Widgets and screens

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Widgets and screens

David van der Staak
Hello,

I'm trying to create a functionality which would allow a store owner to dynamically edit their website via a WYSIWYG like editor.
The editor itself is nearly complete, but I'm unsure how to save the changes.

The thing I thought of first, is try to interpret the files myself, present them in a way the user can edit them graphically, then store the files again. However, to make the changes effective a run-install seems to be needed or at the very least a restart, which is less then desirable.
I know the installation of those files is done at some point, and I was hoping to be able to trigger that again or perhaps call it only on the files that have been edited.

Could someone perhaps give me a few pointers on where to look?
Specifically, i'm editing the .ftl and .xml files which are related to the looks and feel of the ecommerce store.

If it's possible to let ofbiz give me an interpretation of the files that'd even be  better. I'll have to adjust my editor ofcourse, but that's manageable.

Regards

David van der Staak
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Re: Widgets and screens

David E. Jones-2

In OFBiz .xml and .ftl files don't generally go into the database. If you are saving them and not seeing anything updated in a currently running OFBiz instance then it is probably due to cache settings (ie the caches are set to never expire for production mode, instead of the default for development mode which is to expire every 10 seconds), and those are in the cache.properties file, and you can see the current settings and such in the WebTools webapp in the Cache Maintenance screen.

In any case, if you could be more specific about what you are doing and what the system is doing that is different from what you expect, that might be helpful for those available to give feedback.

-David


On Dec 15, 2010, at 3:55 AM, David van der Staak wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I'm trying to create a functionality which would allow a store owner to dynamically edit their website via a WYSIWYG like editor.
> The editor itself is nearly complete, but I'm unsure how to save the changes.
>
> The thing I thought of first, is try to interpret the files myself, present them in a way the user can edit them graphically, then store the files again. However, to make the changes effective a run-install seems to be needed or at the very least a restart, which is less then desirable.
> I know the installation of those files is done at some point, and I was hoping to be able to trigger that again or perhaps call it only on the files that have been edited.
>
> Could someone perhaps give me a few pointers on where to look?
> Specifically, i'm editing the .ftl and .xml files which are related to the looks and feel of the ecommerce store.
>
> If it's possible to let ofbiz give me an interpretation of the files that'd even be  better. I'll have to adjust my editor ofcourse, but that's manageable.
>
> Regards
>
> David van der Staak

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Re: Widgets and screens

BJ Freeman
In reply to this post by David van der Staak
though widgets and ftl give you the components to display, the CSS is
the final determination of the display.
you can have (skins) themes that they select from, that are copied to a
specfic themename for that user, then assigned to them.  you could use
webtools code to import the data, into their db. this ofcourse is a
customization.

Going into widgets and ftl's as a WYSIWYG is a Great development tool
but I would not expect users to be able to create and or modify those,
especially if your using multi-tenent shared code.
Getting into the Entities is not something I would allow a user to do.

you could consider putting a class on each field which could be effected
by the CSS. the WYSIWYG would then modify the CSS files in the selected
theme as far as a component/field showing, and placement, as well as
font and type.





=========================
BJ Freeman
Strategic Power Office with Supplier Automation  <http://www.businessesnetwork.com/automation/viewforum.php?f=52>
Specialtymarket.com  <http://www.specialtymarket.com/>
Systems Integrator-- Glad to Assist

Chat  Y! messenger: bjfr33man
David van der Staak sent the following on 12/15/2010 3:55 AM:

> Hello,
>
> I'm trying to create a functionality which would allow a store owner to dynamically edit their website via a WYSIWYG like editor.
> The editor itself is nearly complete, but I'm unsure how to save the changes.
>
> The thing I thought of first, is try to interpret the files myself, present them in a way the user can edit them graphically, then store the files again. However, to make the changes effective a run-install seems to be needed or at the very least a restart, which is less then desirable.
> I know the installation of those files is done at some point, and I was hoping to be able to trigger that again or perhaps call it only on the files that have been edited.
>
> Could someone perhaps give me a few pointers on where to look?
> Specifically, i'm editing the .ftl and .xml files which are related to the looks and feel of the ecommerce store.
>
> If it's possible to let ofbiz give me an interpretation of the files that'd even be  better. I'll have to adjust my editor ofcourse, but that's manageable.
>
> Regards
>
> David van der Staak
>
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Re: Widgets and screens

BJ Freeman
look at the rendering code use by ofbiz to get an html output for the
WYSIWYG.

