Dynamic layouts

[Dan Haywood <da...@haywood-associates.co.uk>]

Folks,

A few days ago I was suggesting it might be useful to be able to specify
the layout of domain objects through an external JSON file.  Well, this is
now done, checked in, documented.

You can read about the feature on the Isis site (along with some new
capabilities of the recently implemented DeveloperUtilitiesService); see
[1], [2].

Or, you could listen to my dulcet tones in a screencast that describes
these features, [3].

As ever, feedback welcome.

One bit of feedback I've had already is: doesn't this undermine the naked
objects pattern?  Well, no, I don't think so.  The layout file is not
mandatory, it's just a different way to specify the metadata.  It isn't
typesafe, that's true; but if there's a typo in the json file, there's no
real harm (properties not listed will still be rendered).

My thought is that initial prototyping would still be done using
annotations (@MemberOrder, at least); only later on as the model stabilizes
would the developer spend a bit of time creating a layout file.  And even
then, the DeveloperUtilitiesService makes the creation of the file pretty
trivial.

Let me know how you get on with this new feature...

Cheers
Dan

[1] http://isis.apache.org/core/dynamic-layouts.html
[2] http://isis.apache.org/core/services/developer-utilities-service.html
[3] http://isis.apache.org/getting-started/screencasts.html