components

[rodrigo linuxave net]

Hi all!

As Alvaro asked me to explain him how gnome-db is now organized, I'm
writing to the list so that everybody can understand it.

There are 2 objects in the gnome-db/lib directory (gnome-db-control and
gnome-db-control-instance) which Vivien and I made some time ago. They
are wrappers around the BonoboControl stuff. So, with GnomeDbControl,
you can make your own BonoboControls without worrying about the latest
changes in the Bonobo API. And with GnomeDbControlWidget, you can load
other BonoboControl in your app.

These 2 objects were made in the beginning just to support the config
components. But now, after the (almost) clean separation of libgda, they
will be used all around to:
* componentize all the architecture: that is, instead of having several
apps (gnomedb-fe, gnomedb-mgr, etc), we've got only one (gnomedb-fe),
and all the stuff (database interaction, DB designer, config manager,
etc) is implemented in separated components, which are just loaded in
gnomedb-fe (and its menus and toolbars merged with the container's.
Note: this now works on the CVS version, it's just started but it works,
so go and test it)
* provide a way for applications to easily load these components. The
best example for this would be gASQL (http://malerba.linuxave.net),
which will now be able to load the GnomeDB configuration component, for
letting its users tweak it.
* let the user customize his gnome-db environment by giving the
possibility of adding third-party components.

so, on CVS the stuff is like this:
* gnomedb-fe: small application which acts as a container for components

* gnomedb-mgr: the old gnomedb-manager but componentized
* gnomedb-components: several components, although I plan (maybe) to
have 1 binary per component, instead of several components in one
binary. For the moment, there are:
    - gnome-db-connection: the old SQL/Browser duet in one component
    - gnome-db-help: help viewer using GtkHTML
    - gnome-db-designer: a database designer
    - gnome-db-log: GDA log viewer

suggestions, ideas, etc are welcomed