RootSchema

[ConvertFromOldNGs]

by Wilfred Verkley >> Sun, 9 Jul 2000 23:02:40 GMT

Why is the RootSchema source closed to external developers? Most development enviroments today publish the source for all their class libraries, and most are equal or vastly superior to the functionality provided by Jade in RootSchema (i.e. MFC, or Borland's VCL). For 3rd party components its virtually a requirement.

Most of the Jade's power comes from things like the JOM, the Thin Client, and the Jade Development Environment which will still be protected. Opening up RootSchema will make Jade easier to learn and extend in different directions, and would increase the trust in how it works for developers.

These encrypted-source RootSchema patches sometimes make me annoyed. Its like a mechanic doing work on your prized hot-rod you built from scratch, and not telling you exactly what he/she did to it.

Wilfred.

[ConvertFromOldNGs]

by Philip >> Mon, 10 Jul 2000 4:08:23 GMT

The RootSchema does let you look around a bit inside it, but not much. I doubt that the entire Devleopment Environment is enclosed in there. Access to it would be helpful for devloping plug-ins and things that need to work closely with the JADE system.

Philip

[ConvertFromOldNGs]

by bok >> Mon, 10 Jul 2000 11:56:22 GMT

The RootSchema does let you look around a bit inside it, but not much. I doubt that the entire Devleopment Environment is enclosed in there.

That's right, the majority of the devolopment environment is implemented in a subschema of RootSchema called, funnily enough, JadeSchema.

Access to it would be helpful for devloping plug-ins and things that need

to work closely with the JADE system.

You can of course use any RootSchema methods that are documented and with due care and knowledge you can use those few 'published' methods that are not documented; some people also care to use unpublished/undocumented RootSchema methods (at their own risk of course ).

[ConvertFromOldNGs]

by bok >> Mon, 10 Jul 2000 11:45:52 GMT

Why is the RootSchema source closed to external developers? Most development enviroments today publish the source for all their class libraries, and most are equal or vastly superior to the functionality provided by Jade in RootSchema (i.e. MFC, or Borland's VCL).

Wilfred,

The majority of RootSchema methods are external methods implemented in support libraries such as jomsupp, jomsys, jadpmap and jadprnt to name a few. Do you really want to see the C++ source for the numerous support libraries?

Most of the Jade's power comes from things like the JOM, the Thin Client, and the Jade Development Environment which will still be protected.

JOM itself uses RootSchema methods such as the core Collection methods and various MetaObject methods, it cannot operate without them; GUI object operations (thin or standard client) are defined in RootSchema on GUI classes and implemented in the jadpmap library.

Opening up RootSchema will make Jade easier to learn and extend in different directions, and would increase the trust in how it works for developers.

Application developers would probably find 'open source' Application frameworks (class libraries) or packages for various domains more useful than RootSchema source which consists of a large amount of C++ source and a relatively small amount of JADE code.

[ConvertFromOldNGs]

by Wilfred Verkley >> Mon, 10 Jul 2000 21:54:06 GMT

I dont mean to be negative, Jade is an amazing database, but I dont like the covert cult of secrecy that surrounds RootSchema and its patches.

The majority of RootSchema methods are external methods implemented in support libraries such as jomsupp, jomsys, jadpmap and jadprnt to name a few. Do you really want to see the C++ source for the numerous support libraries?

Publishing the C++ source is probably excessive, but it would be good to see the whole of the JadeScript source for RootSchema made available. This is directly what we build our applications on, and it would expose some of the interfaces and techniques used.

There are several areas in Jade that arnt very well documented (i.e. the web architecture, the JadeCompiler Class). Having access to RootSchema would remedy this. I know that developers shouldnt always use these RootSchema features because they may change or disapear in future versions, but this should be documented, not hidden.