Re: [gnome-db]GUADEC decisions

[Rodrigo Moya <rodrigo gnome-db org>]

On 09 Apr 2001 22:48:41 +0200, Joaquin Cuenca Abela wrote:
> On 09 Apr 2001 21:34:15 +0200, Rodrigo Moya wrote:
> > Hi all!
> > 
> > Well, I'm back from GUADEC, and here are the decisions we've made. It
> > was a pity that only Carlos and I were there from gnome-db.
> > 
> > So, please, comment on it so that you can also participate in the
> > decision, if you want.
> > 
> > * user interface: currently, it is a crap, very confusing, and not very
> > user-friendly. Things to do are to use wizards for configuration stuff,
> > add keybindings, and rework some of the widgets. I would be very
> > grateful to people suggesting UI stuff, even what would be great is to
> > provide me with a .glade file, which is very easy to do. But well, just
> > suggestions would also be welcomed :-)
> > * report engine: I've been talking with some XML guys (Joaquin, Ismael),
> > and I've finally understood what XSLT is, and I now know it is the way
> > to go. So, the report engine would only generate XSLT, and, as Joaquin
> > suggested, we could have a "converter" to be compatible with
> > gnome-print, so that the XSLT returned by the engine can be easily
> > accessed and used by clients.
> 
> I just want to add that I don't think that parsing the fo returned by
> the engine and use gnome-print to render it is so easy.  But it can be
> done, and it seems to me like a nice project in his own ;-)
> 
> I'm not followed closely enough all the report discussion.  Can someone
> write up a resume of the goals of the report?  It seems like something
> as the Access report engine, isn't it?  ie, you fill a "template" from a
> database, and you send the output to gnome-print (for instance)?
> 

the report engine is CORBA-based. So, the idea is to have a server
(OAFIID:GNOME_GDA_Report) which answers to requests from clients. The
clients just have a template, and they pass that template along with
some parameters to the report server. Then, the server gets all the data
needed from the database, and returns the template filled in with data.

Then, the client must know what to do with that XML file, which implies
converting it to some format, or just print/preview it on the fly.

> Do you need to provide some GUI to generate the template?
> 

yes, as part of gnome-db. and another GUI to print/preview it. That's
why I think it's important to make it work nicely with gnome-print, so
that we can reuse all the preview/config stuff from them.

cheers


-- 
Rodrigo Moya <rodrigo gnome-db org> <rodrigo ximian com>
http://www.gnome-db.org/