=========================
BJ Freeman
Strategic Power Office with Supplier Automation  <http://www.businessesnetwork.com/automation/viewforum.php?f=52>
Specialtymarket.com  <http://www.specialtymarket.com/>
Systems Integrator-- Glad to Assist

Chat  Y! messenger: bjfr33man


BJ Freeman sent the following on 12/15/2010 7:54 PM:

> though widgets and ftl give you the components to display, the CSS is
> the final determination of the display.
> you can have (skins) themes that they select from, that are copied to a
> specfic themename for that user, then assigned to them. you could use
> webtools code to import the data, into their db. this ofcourse is a
> customization.
>
> Going into widgets and ftl's as a WYSIWYG is a Great development tool
> but I would not expect users to be able to create and or modify those,
> especially if your using multi-tenent shared code.
> Getting into the Entities is not something I would allow a user to do.
>
> you could consider putting a class on each field which could be effected
> by the CSS. the WYSIWYG would then modify the CSS files in the selected
> theme as far as a component/field showing, and placement, as well as
> font and type.
>
>
>
>
>
> =========================
> BJ Freeman
> Strategic Power Office with Supplier Automation
> <http://www.businessesnetwork.com/automation/viewforum.php?f=52>
> Specialtymarket.com <http://www.specialtymarket.com/>
> Systems Integrator-- Glad to Assist
>
> Chat Y! messenger: bjfr33man
> David van der Staak sent the following on 12/15/2010 3:55 AM:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I'm trying to create a functionality which would allow a store owner
>> to dynamically edit their website via a WYSIWYG like editor.
>> The editor itself is nearly complete, but I'm unsure how to save the
>> changes.
>>
>> The thing I thought of first, is try to interpret the files myself,
>> present them in a way the user can edit them graphically, then store
>> the files again. However, to make the changes effective a run-install
>> seems to be needed or at the very least a restart, which is less then
>> desirable.
>> I know the installation of those files is done at some point, and I
>> was hoping to be able to trigger that again or perhaps call it only on
>> the files that have been edited.
>>
>> Could someone perhaps give me a few pointers on where to look?
>> Specifically, i'm editing the .ftl and .xml files which are related to
>> the looks and feel of the ecommerce store.
>>
>> If it's possible to let ofbiz give me an interpretation of the files
>> that'd even be better. I'll have to adjust my editor ofcourse, but
>> that's manageable.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> David van der Staak
>>
>

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RE: Widgets and screens

David van der Staak
The cache settings were indeed wrong, it does load em properly now.

I'm already working on a CSS Editor, however the larger problem is not so much how it looks, but what it shows on a page. An example would be the right bar. Perhaps that customer A wants to show their phone number, while customer B wants a related products colom there. My idea was to let them be able to edit the shop in that way, which would be more then CSS can achiev.

My idea thus far would be to create a seperate component per customer, and configure apache to figure out which site goes to which component.

The end idea of the project is to give customers a ready shop they can use, but also that they can edit all the way. They don't like the way it was positioned? Just click edit, drag'ndrop it, save, and it's the way they wanted it to be. If they want to create for example, a new widget somewhere, then they can click new, widget, insert whatever data would be needed and it'd be there, on the page they clicked new on. This would give customers a much greater freedom then the average webshop would give them.

Regards

________________________________________
Van: BJ Freeman [[hidden email]]
Verzonden: donderdag 16 december 2010 5:00
Aan: [hidden email]
Onderwerp: Re: Widgets and screens

look at the rendering code use by ofbiz to get an html output for the
WYSIWYG.

=========================
BJ Freeman
Strategic Power Office with Supplier Automation  <http://www.businessesnetwork.com/automation/viewforum.php?f=52>
Specialtymarket.com  <http://www.specialtymarket.com/>
Systems Integrator-- Glad to Assist

Chat  Y! messenger: bjfr33man


BJ Freeman sent the following on 12/15/2010 7:54 PM:

> though widgets and ftl give you the components to display, the CSS is
> the final determination of the display.
> you can have (skins) themes that they select from, that are copied to a
> specfic themename for that user, then assigned to them. you could use
> webtools code to import the data, into their db. this ofcourse is a
> customization.
>
> Going into widgets and ftl's as a WYSIWYG is a Great development tool
> but I would not expect users to be able to create and or modify those,
> especially if your using multi-tenent shared code.
> Getting into the Entities is not something I would allow a user to do.
>
> you could consider putting a class on each field which could be effected
> by the CSS. the WYSIWYG would then modify the CSS files in the selected
> theme as far as a component/field showing, and placement, as well as
> font and type.
>
>
>
>
>
> =========================
> BJ Freeman
> Strategic Power Office with Supplier Automation
> <http://www.businessesnetwork.com/automation/viewforum.php?f=52>
> Specialtymarket.com <http://www.specialtymarket.com/>
> Systems Integrator-- Glad to Assist
>
> Chat Y! messenger: bjfr33man
> David van der Staak sent the following on 12/15/2010 3:55 AM:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I'm trying to create a functionality which would allow a store owner
>> to dynamically edit their website via a WYSIWYG like editor.
>> The editor itself is nearly complete, but I'm unsure how to save the
>> changes.
>>
>> The thing I thought of first, is try to interpret the files myself,
>> present them in a way the user can edit them graphically, then store
>> the files again. However, to make the changes effective a run-install
>> seems to be needed or at the very least a restart, which is less then
>> desirable.
>> I know the installation of those files is done at some point, and I
>> was hoping to be able to trigger that again or perhaps call it only on
>> the files that have been edited.
>>
>> Could someone perhaps give me a few pointers on where to look?
>> Specifically, i'm editing the .ftl and .xml files which are related to
>> the looks and feel of the ecommerce store.
>>
>> If it's possible to let ofbiz give me an interpretation of the files
>> that'd even be better. I'll have to adjust my editor ofcourse, but
>> that's manageable.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> David van der Staak
>>
>


