[Zope3-dev] Re: Page Architecture: Term suggestions

[Jean-Marc Orliaguet]

Paul Everitt wrote:

> Martijn Faassen wrote:
>
>> Tonico Strasser wrote:
>>
>>> Martijn Faassen wrote:
>>
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>>>> -1 from me
>>>>
>>>> I don't think DOM Document and DocumentFragment are consistent with 
>>>> what I perceive to be desired. Are there definitions of 'Page' and 
>>>> 'Pagelet' somewhere?
>>>>
>>>> The DOM core definition talks about XML trees. You can have a whole 
>>>> tree (a Document) and part of a tree (a DocumentFragment). There 
>>>> are other W3C recommendations that probably use different language. 
>>>> The whole pagelet stuff I believe is far more about layout and 
>>>> presentation concerns, something the DOM core is not about. I think 
>>>> it would be confusing to use these DOM terms.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Im concerned about that we are going to reinwent things. A layout is 
>>> a XML document, isn't it?
>>
>>
>>
>> In my experience a "layout" is typically some HTML template + CSS + 
>> Javascript.
>>
>> Pagelet is a term that seems to be used in some Java (JSP) and Cold 
>> Fusion contexts, but I can't find much of a definition. Java does 
>> have a JSR on *portlets*, which is a related concept though I think 
>> broader than pagelets. If you don't want to reinvent things, they'd 
>> still be useful to examine, though:
>>
>> http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-08-2003/jw-0801-portlet.html
>>
>> And the JSR itself:
>>
>> http://www.jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=168
>
>
> There's also the JavaServer "Faces" stuff:
>
> """
> JavaServer Faces technology simplifies building user interfaces for 
> JavaServer applications. Developers of various skill levels can 
> quickly build web applications by: assembling reusable UI components 
> in a page; connecting these components to an application data source....
> """
>
> Some URLs:
>
>   http://java.sun.com/j2ee/javaserverfaces/index.jsp
>   http://www.exadel.com/tutorial/jsf/jsftutorial-kickstart.html
>   http://java.sun.com/j2ee/1.4/docs/tutorial/doc/JSFIntro.html
>
> I have no experience with this whatsoever, just contributing to the 
> list of background information.
>
> --Paul
>

Hi Paul,

What seems the most appropriate concept to me that you are looking for 
in pagelets, viewlets, page, etc is simply the term "portlet" --- as a 
renderable portal component. Then the JavaServer stuff has more to do 
with the application which is the source from which you generate portlet 
content.

otherwise the idea with portlet, pagelets, etc is quite simple: you have 
applications (java, zope page template, python, etc..) that can render 
data in HTML, XML, etc and that can accept data input -- that you 
aggregate into a same screen area.

the diagram at 
http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-08-2003/images/jw-0801-portlet1.jpg 
gives a good idea of a portlet architecture.

if Zope could support all the java-based application code through a 
zope-based portlet architecture that would be interesting. The most 
difficult part it seems is to keep the communication open in both 
directions so that users can interact with the portlet as if it was a 
"real" application inside the portal and not just some piece of static HTML.

/JM