XPToolkit Requirements

This is a rather pathetic first cut at XPToolkit requirements. Please post the real set of requirements to netscape.public.mozilla.xpfe. We need details about what little we are actually going to build in the first release, else we will never finish building anything.

Things other groups need from us:

XPApps needs toolbars and a tree view asap
Layout needs form widgets (which they still "own" I think)
Context menus and tooltips
Menus and command structure (shared with xpapps, I think)

If you or your team need anything from XPToolkit, get it listed here.

(From the XPFE Architecture document)

XPFE has two main requirements:

XPFE must be cross-platform (at least MS-Windows, XWindows, and Mac)
XPFE must support a downloadable UI, where some or all of the UI can be downloaded.

Requirement #1 - Cross Platform
The challenge of creating a cross-platform GUI is:

Create a full-fledged, UI rich application using cross-platform widgets
The availablility of a common set of GUI widgets. The UI either ends up with the "Least Common Denominator" set of widgets or the widget set on any given native platform is augmented to match the other toolkits.
Defining a common resource format for externally describing the static user interface. A resource file provides a flexible approach because the UI can be changed without having to re-compile the application.
The existence of a file reader for the external resource format and the conversion of that data into an internal data structure that represents the widget hierarchy.
A cross-platform layout manager.

Existing Raptor technology provides a solution for each of the cross-platform requirements:

The widget toolkit provides a common set of widgets. Missing widgets on a particular platform (that are available on other native platforms) can be be written natively or written in a cross-platform manner using GFX.
HTML, XML, or any ML can be used to describe the the static layout of the GUI.
Raptor provides an HTML and XML parser and Content Sink. There are DOM APIs into the Content to enable the the getting and setting of widget properties.
Raptor provides a layout engine for laying out the widgets using HTML.

Requirement #2 - Downloadable Chrome
The challenge of providing downable chrome is:

Some or all of the chrome needs to be downloaded
- Is the chrome description completely declaritive or can it be created through a scritping language?
- Can the behavior that is associtaed with the chrome be downloaded and "installed"?
- How can local chrome and NetCenter chrome be merged?
Complete separation of GUI static description, GUI "glue" code and the "core" application
Chrome must support CSS

This page is maintained by Peter Trudelle, last modified