[Zope-dev] ANN: VisualStudio Preview released

[Anthony Pfrunder]

Hi,

I've uploaded the VisualStudio technology preview.  I was hoping to add
additional widgets before release but its so easy I didn't bother ;).

Basically, VisualStudio when complete (~ 7 release cycles based on my
normal product lifecycle ;) will provide a complete drag 'n drop
javascript interface to Zope.  It purposely doesn't support any DTML or
other "programming" apart from javascript as you give it to your local web
designer and say "whip up an interface for me".  Then, you write the dtml
handlers for the urls you gave them and voila! instant, active webpages!

The DuoPath application by Dan Steinman
(http://www.dansteinman.com/dynaduo) is what I'm modelling the system on.
The left hand plain will contain a list of all widgets within the
aquisition path + save and reload buttons, the middle contains the current
workspace and the third contains a collaspable menu containing Properties,
Behaviours, Themes and Events (gonna steal this one...).

To use it, they create a form in the Zope interface and click on it.  The
interface described above will pop up and the Zope interface will show the
XML representation of the form (just an XMLised HTML format).  They can
edit in either view.  To create a widget, they click on the icon and drag
its outline on the workspace and it is created automagically!

The key thing here is that it works on both IE and NS - emulating iframes,
behaviours etc when required.

See the VisualStudio examples product for further information and a demo
of a draggable colored box.

Cheers,

Anthony Pfrunder