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Date: Tue, 08 Mar 2005 16:50:10 +0100
From: Reinhard Poetz <reinhard@apache.org>
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To: dev@cocoon.apache.org
Subject: Re: Whiteboard Forms - Reusable form definitions (imports)
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Tim Larson wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 08, 2005 at 09:01:59AM +0100, Reinhard Poetz wrote:
> 
>>I was looking at http://wiki.apache.org/cocoon/WhiteBoardCocoonForms and I 
>>liked what I saw.
> 
> 
> Thanks for taking a look.  Any refinements are welcome.
> 
> Side note: Remeber items in the whiteboard are often initially
> motivated by an individual, but are intended for community ownership
> and involvement and potential merging into the mainline when/if ready.
> So, anybody can dive right in and make any changes that are needed.

ok. another questions (see below) before doing so :-)

>>This document defines reusable macro libraries. I'm sure this is useful for 
>>some usecases (e.g. editors) but I have a simpler one that goes into the 
>>direction of reusable form definitions.
> 
> 
> Macros give saving in maintenance, processing time, and memory usage.
>   Maintenance -- one shared definition to edit instead of x instances.
>   Processing  -- definitions are are only parsed and built one time.
>   Memory      -- only one copy is stored for use in multiple forms.
> 
> The maintenance savings are my main concern.  By permitting reuse of
> snippets of bindings, form definitions, and templates you can more
> readily create and maintain consistent applications.
> 
> For example, macros could be used to implement a common "search"
> sub-form for use throughout the many forms in an application, or
> to load and display common data in a consistent manner in multiple
> forms.
> 
> 
>>In many of my forms date widgets are used: birthdate, start date, end date, 
>>... Definining those widgets is nearly always the same, except the label. 
>>IMO it would make sense not only to have reusable macro libraries but also 
>>reusable widget libraries (renamed fd:macros to fd:library):
> 
> 
> I was already considering renaming fd:macros to fd:library; do you
> want to change it or should I?

can do it. What do you thing about reusable widgets as mentioned in my initial 
mail of this thread? Shall I add them?


-- 
Reinhard P�tz           Independant Consultant, Trainer & (IT)-Coach 

{Software Engineering, Open Source, Web Applications, Apache Cocoon}

                                        web(log): http://www.poetz.cc
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