[shale] Dialog Impressions

[Sean Schofield <se...@gmail.com>]

Let me start off with more positive feedback for you about the new
dialog stuff.  It was well worth the wait!  I haven't figured it all
out already but I'm really excited about the way its headed.  I'm
reminded of when I first stumbled upon Struts.  I was already using a
lot of Struts type features in my own custom framework but Struts
helped pull it all together for me.  And obviously it was a lot better
than what I could come up with alone.

I like the XML-based configuration for the dialogs.  I think the tag
names make sense and its very easy to follow.  I think the ability to
use method bindings in the actions is very powerful.  For those who
are still skeptical of JSF and Shale let me say its the real deal! 
There are things that JSF gives you like managed beans (and the value
and method bindings) that are just so powerful.  Frameworks like
Spring have been taking advantage of them for a long time now and I
agree with Craig that its time Struts  users caught up with these
advancements.

I also think the "dialog scope" stuff is just what we needed.  Our
current (non-JSF) solution is to use a javascript variable for the
state and to "pass it " between dialogs.  Basically we were using
IFrames where the outer frame just held this javascript "scope"
variable.  JSF makes it easier to get rid of this javascript and Shale
provides a great implementation right out of the box.

Nicely done.  I hope to have more constructive feedback later as I get
more familiar with the new stuff.

sean

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