RFC on new module

[Aaron Johnson <so...@gina.net>]

I am attempting to make some previous code more genric
and release as a module.  This email is a brief summary
of what the moudle will do.  I currently do all but one
or two of these in the product I am abstracting this
from.

This module is for easy generation of HTML tables add
allowing the contents of results to be drilled down
through to get to limited set of data quickly.

This module attempts to create dynamic tables that "fold"
By fold it is infered that when clicking on a value in a
column that the data source will be reread and only the
values that match the clicked on item will be shown. We
also allow for multiple folds, which means that if values
from multiple columns are clicked on then the folds will
build on top of each other.

This module will most likely not be generic enough to not
require some advanced confirguration, either inside this
file or via an external script.  Most likely it will
configured via a method as well.

This process attempts to not use cookies, this may change
at some point, but presently a complex URL parsing system
is used and works well.

The resulting table rows are set with an attribute on
object creation and a paging system allow the user to
move to a particular point.

There will be a limited search facility was well in the
initial releases.

A hash for each column to be displayed/handled needs to be
created with the following values:

    action_and_fold - indicates that a field has an action* that
        can happen and it can also be folded   ( 0 or 1 )
    
    add_to_url - extra column values and name that should be
        added to the URL for a column. this covers special
        cases where additional values may be needed when a
        particular action is taken. this is an annon array
    
    align - how should the column be aligned when displayed
        (center, left, right)
       
    allows_direction - is the column sortable by asc/desc
        1 or 0
    
    key_columns - these are the columns that need to refereneced
        for a match when doing an update and in some cases a
        select

    href - page other then present a column should link to,
        by default the "key" will be the URL for these along
        with the current values for folding so the "main" page
        can maintain state.

    modify - this is a subroutine that is run on the values
        returned

    regex - this is how it should be matched from a URL
        generally a base URL is created from the previous
        post, if a column has been folded it needs to
        remove the additional URL data from it so the fold
        is removed.  multiple folds on a single column is
        NOT currently supported

    special_colors (BAD NAME) - this is a hash of color with an array of
        values for a pattern match.  if a column needs to be
        a particular color for all values matching "fish" this
        could be done here.  each color MUST have a corresponding
        entry in your style sheet
        example entry:
            'red' =>  [ 'hello','hi','greetings'  ],
            'blue' => [ 'bye','good bye','see ya' ],

    table - what database table is the value of this column being
        read from. the database table name in correct case, it
        will be used in the creation of SQL queries(?)
        
    column_header - the name of the header on the final
        output (defaults to the column name if null)
        
    url_param - what to look for in the URL, this will most
        likely be discarded in favor for column name instead.
        (original code used abbreviated names in the URL)
        

Notes on the original idea that have yet to be worked
through:
    
Column names need to be followed by ascend/desecending arrows

Previous folds sent must be remembered, that is all folds up to
    this point. This should NOT be done via session data.
    
* action - this is most likely a popup window that contains a small
form from which you can modify the value of the column that it was
clicked in.  a screen refresh is froced after the form is completed
to show the new data

I have modified the DBIx::XHTML_Table module to allow for some of
the features mentioned above, but there is also the need for
an query creation method/class.  I have looked at Reltaions-Query
are there others that someone might suggest?

This module will be stand alone, that is not based on a templating
system or be mod_perl dependent.

The structure of the code is in an alpha/planning stage at this
point.

Any feedback or questions are welcome.

Aaron Johnson

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