Which way to go? (WebUI)

[Fabian Gorsler]

Hi,

after my data model is ready, I know how to use services, the next
question for me is which UI-layer to choose. I've read, listened to the
videos, reviewed apps (i.e. webtools), but the more I look for possible
ways, the more I loose a real oppinion what to use.

- Freemarker, JPublish and BSH look nice and quite simple.
- Screens/Widgets seem to be a very good technic for RAD, but for me it looks as
if this wouldn't be as flexible as FTL/JP/BSH or JSPs.
- JSPs combined with Regions seem to be a very powerful and quick way
for developing with much flexibility.

I hope you can understand my problem: There are so many possibilities, but
up to now I got no real opinion what I should use. The most important
thing is, that I don't know which way offers me all features OFBiz has.
Ok, it's possible to combine things, but I prefer a clear solution with
a strict way. I think for later developers it'll be much easier to
develop the app.

Can anybody of you push me to the most effective way? At the moment I'm
thinking about using FTL/JP/BSH or JSPs, but... Yes, I can't get an real
opinion...

TIA :)

Best regards,
     Fabian.

[BJ Freeman]

Take a look at the widgets.
You can still use ftl/bsh/jsp, within the widgets, if needed, but for
most the widgets alone can provide a quick easy way to get UI going.
also easier to maintain.
IMHO

Fabian Gorsler sent the following on 7/17/2006 3:48 AM:

> Hi,
>
> after my data model is ready, I know how to use services, the next
> question for me is which UI-layer to choose. I've read, listened to the
> videos, reviewed apps (i.e. webtools), but the more I look for possible
> ways, the more I loose a real oppinion what to use.
>
> - Freemarker, JPublish and BSH look nice and quite simple.
> - Screens/Widgets seem to be a very good technic for RAD, but for me it looks as
> if this wouldn't be as flexible as FTL/JP/BSH or JSPs.
> - JSPs combined with Regions seem to be a very powerful and quick way
> for developing with much flexibility.
>
> I hope you can understand my problem: There are so many possibilities, but
> up to now I got no real opinion what I should use. The most important
> thing is, that I don't know which way offers me all features OFBiz has.
> Ok, it's possible to combine things, but I prefer a clear solution with
> a strict way. I think for later developers it'll be much easier to
> develop the app.
>
> Can anybody of you push me to the most effective way? At the moment I'm
> thinking about using FTL/JP/BSH or JSPs, but... Yes, I can't get an real
> opinion...
>
> TIA :)
>
> Best regards,
>      Fabian.
>

[David E Jones-2]

Use the Screen Widget. You can use FTL/BSH/etc with the screen widget where needed (as is done in the ecommerce webapp), but the Form and other widgets will make things easier for most applications where look and feel is not the #1 priority.

The Screen Widget is far more flexible, powerful, and easier to maintain than either JPublish or Region based views.

JPublish is no longer maintained as an open source project and hasn't seen activity in years. It is being 100% phased out from OFBiz.

Region based views with JSPs have no good method of separating data preparation from presentation and are in general a nightmare to maintain and usually require significantly more code and more complicated code than an equivalent implementation with the newer tools.

This is the established best practice for OFBiz. For more information, see the Best Practices Guide and review the Framework Introduction videos.

-David


Fabian Gorsler wrote:

> Hi,
>
> after my data model is ready, I know how to use services, the next
> question for me is which UI-layer to choose. I've read, listened to the
> videos, reviewed apps (i.e. webtools), but the more I look for possible
> ways, the more I loose a real oppinion what to use.
>
> - Freemarker, JPublish and BSH look nice and quite simple.
> - Screens/Widgets seem to be a very good technic for RAD, but for me it looks as
> if this wouldn't be as flexible as FTL/JP/BSH or JSPs.
> - JSPs combined with Regions seem to be a very powerful and quick way
> for developing with much flexibility.
>
> I hope you can understand my problem: There are so many possibilities, but
> up to now I got no real opinion what I should use. The most important
> thing is, that I don't know which way offers me all features OFBiz has.
> Ok, it's possible to combine things, but I prefer a clear solution with
> a strict way. I think for later developers it'll be much easier to
> develop the app.
>
> Can anybody of you push me to the most effective way? At the moment I'm
> thinking about using FTL/JP/BSH or JSPs, but... Yes, I can't get an real
> opinion...
>
> TIA :)
>
> Best regards,
>      Fabian.

