Felix WebConsole Questions...

[Sten Roger Sandvik <sr...@x3m.com>]

Hi.

Was just looking at the current Felix WebConsole and noticed that it is
using just servlets with mostly inlined html code. Are there any plans for
using a more component oriented approach for building the webconsole? Like
using wicket, vaadin or something else? It would be really nice if plugins
can use real components instead of plain html. More maintainable for sure.

Regards,
Sten Roger

Re: Felix WebConsole Questions...

[Clement Escoffier <cl...@gmail.com>]

Hi,

Just my 2 cents, as I already developed a couple of plugins.

On 13.09.2009, at 10:45, Felix Meschberger wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Sten Roger Sandvik schrieb:
>> Was just looking at the current Felix WebConsole and noticed that  
>> it is
>> using just servlets with mostly inlined html code.

Not necessary. You have to register a servlet service, but then you  
are 'free'.

>
> Yes, on of the goals of the WebConsole is (and was) that it is as
> self-contained as possible (actually the console itself currently only
> depends on a OSGi HttpService service and the Servlet API).
>
> Supporting plain Servlets is another attempt in this direction:  
> plugins
> should have as minimal dependencies for management as possible.
> Therefore the only dependency is again the Servlet API.
>
> Are there any plans for
>> using a more component oriented approach for building the  
>> webconsole? Like
>> using wicket, vaadin or something else? It would be really nice if  
>> plugins
>> can use real components instead of plain html. More maintainable  
>> for sure.
>
> There are no concrete plans for extensions. Currently we use JQuery  
> (and
> plugins) to support more elaborate UI support (such as table sorting).

I used DOJO in a plugin. It looks good, but I found two issues:
- the web console loads a CSS, and so, there is potentially class/ 
style conflicts. (it's pretty minor, just something to keep in head)
- I had to register the Dojo library (+ images, and styles). So, my  
plugin became pretty strange as I have a component dealing with the  
HTTP Service and publishing DOJO + Images, and the plugin servlet.  
This might be an issue, if several HTTP Service are provided.
- the look and feel is a little bit heterogeneous, as well as  
interactions.

Regards,

Clement


>
> Of course, nothing prevents a plugin from making use of UI toolkits --
> as long as the plugin is registered as Servlet - the web console does
> not care whether the Servlet service is itself rendering or the  
> servlet
> is just a bridge servlet.
>
> Of course contributions for web console extensions in these directions
> would be welcome (I myself am considering every now and then how the
> scripting infrastructure of Sling (based on Java Scripting API) may be
> leveraged for plugins).
>
> Regards
> Felix

Re: Felix WebConsole Questions...

[Felix Meschberger <fm...@gmail.com>]

Hi,

Sten Roger Sandvik schrieb:
> Was just looking at the current Felix WebConsole and noticed that it is
> using just servlets with mostly inlined html code.

Yes, on of the goals of the WebConsole is (and was) that it is as
self-contained as possible (actually the console itself currently only
depends on a OSGi HttpService service and the Servlet API).

Supporting plain Servlets is another attempt in this direction: plugins
should have as minimal dependencies for management as possible.
Therefore the only dependency is again the Servlet API.

 Are there any plans for
> using a more component oriented approach for building the webconsole? Like
> using wicket, vaadin or something else? It would be really nice if plugins
> can use real components instead of plain html. More maintainable for sure.

There are no concrete plans for extensions. Currently we use JQuery (and
plugins) to support more elaborate UI support (such as table sorting).

Of course, nothing prevents a plugin from making use of UI toolkits --
as long as the plugin is registered as Servlet - the web console does
not care whether the Servlet service is itself rendering or the servlet
is just a bridge servlet.

Of course contributions for web console extensions in these directions
would be welcome (I myself am considering every now and then how the
scripting infrastructure of Sling (based on Java Scripting API) may be
leveraged for plugins).

Regards
Felix