__________ NOD32 5706 (20101215) Informatie __________

Dit bericht is gecontroleerd door het NOD32 Antivirus Systeem.
http://www.nod32.nl

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Re: Widgets and screens

Adrian Crum
Take a look at the portlets feature.

-Adrian

On 12/16/2010 5:09 AM, David van der Staak wrote:

> The cache settings were indeed wrong, it does load em properly now.
>
> I'm already working on a CSS Editor, however the larger problem is not so much how it looks, but what it shows on a page. An example would be the right bar. Perhaps that customer A wants to show their phone number, while customer B wants a related products colom there. My idea was to let them be able to edit the shop in that way, which would be more then CSS can achiev.
>
> My idea thus far would be to create a seperate component per customer, and configure apache to figure out which site goes to which component.
>
> The end idea of the project is to give customers a ready shop they can use, but also that they can edit all the way. They don't like the way it was positioned? Just click edit, drag'ndrop it, save, and it's the way they wanted it to be. If they want to create for example, a new widget somewhere, then they can click new, widget, insert whatever data would be needed and it'd be there, on the page they clicked new on. This would give customers a much greater freedom then the average webshop would give them.
>
> Regards
>
> ________________________________________
> Van: BJ Freeman [[hidden email]]
> Verzonden: donderdag 16 december 2010 5:00
> Aan: [hidden email]
> Onderwerp: Re: Widgets and screens
>
> look at the rendering code use by ofbiz to get an html output for the
> WYSIWYG.
>
> =========================
> BJ Freeman
> Strategic Power Office with Supplier Automation<http://www.businessesnetwork.com/automation/viewforum.php?f=52>
> Specialtymarket.com<http://www.specialtymarket.com/>
> Systems Integrator-- Glad to Assist
>
> Chat  Y! messenger: bjfr33man
>
>
> BJ Freeman sent the following on 12/15/2010 7:54 PM:
>> though widgets and ftl give you the components to display, the CSS is
>> the final determination of the display.
>> you can have (skins) themes that they select from, that are copied to a
>> specfic themename for that user, then assigned to them. you could use
>> webtools code to import the data, into their db. this ofcourse is a
>> customization.
>>
>> Going into widgets and ftl's as a WYSIWYG is a Great development tool
>> but I would not expect users to be able to create and or modify those,
>> especially if your using multi-tenent shared code.
>> Getting into the Entities is not something I would allow a user to do.
>>
>> you could consider putting a class on each field which could be effected
>> by the CSS. the WYSIWYG would then modify the CSS files in the selected
>> theme as far as a component/field showing, and placement, as well as
>> font and type.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> =========================
>> BJ Freeman
>> Strategic Power Office with Supplier Automation
>> <http://www.businessesnetwork.com/automation/viewforum.php?f=52>
>> Specialtymarket.com<http://www.specialtymarket.com/>
>> Systems Integrator-- Glad to Assist
>>
>> Chat Y! messenger: bjfr33man
>> David van der Staak sent the following on 12/15/2010 3:55 AM:
>>
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I'm trying to create a functionality which would allow a store owner
>>> to dynamically edit their website via a WYSIWYG like editor.
>>> The editor itself is nearly complete, but I'm unsure how to save the
>>> changes.
>>>
>>> The thing I thought of first, is try to interpret the files myself,
>>> present them in a way the user can edit them graphically, then store
>>> the files again. However, to make the changes effective a run-install
>>> seems to be needed or at the very least a restart, which is less then
>>> desirable.
>>> I know the installation of those files is done at some point, and I
>>> was hoping to be able to trigger that again or perhaps call it only on
>>> the files that have been edited.
>>>
>>> Could someone perhaps give me a few pointers on where to look?
>>> Specifically, i'm editing the .ftl and .xml files which are related to
>>> the looks and feel of the ecommerce store.
>>>
>>> If it's possible to let ofbiz give me an interpretation of the files
>>> that'd even be better. I'll have to adjust my editor ofcourse, but
>>> that's manageable.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>>
>>> David van der Staak
>>>
>>
>
>
> __________ NOD32 5706 (20101215) Informatie __________
>
> Dit bericht is gecontroleerd door het NOD32 Antivirus Systeem.
> http://www.nod32.nl
>
>
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Re: Widgets and screens

BJ Freeman
In reply to this post by David van der Staak
take the normal layout as it is now and change the CSS.
you can make components invisible even though they are still there.
so you can have all the components load and put the location off screen.
then when they select them bring them in view and make them visible.