[Jacques Le Roux]

Hi Fabian,

If you have reviewed the training videos
http://incubator.apache.org/ofbiz/VideosFrameworkIntro.html
you should have a good idea of when to use Screens/Widgets. These tools are good
when you have to deal directly with fields of entities. But they don't allow to
build sophisticated Web interfaces.
So depending of your needs, you may use each alternately. Indeed JSPs combined
with Regions in OFBiz are a bit deprecated.

Remember also that widgets are intended to be implemented not only for Web
interface. For instance for the moment the POS application is using XUI
(http://xui.sourceforge.net/) to manage the desktop interface. But in a future
it's possible that widgets will be used instead.

HTH

Jacques

From: "Fabian Gorsler" <[hidden email]>
> Hi,
>
> after my data model is ready, I know how to use services, the next
> question for me is which UI-layer to choose. I've read, listened to the
> videos, reviewed apps (i.e. webtools), but the more I look for possible
> ways, the more I loose a real oppinion what to use.
>
> - Freemarker, JPublish and BSH look nice and quite simple.
> - Screens/Widgets seem to be a very good technic for RAD, but for me it looks
as

> if this wouldn't be as flexible as FTL/JP/BSH or JSPs.
> - JSPs combined with Regions seem to be a very powerful and quick way
> for developing with much flexibility.
>
> I hope you can understand my problem: There are so many possibilities, but
> up to now I got no real opinion what I should use. The most important
> thing is, that I don't know which way offers me all features OFBiz has.
> Ok, it's possible to combine things, but I prefer a clear solution with
> a strict way. I think for later developers it'll be much easier to
> develop the app.
>
> Can anybody of you push me to the most effective way? At the moment I'm
> thinking about using FTL/JP/BSH or JSPs, but... Yes, I can't get an real
> opinion...
>
> TIA :)
>
> Best regards,
>      Fabian.

[Fabian Gorsler]

Hi,

thanks for your advices, BJ and David. Who could say it better? :)

My biggest problem in the moment is the overview. Well, I understood
the - in my opinion - most important parts (entities, services), but
in the case of the UI-layer I didn't get any "Yeah, that's it!"-
experience. I hope you know what I mean. ;)

I've read the best practices guide, watched the introducion videos
and some of the videos offered over Undersun, but I was running
in a deadlock. Your answers helped me a lot. Thanks again.

Best regards,

     Fabian.

[BJ Freeman]

You can look at the widget xsd in their folder.
also looking at widgets in ecommerces and content will give you insight
as to uses.

Fabian Gorsler sent the following on 7/17/2006 5:29 AM:

> Hi,
>
> thanks for your advices, BJ and David. Who could say it better? :)
>
> My biggest problem in the moment is the overview. Well, I understood
> the - in my opinion - most important parts (entities, services), but
> in the case of the UI-layer I didn't get any "Yeah, that's it!"-
> experience. I hope you know what I mean. ;)
>
> I've read the best practices guide, watched the introducion videos
> and some of the videos offered over Undersun, but I was running
> in a deadlock. Your answers helped me a lot. Thanks again.
>
> Best regards,
>
>      Fabian.
>

[Fabian Gorsler]

Hi Jacques,

thanks for your answer, too. Today I'll try to build a concrete for the
WebUI. I hope I'll be able to report a "Yeah, that's it" at the end of
my day. :)

Best regards,
     Fabian.

[Fabian Gorsler]

Yes, I`ve got it. Thanks for your help. :)

Best regards,
Fabian.