Re: New IDL

[Carlos Morgado <chbm chbm nu>]

On Thu, 07 Sep 2000 11:13:09 Ian Campbell wrote:
> 
> 
> > module GNOME {
> >   module Balsa {
> > 	interface Balsa { 
> > ?
> > 
> > btw, 
> > module GNOME {
> >   module Balsa {
> 
> The top one would give like GNOME::Balsa::Balsa::CheckAllMail (I
module GNOME {
   module Balsa {
	interface Balsa { 
		CheckAllMail()


> think). It would be nice if we could have GNOME::Balsa::CheckAllMail and
with Balsa being a module ? -enoclue

> still have GNOME::Balsa::FolderBrowser::* - I haven't got a clue how you
> achieve this in IDL (although your second example looks reasonable..)
> 

dunno if we can have nested interfaces.

> > or should something there be called "Mail" ? or should be a property of
the
> > interface (in bobonospeak if i'm not mistaken)
> 
> I would stick with Balsa, since it is really an interface that is specific
> to balsa.
> 
ok. same here.

> In the future I imagine there will be somesort of standard gnome mailer
> IDL (as an offshhot of evolution I shouldn't wonder) At this point it
> would make sense to support both (or maybe just one - depending on how
> useful the GNOME mailer interfaces are to us..)
> 

the current evolution idl is useless, and miguel (or nat, someone else, i
forget :)) thinks it will need some revamping on the future. lets see :)

> > 
> > 
> > > BTW - the attachments attribute is a string, perhaps it needs to be a
list
> > nod
> > 
> > > (sequence in CORBA parlance I think) of strings, or even a list of octet
> > > sequences or something?
> > > 
> > the attach stuff has issues and is prety much a placehold now. prolly,
corba
> > and network speaking what i need is to pass the whole attachments, not
> > references
> > to them. this sounds miserably like Bonobo::Stream. i have to look into
this.
> > 
> 
> I don't know if you noticed, but there was a thread about the
> Desktop::Editor interface on gnome-devel recently. The interface is
> totally crap, but it was installed and so people started using it, this
> lead to a discussion of IDL interfaces being immutable and stuff.. The
> point being that some pople believe the interfaces shouldn't change at all
> once they are released (I agree with this - but not the solution of
> creating Desktop::Editor2 and stuff...)
> 

hum. that is a bugger, and that's why i'm procastinating trying to speak
with clued people when i can and read idl stuff from trees like gnumeric

> I only mention this so that you remember not to install the IDL file
> anywhere until it is finalised. And stick a bloody great warning about not
> using it at the top too.
> 
oh. i have it on orbit-glue but not on balsa.idl. will add.

> 
> > > The same could apply to the body and stuff, an octet sequence might be
> > > more useful.. Might be worth looking at Bonobo::PersistStream and
friends
> > yup .. 
> > 
> > > - it would make sense to reuse stuff if it fits, in the future I hope to
> > > make BalsaMessage embed Bonobo controls for displaying attachments, so
the
> 
> > oh. i looked at bonobo and did without it to keep the extra weight down
but
> > sounds like it's a necessity to keep stuff simple
> 
> Well, better to have all the bulk in Bonobo where it can be shared than
> reimplementing it in every app...
> 
nod. the problem is, noone seems to actually fully understand Bonobo::Stream,
if you exclude miguel and meeks :) so i had a tough time figuring out what it
was supposed to be used for (research for Zurich) and Evolution:: was kind of 
void, so i walked away from bonobo. bad choice.

> 
> > > Whats the CORBA support on a palm like? or do you use a conduit which
then
> > > speaks CORBA to balsa?
> > > 
> > gnome-pilot has corba stuff to put dbs on the palm and get the status of
the
> > daemon and such. this would be a conduit that drives balsa. sync mail, get

> > unread messages from balsa mailbox(s), send mail in pilot's outbox.
> > everything on gnome-pilot is modular as conduits except for the core stuff

> > like pilot-link and UI and such.
> 
> Cool, I want one even more now and I was trying to save this summer too,
> damn ;-)
> 
gnome-pilot is actually very nice nowaday. the main drive for balsa.idl is 
being able to get mail from imap to the palm, which is high on kewl factor and
rather usefull :) it also knocks some teeth into the Outlook/Palm mouths :)

cheers

-- 
Carlos Morgado - chbm(at)chbm(dot)nu - http://chbm.nu/ -- gpgkey: 0x1FC57F0A
http://wwwkeys.pgp.net/ FP:0A27 35D3 C448 3641 0573 6876 2A37 4BB2 1FC5 7F0A
Software is like sex; it's better when it's free. - Linus Torvalds