Widget Refactor

[Chris Geer <ch...@cxtsoftware.com>]

I'm working on refactoring the widget tree as part of the model-split
Matt's sent a few notes on. After spending some time in the code I would
like to propose that we make the object model more one-way. By that I mean,
in the interfaces, a Widget would have a collection of WidgetTags but the
WidgetTag wouldn't have a reference back up to the Widget (for example).
The driving reason I'm proposing this is that with the two way linkage the
objects can get out of sync. For example, I can create a WidgetTag for
widgetId 2 but put it in the collection of widgetId 1. With just the JPA
model this wasn't a huge deal because it handled that on the back end but I
don't think it's the right choice when designing a generic interface model
(my opinion obviously). The "child" should be automatically associated with
the parent it resides in.

The only real major side effect is that since items like WidgetTag would be
dependent on their parent widget it doesn't make sense to have the
WigetTagSevice/Repository objects. Those functions would be rolled into the
WidgetService/Repository.

Personally, I think this will simplify things but I want to make sure
everyone else agrees this is a good move. Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Chris

RE: Widget Refactor

["Franklin, Matthew B." <mf...@mitre.org>]

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Scott Wilson [mailto:scott.bradley.wilson@gmail.com]
>Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2012 2:35 AM
>To: dev@rave.apache.org
>Subject: Re: Widget Refactor
>
>
>On 30 Aug 2012, at 03:13, Chris Geer wrote:
>
>> I'm working on refactoring the widget tree as part of the model-split
>> Matt's sent a few notes on. After spending some time in the code I would
>> like to propose that we make the object model more one-way. By that I
>mean,
>> in the interfaces, a Widget would have a collection of WidgetTags but the
>> WidgetTag wouldn't have a reference back up to the Widget (for example).
>> The driving reason I'm proposing this is that with the two way linkage the
>> objects can get out of sync. For example, I can create a WidgetTag for
>> widgetId 2 but put it in the collection of widgetId 1. With just the JPA
>> model this wasn't a huge deal because it handled that on the back end but I
>> don't think it's the right choice when designing a generic interface model
>> (my opinion obviously). The "child" should be automatically associated with
>> the parent it resides in.
>>
>> The only real major side effect is that since items like WidgetTag would be
>> dependent on their parent widget it doesn't make sense to have the
>> WigetTagSevice/Repository objects. Those functions would be rolled into
>the
>> WidgetService/Repository.
>>
>> Personally, I think this will simplify things but I want to make sure
>> everyone else agrees this is a good move. Let me know what you think.
>
>+1
>
>A directed graph model is also much easier to map onto other kinds of
>backend, such as simple document stores.

+1

>
>
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Chris

Re: Widget Refactor

[Scott Wilson <sc...@gmail.com>]

On 30 Aug 2012, at 03:13, Chris Geer wrote:

> I'm working on refactoring the widget tree as part of the model-split
> Matt's sent a few notes on. After spending some time in the code I would
> like to propose that we make the object model more one-way. By that I mean,
> in the interfaces, a Widget would have a collection of WidgetTags but the
> WidgetTag wouldn't have a reference back up to the Widget (for example).
> The driving reason I'm proposing this is that with the two way linkage the
> objects can get out of sync. For example, I can create a WidgetTag for
> widgetId 2 but put it in the collection of widgetId 1. With just the JPA
> model this wasn't a huge deal because it handled that on the back end but I
> don't think it's the right choice when designing a generic interface model
> (my opinion obviously). The "child" should be automatically associated with
> the parent it resides in.
> 
> The only real major side effect is that since items like WidgetTag would be
> dependent on their parent widget it doesn't make sense to have the
> WigetTagSevice/Repository objects. Those functions would be rolled into the
> WidgetService/Repository.
> 
> Personally, I think this will simplify things but I want to make sure
> everyone else agrees this is a good move. Let me know what you think.

+1

A directed graph model is also much easier to map onto other kinds of backend, such as simple document stores.


> 
> Thanks,
> Chris