=========================
BJ Freeman
Strategic Power Office with Supplier Automation  <http://www.businessesnetwork.com/automation/viewforum.php?f=52>
Specialtymarket.com  <http://www.specialtymarket.com/>
Systems Integrator-- Glad to Assist

Chat  Y! messenger: bjfr33man
David van der Staak sent the following on 12/16/2010 5:09 AM:

> The cache settings were indeed wrong, it does load em properly now.
>
> I'm already working on a CSS Editor, however the larger problem is not so much how it looks, but what it shows on a page. An example would be the right bar. Perhaps that customer A wants to show their phone number, while customer B wants a related products colom there. My idea was to let them be able to edit the shop in that way, which would be more then CSS can achiev.
>
> My idea thus far would be to create a seperate component per customer, and configure apache to figure out which site goes to which component.
>
> The end idea of the project is to give customers a ready shop they can use, but also that they can edit all the way. They don't like the way it was positioned? Just click edit, drag'ndrop it, save, and it's the way they wanted it to be. If they want to create for example, a new widget somewhere, then they can click new, widget, insert whatever data would be needed and it'd be there, on the page they clicked new on. This would give customers a much greater freedom then the average webshop would give them.
>
> Regards
>
> ________________________________________
> Van: BJ Freeman [[hidden email]]
> Verzonden: donderdag 16 december 2010 5:00
> Aan: [hidden email]
> Onderwerp: Re: Widgets and screens
>
> look at the rendering code use by ofbiz to get an html output for the
> WYSIWYG.
>
> =========================
> BJ Freeman
> Strategic Power Office with Supplier Automation<http://www.businessesnetwork.com/automation/viewforum.php?f=52>
> Specialtymarket.com<http://www.specialtymarket.com/>
> Systems Integrator-- Glad to Assist
>
> Chat  Y! messenger: bjfr33man
>
>
> BJ Freeman sent the following on 12/15/2010 7:54 PM:
>> though widgets and ftl give you the components to display, the CSS is
>> the final determination of the display.
>> you can have (skins) themes that they select from, that are copied to a
>> specfic themename for that user, then assigned to them. you could use
>> webtools code to import the data, into their db. this ofcourse is a
>> customization.
>>
>> Going into widgets and ftl's as a WYSIWYG is a Great development tool
>> but I would not expect users to be able to create and or modify those,
>> especially if your using multi-tenent shared code.
>> Getting into the Entities is not something I would allow a user to do.
>>
>> you could consider putting a class on each field which could be effected
>> by the CSS. the WYSIWYG would then modify the CSS files in the selected
>> theme as far as a component/field showing, and placement, as well as
>> font and type.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> =========================
>> BJ Freeman
>> Strategic Power Office with Supplier Automation
>> <http://www.businessesnetwork.com/automation/viewforum.php?f=52>
>> Specialtymarket.com<http://www.specialtymarket.com/>
>> Systems Integrator-- Glad to Assist
>>
>> Chat Y! messenger: bjfr33man
>> David van der Staak sent the following on 12/15/2010 3:55 AM:
>>
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I'm trying to create a functionality which would allow a store owner
>>> to dynamically edit their website via a WYSIWYG like editor.
>>> The editor itself is nearly complete, but I'm unsure how to save the
>>> changes.
>>>
>>> The thing I thought of first, is try to interpret the files myself,
>>> present them in a way the user can edit them graphically, then store
>>> the files again. However, to make the changes effective a run-install
>>> seems to be needed or at the very least a restart, which is less then
>>> desirable.
>>> I know the installation of those files is done at some point, and I
>>> was hoping to be able to trigger that again or perhaps call it only on
>>> the files that have been edited.
>>>
>>> Could someone perhaps give me a few pointers on where to look?
>>> Specifically, i'm editing the .ftl and .xml files which are related to
>>> the looks and feel of the ecommerce store.
>>>
>>> If it's possible to let ofbiz give me an interpretation of the files
>>> that'd even be better. I'll have to adjust my editor ofcourse, but
>>> that's manageable.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>>
>>> David van der Staak
>>>
>>
>
>
> __________ NOD32 5706 (20101215) Informatie __________
>
> Dit bericht is gecontroleerd door het NOD32 Antivirus Systeem.
> http://www.nod32.nl
>
>