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 Re: abeille project status
Hi Todd, Thanks for your reply. I subscribed to the dev list (as you can see) and I suggest we use the list instead of one-on-one so that others (if there are any!) can contribute to the discussion. Like I said, I'll keep you posted with developments on an eventual eclipse plugin.
Math On Wed, Apr 2, 2008 at 12:05 PM, < viegs@...> wrote:
Math,
Following up here (in a separate email) on a few more of your questions below. Please see my comments in red...
Sent: Wed, 2 Apr 2008 8:44 am
Subject: Re: abeille project status
Hi Todd,
On Wed, Apr 2, 2008 at 2:25 AM, < viegs@...> wrote:
Math,
That would be a fantastic idea. :)
I have thought of this on a number of occassions...and felt it would be a perfect fit.
In particular the next closest GUI layout tool similar to Abille is JFormDesigner. However, that is a commercial product and having an open source alternative such as Abeille is a primary goal of mine. That said JFormDesigner can be purchased as either an Eclispe Plugin or as a standalone app such as Abeille is currently. Thus after looking into what functionality JFormDesigner offered I became initially interested in an Eclipse equivalent.
OK. Before I do anything, I'll have to play with Abeille to familiarize myself with the tool, then look at JFormDesigner to see how they fit it into Eclipse (is it an editor? a perspective? do they insert toolboxes into "Views"? etc) and have a look at the plugin for Netbeans. I'll keep you posted on developments.
[Fantastic...I don't recall anymore the details of their plugin. Take a look and let me know. I hope it would not be too daunting a task. Give me your feedback as you have leisure.]
To answer an earlier question of yours. There is currently no branch of the Abeille codebase. I am working against a local working copy and then all chagnes are checked into TRUNK. I build locally and deploy from here.
This setup was origianlly established by Jeff Tassin. Another key developer on the project. (and originator).
Some other feature sets I have an interest in adding:
1) Robust support for I10N, L18N...JFormDesigner has unique features in this space.
I'll have to look into this! You just answered a question I had before I asked it ;) I'm extremely curious to know how internationalization works in Abeille.
2) I'm currently extending the "code generation" feature in Abeille to support simple code generation plugins. I have a developer in Brazil interested in writing a plugin or two when this is finished.
Great idea!
3) I want to support dynamic instantiation of TableModel(s) for support in JTables. This I envision possibly as a simple property support page (as per the Java Bean spec) which could be used to set a Table Model for a JTable against a class in the classpath ,etc. (Just an idea...a variety of others are probably much better)
4) Better support for JSplitPane. Similar to the ability one currently has with JTabbedPane (a GridView panel is automatically added to a tab as it is created). I would picture a similar concept for each panel in a JSplitPane, etc.
Not sure what 3 and 4 mean exactly, but I guess I'll discover along.
[I can fill you more in later if you are interested.]
5) A very recent request came in for java bean property support for JFormattedTextFields and input validators, etc.
Input validators seem a good idea.
One thing I thought would be an amazing addition to what abeille does already, would be to have the ability to configure events, a little bit like what Visual Basic and Glade do. For example, we could specify an interface that defines event handling methods, then attach a method name to a specific event. Imagine an interface with a button named "OK". In abeille, you would put in a "Event Handler Class" input the class "MyEventHandler", which would have a method named "onOKButtonPressed". Then we would assign the button event "buttonPressed" (I'm making this up as I write, I have no idea what the real event is, but you see my point) to the method onOKButtonPressed. Runtime, Abeille would bind the events for you and call the event handling methods when the event occurs. This would save the developer the job of writing all the event handling code.
You can see an example of how Glade does it here: http://users.bigpond.net.au/mlm/libglade/
What do you think?
Another major feature that is currently in the 2.1 Milestone releases is Project Teams support. Up until recently Abeille was best suited for individual support. New functioanlity allows sharing of a project file across a development team. More testing must happen on this functionality...etc.
Not sure what "Project Teams" support is about... I'd like to know more.
In 2.1 M2 there is also component reorientation (right to left) that is rather robust. FormLayout does not natively support such features (as does some Java layout managers, etc), but this has been added to Abeille.
Great!
There are more items on the roadmap...but this may give you an idea.
Thanks again for your interest. Please feel free to respond at your lieasure. :)
Kind Regards,
~Todd
2 more question:
1) is the xml code generated by the new version of Abeille compatible with the syntax of version 2.0?
[Yes the XML code generated is compatible for 2.0]
2) is there a dev mailing list you are actively using?
[Check out: https://abeille.dev.java.net/servlets/ProjectMailingListList ]
Thanks!
Math
Sent: Tue, 1 Apr 2008 3:47 pm
Subject: Re: abeille project status
Hi Todd,
I noticed that there is (in the source code at least) a plugin for Netbeans? If there really is one, I don't see why there wouldn't be one for Eclipse. I have a small project that I did some time ago that consists in a simple editor for apt file format integrated as an Eclipse plugin, so I have some experience with Eclipse development. If the code is well enough separated, it should be easy to make a plugin for Eclipse in a relatively small amount of time.
Let me know what you think, I might be interested to give it shot.
Math
On Sun, Mar 30, 2008 at 9:25 PM, < viegs@...> wrote:
Mathieu,
Yes...the project is definitly active. I continue to get people on a regular basis that register as watchers. Frequently there are those interested in doing development...but obviously the follow through can be weak at times. I do have a couple of developers that have committed to do specific development in particular functional areas of the Abeille. This will follow my completion of some refactoring work.
This all said...if you are interested in joining myself, etc. in the development effort I'd be more than open to that. I currently ahve a basic roadmap of functionality I'd love to integrate into the project and anyone interested in discussing them and working ont he project woudl be great. Let me know if that might be something you'd be interested in. I am in the midst of an M3 release, but was buried with my day job for a good number of months in late fall and early '08. More to come though as I get time.
I do get fairly frequent emails from individuals using the Abeille and have gotten some great feedback and I think the community is very positive. I even have an individaul I talked to a couple of months ago in San Diego, CA who is doing commercial type development and has integrated Abeille as a UI designer for.
Let me know and thanks for your feedback.
~Todd
-----Original Message-----
From: Mathieu Avoine < avoinemt@...>
To: viegs@...; viegs@...
Sent: Sat, 29 Mar 2008 7:17 pm
Subject: abeille project status
Hi Todd,
I just found the project and the application looks great. I've been looking for a GUI designer for java that works in a way similar to glade and abeille is just that!
I'd like to know the status of the project; do you still do active development? Are you aware if anyone else is working on it?
Thanks,
Math
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