Log opened nie mar 09 00:00:20 2008 --- Day changed nie mar 09 ::
00:10 Darkintent: is there a particular reason loops in rails code tend to .. by peer)) 01:59 Darkintent: i cant even remember why the rails book (second
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I'm trying to learn Ext Js and I feel like a brick was dropped on my head, kinda like how I felt when I was first learning Rails. Ruby on Rails has terrible documentation (and it's nonexistent for Rails 2.0), and the online API makes absolutely no sense...UNLESS you know what you are doing, and then it's amazing. It's incredibly hard to learn Rails, but once you get it then it's amazing.
I suspect it's the same for Ext Js. The online API looks like complete gibberish to me. There are almost no examples and it's written in some arcane indecipherable low-level JavaScript (compare it to http://visualjquery.com, an online API so user-friendly and easy to read with examples for everything that I never even had to learn it, I just up and started using jQuery like 5 seconds after reading about it. You should play my munch game, btw, http://www.philipbrocoum.com/munch/).
Anyway, the Agile Web Development With Ruby On Rails book pushed me over the edge: it explained things nicely and easily, and now that I've "got" RoR I can't imagine using anything else.
I figure the same thing will happen once I "get" Ext Js, but I've spent all day going over the tutorials, over the API, pouring over the example code...and I'm getting nowhere. The only things I can get to work are copy-and-pasting code from the examples. There are just thousands of options for thousands of objects, and I can't sift through them and figure out how they work. There just doesn't seem to be an easy essay or tutorial that goes, "1) Here is how you create a window. 2) Here is how you create a tab. 3) Here is how you add a menu bar..etc", nothing that shows how it all "fits together", other than the prebuilt examples that break as soon as I change anything.
For example, I'm looking at the example for Viewport in the API. What is
xtype: 'treepanel',
loader: new Ext.tree.TreeLoader(),
root: new Ext.tree.AsyncTreeNode({
Like, how was I supposed to know that I needed an "xtype", or a "loader", or a "root", what are these things? Where do they come from?
So, I'm looking for some sort of "book" that will take me through it. I don't know how many more incomplete wiki pages I can search through!
To bring up the RoR thing again, I don't think it would have been possible to learn RoR without the AWDWR book, which was awesome, and I wonder if it's the same way with Ext Js. Why can't it be as easy as jQuery =P
Springenwerk Blog by Johannes Fahrenkrug: April 2008::
But there's more: The SDK comes with Django! Since working with Rails I have always demo from the AWDWR book and recording what I do as a screencast.
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Custom Query - Rails Trac - Trac::
The following extract from prototype.js 1.5.1_rc1 (rc2 seems to have the same We're using a lot of symlinks in our setup, which rails didn't like:
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Sorry, I'm venting a bit haha. But I'm sure someone else out there must feel the same way.
*chanting* book, book, book, book...
Stedwick
http://www.philipbrocoum.com/munch/
Haha, I wasn't sure if I was going to get a reply because I was kinda being an *ss in my message. Thanks for getting back to me.
You're right, tech books get out of date too quick (AWDWR is totally out of date, now), but they are still the best way to learn because they are a coherent, organized source of info in one place.
How long did it take you to get a hang of Ext Js, and what was your learning method? (or do you actually write it, hehe?)
At the moment, I guess I'm looking for a list of things that can be put into an items: {} object thing and the hierarchy that I'm supposed to use. Like, what's the diff btwn new Ext.Viewport({ as the top object, and new Ext.BoxComponent({ ? Do I need an xtype, or can I use "new Ext.such_and_such" all the time instead?
Why can't it be as easy as jQuery =P
Er... jQuery is much harder to learn than ExtJS...
If you really want the jumpstart, there are training courses available. I'm hoping these go online sometime soon so people outside the US can get access to them (even self paced ones).
This framework is _really_ new, so expect resourecs like books soon, and other nube websites too..
I started using Ext roughly 1 year ago. I'm not actually a developer, the support team are just volunteers who want to be involved in the project (though we do submit patches from time to time).
My method of learning was trial and error (I had a basic JS grounding, coming from JQuery).
You don't need to use xtype, you can always instantiate the object, however best practice is that you use xtypes whereever possible. You are only required to use 'new ...' on items that don't have xtypes (non visual components, like data readers, data stores etc), or the first container in your hierarchy.
The inheritance model looks like (only some of the classes).
Component
BoxComponent
Container
Viewport
Panel
GridPanel
TreePanel
TabPanel
Window
The container object is the one that supports the items: {}. The items passed to a container are components (or a subclass of component).
So, you could have a TreePanel inside a Panel inside a Viewport.
Unfortunately no such book exists. I'm not a big fan of tech books, they tend to go out of date so quickly (except for theoretical type books, like the GoF design patterns book).
However, you're right, the API docs are solid, but the examples are a bit lacking. The community are always generating tutorials, I think we need a more managed approach to ensure that everything gets covered.
If I get some free time I might even write some myself ;).
The best place to go in the beginning is http://extjs.com/learn/, the community is also very active and helpful, so feel free to post questions here.
1) Ext uses a lazy rendering model, where items can be embedded inside other containers. As such, they aren't instantiated until they are needed. xtype indicates the type of object that needs to be instantiated when it finally is rendered.
2) A loader is used to retrieve remote data from the server, for load on demand trees.
3) Each tree must have a root node declared.
 I Am a Sinner – What About You?
 Global Sourcing and Supplier Online by Dylan
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Is there a BOOK for Ext Js? (Kinda like the AWDWR for Rails...)