Re: [RT] Web Wizard Best Practices [was: Dynamic Schematron validation works!]

[Ovidiu Predescu <ov...@cup.hp.com>]

On Sun, 17 Mar 2002 11:40:58 -0600, "Ivelin Ivanov" <iv...@iname.com> wrote:

> I'm mostly driven by the fast developments in the web services area.
> Having faced an actual problem of converting a complex Web UI portal
> into one that offers almost all of its UI functionality through web
> services, I know that this turned out to be very hard while it could
> have been real easy.
> 
> My humble vision is that in the near future successful web-app
> servers will be able to seamlessly integrate with web services. Web
> services already know how to handle xml <-> object binding.  Web
> services have their WSFL - a standard flow control language.
> http://xml.coverpages.org/wsfl.html And lately there is the WSRP
> initiative which strives to bind Web UI to Web Services.
> http://xml.coverpages.org/ni2002-01-21-b.html Those who have tried
> WebLogic 7.0 Cajun or similar IDEs, should have noticed where things
> might be going.
> 
> Cocoon is a mature and sophisticated container and its future will
> be even brighter if it allows for existing Web UI portals to offer
> their functionality through web services with minimal investment.

I definitely agree with your views, and I'm sure other people on this
mailing list agree too! I think being able to expose a Web service as
a Web application would make Cocoon a total killer.

What I'm not sure about though is about the usage of complex
technologies like WSFL and the like. They are too heavyweight for us,
and they require lots of tools to support it, as you cannot edit a
WSFL document in a plain editor, it's just too complex. Maybe some
companies will start building this support and some tools on top of
Cocoon, but I think this is just too complex for us to start
implementing.

What I was instead proposing is to have a simpler control flow layer,
which makes use of higher level concepts like continuations, to make
development easier. You could edit such flow scripts using your plain
editor, and you can understand it by just reading it, since is written
in a plain programming language (more on this in a separate
email).

I'm almost finished implementing the flow control layer using an
modified JavaScript with continuations support. The next step is to
figure out a way to expose the business logic as a Web services,
instead of a Web application. With this, the shared vision above will
become reality.

I'll checkout the forms stuff to see how this can be integrated in the
flow layer, to make the development easier.


Regards,
-- 
Ovidiu Predescu <ov...@cup.hp.com>
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Monitor/7464/ (GNU, Emacs, other stuff)

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: cocoon-dev-unsubscribe@xml.apache.org
For additional commands, email: cocoon-dev-help@xml.apache.org