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November 10, 2004

Quick status update on the gskinner.com lightweight interface components. Technically, the components are done, and have been run through a battery of test suites. In fact, we have significantly expanded the number of components we anticipate releasing. From the 11 we originally planned, we are now up to 18:

• Accordion


• Button


• CheckBox


• ColorPicker


• ColorPickerRGB*


• ComboBox


• DataGrid**


• FieldSet*


• List


• NumericStepper


• RadioButton


• SmartClipList*


• ScrollBar


• ScrollPane


• Slider


• TabBox*


• TextArea


• TextInput

All of these components (except those marked) are polymorphic with MM's components, so you don't have to relearn the API or even modify existing applications significantly to upgrade them with GLIC. We've even extended the API in many cases - how often have you wished that List and DataGrid had a "scrollToSelected" method? GLIC has one, and that's just a small example of our new functionality.

We also have fully implemented our advanced FocusManager, that works with ALL of our components seamlessly, and allows for easy the creation of tab groups, and advanced features such as having one tab group continue automatically into another tab group. The coolest thing is that you don't have to use (or even understand) the advanced features if you don't need them. You can just stick with tabIndex.

// add myComponent to a tabGroup
myComponent.tabIndex = 3;
myComponent.tabGroup = "myGroup"; // named tab group
// alternately:
myComponent.tabGroup = this._parent; // scope-based tab group

// set up myGroup to tab into mySecondGroup when it reaches it's end:
FocusManager.getTabGroup("myGroup").nextGroup = "mySecondGroup";

All of our controls are completely accessible via the keyboard, and in the future we will be working to implement full standards-compliant accessibility.

IMHO, another super cool feature with GLIC is that our components are non-invasive. They do not rely on scads of mix-ins, they do not plug new functionality into built-in objects. For example, instead of turning every single Array in your application into a data provider, we utilize a RecordSet class that wraps an array - we leave poor Array alone. We even silently manage the process for you in our List based components, so you don't have to know about it if you don't want to.

I'm working on the business details, and should have news on the expected availability date and licensing details late next week, at which point we will set up a GLIC mailing list to keep everyone interested fed with info.

PS. we're still about 65-75% smaller than MM's components, and use massively less CPU power.

Related links:
Announcement: Gskinner Lightweight Interface Components
Update on GLIC
Max introNetwork: GLIC in action.
Importance of Test Suites (+glic)

Posted @ 01:07 PM by Grant | TrackBack

The only question is: WHEN THE HELL ?

- above:
"...should have news on the expected availability date and licensing details late next week"

Do the components support XML data binding ?

Bernd

Can you say anything more about the "TabBox" component? Is it visual-tabs interface? Or does it deal with your tabGroup stuff?

The TabBox component is a visual tab interface, including support for tab run-over (ie. too many tabs to display) and full keyboard control.

perfect- just what I was hoping for.

Back to anxiously waiting...

Hi Grant,

Any idea on the estimated price of all the components? I assume you are very close to actually releaseing them, so just wondering if you can give out this info now.

Thanks,
Chris

*THUD*

Crap.

I just died of anticipation.