Remote Interface Markup Language (RML) v0.1 - Prototypes for Swing/Java, Gtk+/C and VB

Hello,

  Senko Rasic has created a new XUL dialect dubbed
Remote Interface Markup Language (RML) that lets you
create UIs using XML.

  Senko writes:

  RML knows of several user interface objects. The
language definition isn't complete yet, but it is
intended that all most-used ui objects (widgets)
should be represented in the language.

  In current version, RML supports:
	* windows
	* labels
	* buttons
	* inputs (one-line text/password entry boxen)
	* textboxen (multi-line text entry boxen)
	* combos (inputs with drop-down menu)
	* checkboxen (toggle buttons)
	* lists
	* trees
	* frames
	* notebooks
	* menus  
   

  In case you wonder how RML looks like in action.
Here's a sample:

<window name="win" title="Hello Window" w="200"
h="70">
  <label name="l" x="10" y="10" w="180" h="20">
      Hello World!
  </label>
  <button name="b" x="10" y="40" w="180" h="20"
events="click">
      Click me!
  </button>
</window>

   Now if you wonder why create a new language. Senko
compares RML to UIML (User Interface Markup Language),
LibGLADE, Mozilla XUL and XWT (XML Windowing Toolkit).

    Senko writes:

  RML is not yet another language (nor the best one)
for describing user interface properities. For
'static' usages (in which GUI is pre-designed and
markup language serves just as a convenient way to
store it's representation) there are already several
proposed languages:
 
  * UIML  ...
  * LibGLADE ...
  
  Both these languages are much more expressible than
RML, but that comes with a price - the complexity
(especially if compared to, for example, HTMLs form
elements). Most of required structure, properities and
events can be adequately described by a lot simpler
language (which RML intends to be).

  Also, RML's main purpose isn't to obsolete HTML-s
form element entirely. HTML provides an adequate
support for Web forms and interactive content. On the
other hand, any non-trivial user-interface is
extremely painful (if not impossible) to express in
standard HTML; and this is the main reason for RML.  
  

   For what Senko says about Mozilla XUL and XWT read
the page titled "Are we reinventing the wheel and
toothbrush here?" online @
http://software.senko.net/rml/others.html


   Senko is not all talk but - hold your breath -
Senko has created three prototypes (all BSD-licensed)
using Swing/Java, Gtk+/C and Windows/Visual Basic.

   And to top it off Senko has written two RML
tutorials, one for Perl and one for PHP.
           
   
   Full story @ http://software.senko.net/rml 
     and http://software.senko.net/rml/rml.txt
     and http://software.senko.net/rml/files.html     
  
     and http://software.senko.net/rml/tut/perl.html
     and http://software.senko.net/rml/tut/php.html

   - Gerald


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