequent replies in the thread, for example, Stephen's
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=xml-cocoon-dev&m=103633392408139&w=2

I'll be very glad to answer any of your questions.

Thank you.

-- 
Stefano Mazzocchi                               <[email protected]>
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