Re: Sun XUL White Paper Online

Sigh...

<quote>
What sets this apart from other
XML-based UI technologies is that it is ****** neither ******* a
toolkit-level markup language, such as XUL, nor a
general purpose markup language for Swing, such as
SwingML. 
<quote>


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gerald Bauer" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2003 12:30 PM
Subject: [xul-announce] Sun XUL White Paper Online


> Hi,
> 
>   Amy Fowler (a blond bombshell working for Sun if I
> dare to say (*)) wrote a whitepaper titled "Java
> Desktop Network Components (JDNC): Boosting
> Interactivity and Productivity at the Same Time" for
> the new javadesktop.org site (part of the new java.net
> Sun Community initiative). 
> 
>   Amy kicks off the paper with a Jakob Nielsen quote:
> 
>   "Billions of dollars are wasted every year in lost
> productivity as people wait for Web pages to perform
> duties that could have been handled better by a 1984
> Macintosh-style graphical user interface application."
> 
>   and jumps in:  
> 
> <quote>
>    The problem is that the primary content delivered
> to browsers is HTML, a markup language that wasn't
> designed for implementing user interfaces. In the
> early days of Web applications, users were so enamored
> with the basic capability of accomplishing tasks from
> their browser that they put up with the archaic "get a
> new page on every click" user model. But the Web isn't
> new anymore and for many applications, users want the
> degree of interactivity they get with traditional
> clients. Web application developers have tried to
> mitigate the inherent limitations of HTML forms by
> using technologies like JavaScript and dynamic HTML to
> achieve higher degrees of user interaction, but have
> discovered the end result to be unwieldy and
> challenging to maintain as the complexity of the
> application grows. There has got to be a better
> option.
> </quote>
> 
>   You've got it babe. Check out XUL.
> 
>   Believe it or not Amy comes up with a different
> answer. Guess what?
> 
>   <quote>
>    What do we need to break the HTML browser
> application juggernaut? Java.
>   </quote>
> 
>    Come again, Sweetie. 
>    
> <quote>
>   Leveraging XML for Configuration. JDNC defines a
> simple XML schema for configuring JDNC components for
> desktop clients. What sets this apart from other
> XML-based UI technologies is that it is neither a
> toolkit-level markup language, such as XUL, nor a
> general purpose markup language for Swing, such as
> SwingML. This is not to say that these technologies do
> not have their place, but the primary design goal for
> JDNC is simplicity. The JDNC configuration schema sits
> at the application level, which enables developers to
> more quickly construct Java desktop clients precisely
> because the schema is less complex. It leverages
> Swing, but does not require the developer to have
> expertise in either GUI programming or Swing.
> 
>   The schema will enable a solid range of sensible
> layout capabilities without providing the infinite
> layout options of layout managers. Does this mean that
> some clients cannot be constructed using JDNC? Yes,
> and that's exactly the point. JDNC guides the
> developer by narrowing the choices to a well-honed
> subset of what's possible. Those who need finer
> control and flexibility can already use Swing or one
> of the general purpose markup languages to build just
> about anything.
> </quote>
> 
>     I hear you. 
> 
>     And here's how JDNC looks like:
> 
>   <jdnc-app>
> 
>     <data id="bugdata">
>       <source url="bugs.txt"/>
> 
>       <format mimetype="plain text">
>         <columns>
>           <column id="bugid">
>             <link>
>           </column>
> 
>           <column id="priority">
>             <integer minimum="1" maximum="5"/>
>           </column>
>           <column id="date">
> 
>             <date format="EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss z
> yyyy"/>
>           </column>
>           <column id="state">
>             <string>
>               <values>
> 
>                 <value>dispatched</value>
>                 <value>fixed</value>
>                 <value>closed</value>
>               </values>
> 
>             </string>
>           </column>
>           <column id="synopsis"/>
>         <columns>
>       </format>
> 
>     </data>
> 
>     <table id="bugtable" sortable="true"
> draggable="true" grid="true">
> 
>       <statusbar/>
>       <rows margin="20">
>       </rows>
>       <columns>
>         <column dataref="bugdata.bugid" label="BugID"
> alignment="center">
> 
>           <sample>8888888</sample>
>         </column>
>         <column dataref="bugdata.priority"
> label="Pri">
>           <sample>1</sample>
> 
>         </column>
>         <column dataref="bugdata.synopsis"
> label="Synopsis" editable="true">
>           <sample>This bug is bad and I want you to
> definitely fix it!</sample>
> 
>         </column>
>         <column dataref="bugdata.date"
> label="Dispatched">
>           <format>MMM dd, yyyy</format>
>         </column>
> 
>         <column dataref="bugdata.state" label="State"
> editable="true" alignment="center">
>           <sample>dispatched</sample>
> 
>         </column>
>       </columns>
>     </table>
> 
>   </jdnc-app>     
> 
>  Sun plans to roll out an early Beta in fall under an
> open-source license on javadesktop.org 
>   
>   Let's welcome Sun to the world of XUL.
> 
>   Full story @
> http://www.javadesktop.org/articles/JDNC
>   
>    - Gerald   
> 
> PS: (*) Sorry, if anyone feels offended. I'm just
> playing with Sun's latest marketing push using blond
> bombshells. Check out the Christina Aguilera promo @
> http://java.com/en/explore/mobile/christina.jsp  
> 
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