What i want from Spry

Question

First let me say i was blowed away with Adobe developing open
source software and using a wiki, I hope you guys continue doing
this for many years to come...
Now lets see a couple of things i would like to see in Spry,
as mentioned the Accessibility and custom tags (validation) problem
are a bit of a worry, you guys should probably take a look at the
way backbase implemented their product, that actually looks like a
very similar approach to what Spry is trying to do.
example of backbase code:
<b:accordeon style="width: 300px;">
<b:accordeonhead>2001</b:accordeonhead>
<b:accordeonbody>
<s:include b:url="data/2001_short.xml" />
</b:accordeonbody>
<b:accordeonhead>Seven Samurai</b:accordeonhead>
<b:accordeonbody>
<s:include b:url="data/seven_short.xml" />
</b:accordeonbody>
<b:accordeonhead>Life is
Beautiful</b:accordeonhead>
<b:accordeonbody>
<s:include b:url="data/bella_short.xml" />
</b:accordeonbody>
<b:accordeonhead>The Godfather</b:accordeonhead>
<b:accordeonbody>
<s:include b:url="data/godfather_short.xml" />
</b:accordeonbody>
</b:accordeon>
from:
http://www.backbase.com/demos/explorer/
Now what i would like to see Spry bring to the Ajax framework
panorama is not the same full blown RIA features of backbase or
TIBCO General Interface, both are commercial, but more on the lines
of an easier to use openrico or moo.fx frameworks.
Stuff that i would like to do with Spry are create simple
widgets that are backed by Ajax calls for instance accordion, tabs,
and have the datasets easily updated with timers, something like
this:
dsObjects = new
Spry.Data.XMLDataSet("/RapidWatcher/ManagedObject/getAll",
"ManagedObjects /Object", { useCache: false }, { setRefresh:
30000});
Say that i have a tabbed RSS feed panel, i want to easily be
able to update each tab independently, or if i have expandable
tabs, i want to be able to easily make them drag able, change the
expand icon, easily sort tables, and stuff like that... I really
don't want a complex, large library i would use backbase for that
or one of the other ajax javascript libraries Dojo, Prototype.
PS: This FuseTalk forum REALLY sucks

Answer 1

Hi again,
So you seem to be pretty in tune with what we are thinking.
Back is impressive. A very complete framework with probably
the best set of demos in the Ajax world.
In our Ajax paradigm, we want to try to stick with standard
HTML and CSS as much as possible.
We believe that this will make understanding and editing
easier for everyone, since there is little new to learn.
HTML, CSS and javascript provide all the functionality we
need to implement our Ajax vision.
In the product demo, our accordion code looks like:
<div id="Acc1" class="Accordion">
<div class="AccordionPanel">
<div class="AccordionPanelLabel">
<h3>Product Overview</h3>
</div>
<div sprydetailregion="dsProducts"
class="AccordionPanelContent">
<div>{desc}</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="AccordionPanel">
<div class="AccordionPanelLabel">
<h3>New Features </h3>
</div>
<div spryregion="dsProductFeatures"
class="AccordionPanelContent">
<div>
<ul class="">
<li
spryrepeat="dsProductFeatures">{feature}</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
As I explained in another post, our choice to use custom
attributes was a tough one, but there was little choice without
limiting what we can do. We hope the tradeoff is worthwhile. We are
looking into using XML namespaces, which will allow us to validate.
Keyboard navigation is also on the list.
Give the docs a good look for the abilities of the data
stuff. Sorting and filtering are already there, among others.
As for our use of wikis, well, we are getting pretty savvy
over here. ;)
Thanks for your interest.
Donald Booth
Adobe Spry Team