Raw XML vs. Cayenne GUI

From: Chris Farnham (cfarnha..ra.com)
Date: Tue Sep 25 2007 - 19:57:12 EDT

  • Next message: Mikaël Cluseau: "Re: Raw XML vs. Cayenne GUI"

    I've been using Cayenne on two different projects for a couple of months
    now and am very happy with it.

    One thing that I don't like is the reliance upon a graphical composer
    rather than a well documented and defined descriptor file. I know that
    the Cayenne community views the GUI tool as an important differentiator
    from other ORM frameworks. But not everyone likes to work with GUI
    tools. Perhaps it's my Unix roots.

    I prefer working directly with Cayenne's XML descriptor. I wish that
    the schema was documented beyond just a DTD and snippets that people
    pass around on this list. I also get frustrated when I find
    documentation which explains how to control caching or custom queries
    and all it has are step-by-step screenshots of the GUI tool.

    I know that the GUI tool is part of the Cayenne philosophy and I am wary
    of starting a flame-war (perhaps this discussion was happened on this
    list in times past and I haven't seen it).

    Do other people feel the same way I do?
    If so, can Cayenne better support both modes of use?

    I would like to see documentation and examples that are XML descriptor
    centric as well as GUI centric.

    I also think that it'd be an interesting project to look at the current
    XML syntax and make it a little more user/text-editor friendly. I have
    no concrete ideas on this latter point but I've been playing around with
    DSLs in other areas and it might be neat to either streamline Cayenne's
    XML syntax or create a DSL. Either of these could be transformed into
    the current XML syntax.

    I only raise this issue because I've enjoyed using Cayenne and would
    like to see it improve.

    Thanks,
    Chris Farnham

    cfarnha..ra.com
     
     
     
     
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