Extensive - a widget framework for Ext

[marcus.schiesser]

Hi folks,

i had a larger project using ExtJS that was finished a few weeks ago. Big question was how to structure a pure Ext application. My ideas and experiences went into a project called Extensive. The goal of Extensive is to provide a Rails-like framework to build Ext applications. So basically it's about generators that ensure a certain application structure.
What are your thoughts? Take a look at Extensive. And let me know.

Have fun,

Marcus

[bt_bruno]

The scripts are written in Javascript themself and invoked using the shell of Mozilla Rhino

I think I missed the point. Any examples would be appreciate (:

[marcus.schiesser]

The Rhino interpreter is used to generate Javascript files. As Rhino interprets Javascript the generator scripts are written in Javascript itself (that way we only have to know Javascript).
The generated Javascript uses ExtJS then and is supposed to run in the browser like any other Javascript. That way we can ensure the same MVC-archicture for all projects.
In my point of view a good thing.

[Ronaldo]

Hi Marcus,

Nice initiative. However, everytime I find that solutions that use only generated source need manual modifications here and there. My approach would be to model the UI, and then generate the pure javascript code. After that, you can either subclass/override a class or method, or edit the file manually.
For java, I use an EMF based solution that offers code re-generation and that allows mixing generated code and manually typed code in the same class. I wish I had time to apply the same technique for javascript files.

[marcus.schiesser]

Hi Ronald,

yes time is always a problem (as you can see from me late reply, but i have an excuse as I was on vacation...).
The idea of extensive is not to use a MDSD approach like with EMF where the code is generated based on some kind of model. Instead the generators should be used to scaffold an application and ensure a certain kind of architecture (the same reason generation is used in Rails), so modifying the generated code it fully intented in that case.
In the Javascript world we have something like this in Sproutcore, but it's still missing for ExtJS. So I think it's about time to change that.
Before the generators are written, we should in the first step commit on a sustainable architecture - in extensive you can find a suggestion of me that was used in a larger project.
So whoever is interested in a building larger projects in ExtJS, just give it a try and let me know your thoughts.

Have fun,

Marcus

[Ronaldo]

Hi Marcus,

The purpose of the SproutCore 1.0 project is to create the first official stable and generally usable release of the SproutCore platform. This means an average-level developer with no prior experience with SproutCore should be able to easily create and deploy a basic Cloud Application that runs on all modern browser platforms. Additionally, changes after the 1.0 release will be carefully controlled so that core written for the 1.0 API will continue to function with few changes on future releases.

This is a complex project with several sub-components to it that must be completed. This page tracks the overall progress for SproutCore 1.0 along with its sub-component.

Nice text but still doesn't tell me why I should want to 'easily create and deploy a basic Cloud Application that runs on all modern browser platforms' because it doesn't tell me what the heck SproutCore is.

Apart from that, I doubt if the scaffolding way of thinking allows you to regenerate the code over and over again. The biggest drawback I've seen (in my humble experience) while working with generators is that you either have to inherit, or you can't regenerate your code. EMF proves it's possible to mix generated and manually altered code, and therefore I'd still prefer full Model Driven Development.
I've used Clarion (From softvelocity) and basically they're using a model too. Works like charm once you get the hang of it.

Anyway, I'm interested in anything that has anything to do with code generation, so I'm certainly interested in your experiences.

Best regards,
Ronaldo

[steffenk]

Anyway, I'm interested in anything that has anything to do with code generation

[Arno.Nyhm]

i would like to see a howto and get startet document or a screencast

maybe how to setup the environment and generate a small blog system (like the first rails screencasts)