[Yanel-dev] simplifying development of project-specific resource-types and project file-layout

[Guillaume Déflache]

Hi!

For some time now it has been possible in Yanel to specific 
project-specific resource-types (RTs) in a resource-types.xml in your 
realm-directory, cf. 
http://yanel.wyona.org/en/documentation/configuration/resource-types_xml.html

Also even before that it was already possible to gather several RTs 
under a single directory, using resource-*.xml files alongside the usual 
resource.xml file (unfortunately it may not be documented anywhere ATM :/).
AFAICU this was done to avoid having to create and adapt a lot of files 
and directories (to the very minimal build.xml, 
src/build/build.properties, src/build/dependencies.xml, htdocs/, 
src/java/tld/project/) just to define some new routing logic in Java, in 
addition to the absolutely needed *Resource.java Java source file and 
resource*.xml resource-type definition XML file.

IMHO project-specific RTs that are unlikely to be reused elsewhere (in 
Yanel or in other projects) do not need the kind of file-based 
modularity that generic Yanel RTs do.
So in the project I am currently working on I tried to make it even 
simpler by putting the Java source file and the XML definition file for 
project-specific RTs simply under their own package (as one must always 
do anyway) along with the other Java sources of the project (for example 
next to the Java source file for the project-specific Yanel toolbar menu).

Advantages:
- project-specific Java source files are all located under the same 
source directory (but in can still arrange them by feature as you would 
otherwise do)
- it is impossible for project-specific RTs to "collide" because they 
use the same package: there can only be one "resource.xml" per 
directory, so only one RT per Java package
- one does not need to declare dependencies between project-specific RTs 
and/or the realm, because they all are available together in the same 
realm JAR
- under Eclipse as all sources live in the same Eclipse project, one can 
source-debug and do hot-code replacement the whole application without 
any glitches (cf in 
http://yanel.wyona.org/en/documentation/development/build_setup_eclipse_ide.html 
the final TODO: "Document how to create a debug configuration andhow to 
debug across multiple resource-types, which may still be tricky.")
- it is easier to move code from one RT to another or to and from the 
common project code
- maybe more?

Disadvantages:
- one does not have one separate "htdocs" per directory, but this was 
already the case when putting several resource-types under a single 
directory
- it needs getting used to
- probably more I didn't think about, but I think it's well worth trying

HTH,
    Guillaume