Trying GXT (ExtJs in GWT)

Today I'm trying out Ext GWT

To use Ext GWT

Installation was simple ( i needed the java sdk i got 1.6Update 7 )


downloaded GWT1.5.1 and decompressed it. happy days!


then i ran the sample hello and I was running, really fast





[if you have problems with some error that ends with <0.49> and then an exception, it s very likely to be that your path is reading some other version of java first, if so go to environment variables and change your system settings so you have the recently installed java sdk first]





to check the java version open the command line and do java -version


Why Ext GWT?





GWT is a compiler that converts Java source into JavaScript


this means you write and test java code






Getting Started


as in the sample i went and changed the email application and it changed properly and that was cool, lets get to the business now


lets create our own app and try to handle some event



Creating an Application


There is an ApplicationCreator that generates a series of files including a java file with a sort of hello world, an html file a css file and two cmd files this all following a naming convention.





Adding support for GWT -EXT


OK I went to the Ext GWT documentation web and there are a few screencast, if you follow them you get to the EXT-GWT (from extjs.com) hello world however there isnt much more sample applications , there is one but seems like a big jump




To be honest this took a while to get right, i m not used to java and the path convention is a bit too strange, i followed the video in the docs above and finally its working :)

From Code Monkey to Code Crafter ftw

This idea has been in my head for a while now, I'm sure all developers get here at some point where you want to move forward but not terribly sure how to get there, how to get better, how to write elegant maintainable code that you are proud of.
For me it all started when I saw how ruby on rails worked and now i m on the path (i think ) to become better and coding using principles like mvc, active record, etc
I remember I started assisting Ruby Ireland meetups and there was nothing like that for .net or java and it still feels like there still isn't a place(maybe i didnt look properly please let me know) or group that you can say, hey lets do

• A code jam about data models or
• A talk about how to do high performance Persistantent Domain Models or
• A talk about a particular project the talker worked on and what they learned in a very detailed technical way [not interested in company secrets but how to become a better dev how to learn from other peoples experience ] or- hey lets compare javascript frameworks or
• This is how you do unit testing in lolcats(im making this up but i recon this exists).
  

I would like to think this is possible, I would like to think that the group can be technology agnostic to a certain degree as i believe most best practises are general for all languages, however I am a c# developer so I talked to Martha Rotter about this and she was interested so we met and talked about this and we will be meeting in open coffee with other (hopefully) like minded people I will post here a date when this is decided but please let me know any thoughts and comments

Baiscally I m interested in relevant, higher level developer talk, in concept very similar to alt.net groups around the world. http://altnetpodcast.com/ http://altdotnet.org/ following good design principles from the Patterns book from Martin Fowler, apply XP , etc

Cheers

EDIT: Ozone thanks for agreing to the use of code crafter :D

Note: Thanks jaime for the proof reading :D

SSIS Pain

hi
This post is basically a rant, a rant about SSIS, whoever designed this UI please take a good look at your career and either retire or consider a career change.

I think the idea behind this service is great; we all need data migration tools; but why make people suffer?
Some examples of why this tool drives me insane; in a data flow, you can createa Derived column, say for some crazy and ridiculous reason (please ntoe sarcasm here) you need to change your something on your source, well then the aforementioned Derived Column thing gies u a nice error(to a level fair enough), but then you deal with the problem you click ok, the dialog closes and then you have to open the same dialog again, why?

Anyone that say that they think SSIS is great is just because they haven't used it.
Rant over ( however i need to keep going with this data migration)

Time picker / PNG Transparency fix

Hi. at some point we all need a click time picker, found this one (in ajaxian)

Also in Ajaxian, I found a PNG fix I used the sample and it works, however I can't make it work on my server, it doesnt even hit the *.htc file.
The instructions say that you should give the path to the htc relative to index.html however I dont seem to be able to get it up and running for my web app, anyway... will try again with a little bit more time later on.