From e9ae80694875f869892f13f4fcaf1170a00dea41 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: toma Date: Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:56:58 +0000 Subject: Copy the KDE 3.5 branch to branches/trinity for new KDE 3.5 features. BUG:215923 git-svn-id: svn://anonsvn.kde.org/home/kde/branches/trinity/kdewebdev@1054174 283d02a7-25f6-0310-bc7c-ecb5cbfe19da --- doc/kommander/introduction.docbook | 134 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 134 insertions(+) create mode 100644 doc/kommander/introduction.docbook (limited to 'doc/kommander/introduction.docbook') diff --git a/doc/kommander/introduction.docbook b/doc/kommander/introduction.docbook new file mode 100644 index 00000000..7b40475a --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/kommander/introduction.docbook @@ -0,0 +1,134 @@ + + + + +Introduction + + +Eric +Laffoon + +
sequitur@kde.org
+ + + + + + + + +Introduction + + +&kommander; is a visual dialog building tool which can be used to create +full mainwindow applications, provided the window is initially created in Qt Designer +or from a template in &kommander;. The primary objective is to create as much +functionality as possible with the absolute minimum use of scripting. This is +provided by the following features: + +Please note this document includes legacy documentation for compatibility reasons. In a nutshell &kommander; offers extremely rapid development and extensive abilities and capabilities. Following is a new list, followed by the legacy content. + + + +Capable internal scripting - &kommander; now offers nested logic structures, simple arrays and useful functions + + +Function Browsers - One never need know exact syntax for any function or command, just click the button and point and click your way to a functional program. Even the project lead finds it easier than typos much of the time. + + +Extensive widgets - &kommander; now has a tree/detail widget, spreadsheet like table widget, font dialog, color dialog, about dialog, timer, tab widgets, toolbox, popup menus, date picker and a lot more. + + +Plugins - &kommander; can run easy to create plugins. Plugins as of this writing are a database plugin offering a set of non visual tools, an HTTP plugin offering HTTPS and access to password protected areas and a KPart loader. + + +Scripting language support - The ability to run multiple scripting language in &kommander; scripts, inside your dialog + + +KPart creation - the ability to make your own plugins... and stranger yet you can even make a &kommander; window load a dialog as a KPart and directly access it with &kommander; functions! + + +Look for documentation on tips and tricks like how to make &kommander; fake programming techniques like including a file, creating and using custom widgets, making collapsable panels in windows and other unexpected tricks. Below is our legacy list. + + + +Specials are prefaced with an @ like @widgetText. The offer +special features like the value of a widget, functions, aliases, global +variables and such. + + +&DCOP; integration allows &kommander; dialogs to control and be +controlled in interactions with other &kde; applications. It is a very powerful +feature! + +Signals and Slots is a little less intuitive to a new user. It is +under review for how we process things in the first major release. These +offer a limited event model for when a button is pushed or a widget is +changed. Combined with Population Text it is rather powerful. + + + +The central key feature of &kommander; dialogs is that you can bind text +(&kommander; Text) to a widget. So if you have @widget1 and @widget2 and +they are line edits you can set &kommander; to show their contents by +entering @widgetText in their &kommander; Text area. Then enter hello in +@widget1 and world in @widget2. A button can have the string +My first @widget1 @widget2 program in &kommander; +If you run this dialog from a console it will output +My first hello world program in &kommander; + + + +Hopefully you begin to see a small glimmering of the potential. &kommander; +enables a much faster design model for simple applications because if allows +you to stop thinking so much about language and revert to the more basic and +natural conceptual model. In computers language is a means to define concepts +and as such it is a layer between concept and implementation that can impede +progress with minutia. &kommander; seeks to minimize that layer. + + + +&kommander; also seeks to build on standards. It is built on the &Qt; Designer +framework and creates *.ui files which it renames to *.kmdr. It can easily +import any &kde; widget and this can be done without having to rebuild +&kommander;, by using plugins. + + + +&kommander;'s other significant factor is how it addresses the requirements of +language. Computer languages can be wonderful things but they tend to have +their own dogmas and zealots often seeking to provide an advance to &GUI; +design in an integrated development environment. Ironically the acceptance +of such &IDE;s is limited by the number of people willing to adopt a new new +language to gain access to a desired feature. It is really not reasonable to +expect people to need to change over to a dozen languages to access various +feature sets. By being language neutral and allowing a &kommander; dialog to be +extended by using any scripting language &kommander; positions itself in a +unique position for wide spread adoption. Multiple script languages can be +used in a single dialog and applications can be taken over by people using +a different language than the original developer and gradually converting +and extending it. New widgets and features can be instantly leveraged by all +available languages. + + + +We hope that &kommander; begins to get the developer support and recognition +required to achieve the potential it offers. Our end goal is to make &kommander; +useful for novice users to extend and merge their applications. At the same +time it should become a good prototyping tool. Also it opens the door to the +promise of open source in a new way. We know that people can extend our GPL'd +programs, but the fact remains very few have the skills. With &kommander; those +numbers see a huge multiplier! Some applications may be most logical as a +&kommander; application. We already use it in areas we want to allow +extensibility in &quantaplus;. + + + +We hope you enjoy &kommander;. Please help us with bug reports and example +dialogs, as well as any requests you may have. You can join our user list +for help developing &kommander; applications. + + +Best Regards from the &kommander; development team! + + -- cgit v1.2.1