How to make a visual XUL editor?

[Stevo]

So how do we make a visual XUL editor within Open Komodo? (Start with
XUL Explorer)

Requirements:
1. Import bindings from your project.
2. Import css from your project.
3. Able to save in your project.


Other thoughts:
a. What about some communication link between Open Komodo an your
application?
Install an extension into your application that will allow you to
run it and use Open Komodo to edit it on the fly?

[brijcharan]

One thing shane and I were discussing was that it would take a lot of
work to get every aspect of the product in UI wise.

Stevo remember you and I were discussing this like a year ago, about
using the jars from the target app in the editor (komodo) somehow.
I think like you said, themes/bindings should atleast give komodo
enough reference into the UI.
Then maybe we can drive some basic templates for komodo to read off
of.
Like a clone of browser.xul so the user can easily skin it, adjust
widths, layout, etc, and then export it to a theme/extension?

Shane was saying that we could create some communication method
between the app and the ide somehow (will need to understand that in
more detail).

Would be very slick if we could do this.

I was looking more at mark finkles xul explorer, but it doesn't realy
have much more than the preview button, you can't really visually move
things around, etc.

[Mark Lise]

Maybe looking at Mark Finkle's code and seeing a way to make it work
in
komodo first - then we can possibly work at extending it? It would be
a
start to a wysiwyg extension for komodo.

[Stevo]

Yeah, maybe port the XUL explorer to Open Komodo as an extension? Then
go from there. That at least gives a very basic quick way of testing
layout stuff in the IDE rather than another application. Also then we
can use the editor in Open Komodo rather than the crappy basic
editor :).

Next step would be figuring out the css stuff and I think some of that
might already be in XUL explorer.

Stevo.

[Brij Charan]

But what I mean, is I don't really see what finkles code does different than komodo.
If you look at his app, all he does is preview the xul..  We can already do that in komodo?

Am I missing something?

--
Brij Charan
Software Developer, Specializing in UI Development.

[Steven Bengtson]

We can do that with the Open Komodo styles, but we want to include our own projects styles (Songbird for example).
Maybe I should have said implement XUL Explorer into Open Komodo instead? So we can have the same functionality like the Preview.

--
Steven Bengtson
Senior Software Engineer

Pioneers of the Inevitable
585 Howard Street
San Fransisco, California 94105 United States
Work: 1-250-483-7295
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Email: ste...@songbirdnest.com
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[Mark Finkle]

Brij

XUL Explorer adds a little more to the preview. Previewing alone would
fail to handle stylesheet links and DTD links. XUL Explorer allows you
to specify where your chrome manifests are located so external
stylesheets and DTD and images can be found and loaded with the
preview. It's a special directory service provider.

Also, there is a KomodoEdit extension that does some of the XUL
Explorer preview features, including the chrome manifest stuff.

[Brij Charan]

Ya but what I'm saying is that we don't need to integrate his code do we?
We just gotta reference the chrome urls from each projects css/bindings, and we're good.

Cuz Komodo already has the integrated browser, which can already view xul, it just views the xul via filepath, we just need it to view via chrome urls.

Its almost identical to xul explorer.

[Steven Bengtson]

Ah yes I see your point, and we are thinking along the same lines I just worded it incorrectly. :)

[Jeff Griffiths]

There is a simple preview extension, but it is kind of limited:

http://community.activestate.com/forum-topic/xul-preview-extension

There is also a port of the Extension developer's extension:

http://community.activestate.com/komodo-extension/komodo-developer-extension

I've often thought the best arrangement might be running your chrome
as a separate xulrunner process? For a larger app, anyway. If Komodo
could communicate with the xulrunner process easily for a 'live
editing' experience, that would be enough for me. I kinda hate
drag-n-drop wysiwyg type software though, I just want to write code
and see my changes.

Jeff

On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 9:02 PM, Steven Bengtson

--
"Coffee should be black as Hell, strong as death, and sweet as love."
~ Turkish Proverb

[Brij Charan]

I think it depends on what you're after.

But ya, its just an idea for the xul editor.

[Brij Charan]

Hmm.  That I did not know.
Thanks mark :)

So what other features are there that could be integrated? (from your app to komodo?)

[Mark Finkle]

I have a basic XUL validator and best practice checker (accessiblity
and things like that) which could be added.

On Apr 18, 4:35 pm, "Brij Charan" <brijcha...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hmm.  That I did not know.
> Thanks mark :)
>
> So what other features are there that could be integrated? (from your app to
> komodo?)
>