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List:       kde-core-devel
Subject:    RE: More thoughts about embedding (fwd)
From:       weis <weis () stud ! uni-frankfurt ! de>
Date:       1999-09-30 15:32:15
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Hi,

On Thu, 30 Sep 1999, Simon Hausmann wrote:

> ..stupid f***** reply-to :-(
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 09:49:45 +0100
> From: David Faure <David.Faure@CRAMER.CO.UK>
> To: 'Simon Hausmann' <shaus@neuro2.med.uni-magdeburg.de>
> Subject: RE: More thoughts about embedding
> 
> > I think there are several problems when attempting to use an IDL
> > interface to create/connect to a GUI:
> > 
> >  1) Using IDL will *always* end up in a restricted solution, meaning
> >     developers will not be able to create/modify certain GUI elements,
> >     because they're either not defined in the IDL, yet, or 
> > they are too
> >     difficult to describe them in IDL (too much bloat)
> > 
> >     In the end this means that applications using this 
> > technology will not
> >     be able to use the latest features of Qt/kdeui and therefore
> >     possibly have a less-functional GUI than applications not 
> > using this technology.
> 
> I agree, hence my mixed corba-XML solution proposal.
> 
> >  2) Using IDL will *always* create a certain kind of bloat. Take the
> >     OpenParts pixmap conversion for example...
> Yes, but OTOH using QPixmap all over the place kills ANY interoperability,
> be it with Java, bonobo, c, perl, whatever.
> Hence the idea of _using_ QPixmap for koffice to koffice stuff,
> but keeping the IDL for interoperability.
> 
> >  3) It requires developers to learn a "new GUI" system. This 
> > is bad IMHO, as there should IMHO be *one* interface for creating a GUI.
> If we can provide both, they don't need to learn the non-Qt one.
> 
> > Another point:
> > If you want to use XML to describe a GUI, then you *need* 
> > direct access to
> > the embedded component, like for accessing QAction objects 
> > for example.
> > You cannot use CORBA here.
> Really ? I need to know more about this.
> Can't you describe in XML "I want a menu with such and such items, please
> add it" ?
> I suppose the problem is the callback when the item is pressed,
> but that's where corba helps.

..... in XML you just say: Insert the action named XZY here.
Wether this action is a menu item, a complete subment, a
list of menu items, a QToolButton or some other widget is
NOt described in XML. That is up to the QAction or some derived class.

> I really see good points in that mixed XML-CORBA solution :
> you can add a lot of new GUI stuff in the XML format, so you
> don't create IDL bloat for that, but you are still able to
> communicate via CORBA to other languages/processes/machines,
> to send the XML and to implement actions when menu items are pressed,
> when you need to redraw yourself, etc...

Wrong assumptions. The XML is just used to arrange the actions.
But with CORBA you have no or slow access to the actions, so it does
not work.

Bye
Torben
 
> --
> David Faure
> faure@kde.org - KDE developer
> david@mandrakesoft.com - Mandrake
> david.faure@cramer.co.uk - Cramer Systems
> 
> 

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