RE: beans and JSPs and stuff...

["Stone, Brad V (TC)" <bvstone@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

That's understandable, but it's also assuming that in your CGI programming
you're hardcoding attributes such as background color.  This is not the
direction I was taking when looking at the advantages of using JSPs and most
web developers learn not to do this after the second or third try. 

I tend to use control or attribute files that hold attributes for certain
pieces of the page.  Also, I use style sheets very extensivley.

Assume you have an engine that allows customer to order t-shirts.  But,
there are 100 different companies you're acting as a server for.  Each of
the 100 companies has a different "face" to their website.

Using JSPs the way I think your describing them means you would need at
least one JSP for each company, then multiply that by how many "pages" the
site has.

Using an attribute file I can use one CGI program (Servlet, eRPG, etc), read
the attributes for the site and then dynamically build my HTML.  No
hardcoding (you learn not to do that right away, at least I did).

I find it hard to believe that a non-programmer could do anything more than
a very simple JSP code, and most sites aren't simple.  When you say
non-programmer, do you mean someone like my mom (Manager of GNC for the past
10000 years), or do you mean a "super user" who understands iteration and
boolean checks, HTML and web design, but doesn't necesarily know how to
"program".  I assume you are leaning closer to the latter, but when you say
"any user" you're really bending the definition to a point that is
misunderstood by some.

Brad

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joe Pluta [mailto:joepluta@plutabrothers.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2001 8:47 AM
> To: JAVA400-L@midrange.com
> Subject: Re: beans and JSPs and stuff...
> 
> 
> The primary reason is that JSPs can be maintained by 
> non-programmers.  If you design your widgets properly 
> (widgets being the classes that are invoked by the JSP), then 
> even a non-programmer can place them on the screen.  For 
> example, my file maintenance JSPs have basically two working 
> lines: instantiate the file maintenance widget bean and then 
> display it.  However, as the requirements get more complex 
> (for example, placing different fields in different places on 
> the screen), the JSP designer can get a little fancier.  He 
> needs to know the names of the fields, but that's about it.  
> My widgets also allow the designer to attach HTML 
> characteristics directly to the widget, such as colors and 
> borders and the like.  This is clearly in the province of the 
> JSP designer, not the programmer.  To require a change in the 
> program and a recompilation every time I want to change the 
> background color of a field description is very 
> counterproductive.  Instead, the JSP designer can use any !
>  HTML editor (including Notepad!).  The cycle is fast: edit 
> the JSP, change the color ID, save it and refresh the 
> browser.  And anybody with a text editor can do that - they 
> don't even need a Java compiler on their machine.
> 
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