9780131423435

Summary

Rapid Application Development with Mozilla, part of the Bruce Perens Open Source Series, is a concise guide for any programmer who wants to learn the versatility and compatibility of Mozilla, an open source toolset with over a thousand objects and components. An additional feature of Rapid Application Development with Mozilla is the NoteTaker Web browser add-on-a sample Mozilla application that is developed throughout the book. Written by Web and XML expert Nigel McFarlane, this book is the perfect addition to the library of any user-interface software engineer, cross-platform developer, or any programmer looking to discover the benefits of rapid application development.

Author Biography

Nigel Mcfarlane is a science and technology writer, analyst, and programmer

Acknowledgments	p. xix
Welcome to Software Development the Mozilla Way	p. xxi
Fundamental Concepts	p. 1
Understanding Mozilla Product Names	p. 2
The XML Environment	p. 8
Platform Concepts	p. 11
The RAD Environment	p. 23
Effective RAD Projects with Mozilla	p. 25
Hands On: Cranking Up the Platform	p. 27
Debug Corner: Debugging from Outside	p. 35
Summary	p. 39
XUL Layout	p. 41
XUL Means Boxes	p. 43
Principles of XUL Layout	p. 44
Box Layout Tags	p. 54
A Box Improvement: [left angle bracket]groupbox[right angle bracket] and [left angle bracket]caption[right angle bracket]	p. 64
General-Purpose XUL Attributes	p. 65
Good Coding Practices for XUL	p. 66
Style Options	p. 69
Hands On: NoteTaker Boilerplate	p. 71
Debug Corner: Detecting Bad XUL	p. 75
Summary	p. 79
Static Content	p. 81
XUL and HTML Compared	p. 82
XUL Content Tags	p. 84
Understanding Font Systems	p. 89
Style Options	p. 92
Hands On: NoteTaker Boilerplate	p. 95
Debug Corner: The DOM Inspector	p. 99
Summary	p. 101
First Widgets and Themes	p. 103
What Makes a Button a Button?	p. 105
The Origins of XUL Widgets	p. 107
XUL Buttons	p. 109
Themes and Skins	p. 121
Style Options	p. 129
Hands On: NoteTaker Buttons and Themes	p. 130
Debug Corner: Diagnosing Buttons and Skins	p. 133
Summary	p. 135
Scripting	p. 137
JavaScript's Role as a Language	p. 139
Standards, Browsers, and [left angle bracket]script[right angle bracket]	p. 140
ECMAScript Edition 3	p. 141
Language Enhancements	p. 162
Mozilla's Scriptable Interfaces	p. 164
Hands On: NoteTaker Dynamic Content	p. 186
Debug Corner: Script Diagnosis	p. 193
Summary	p. 195
Events	p. 197
How Mozilla Handles Events	p. 199
How Keystrokes Work	p. 217
How Mouse Gestures Work	p. 223
Style Options	p. 229
Hands On: NoteTaker User Input	p. 230
Debug Corner: Detecting Events	p. 235
Summary	p. 236
Forms and Menus	p. 239
XUL and HTML Forms Compared	p. 240
Where to Find Information on Menus	p. 242
Forms	p. 242
Menus	p. 250
Style Options	p. 256
Hands On: NoteTaker Events and Forms	p. 258
Debug Corner: Diagnosing Events and Forms	p. 261
Summary	p. 263
Navigation	p. 265
Navigation Systems	p. 266
Navigation Widgets	p. 270
Style Options	p. 289
Hands On: NoteTaker Toolbars and Tabs	p. 289
Debug Corner: Navigation Problems	p. 292
Summary	p. 293
Commands	p. 295
Commands and Mozilla	p. 296
Command Concepts	p. 298
How Commands Are Started	p. 305
Using Commands Via XUL	p. 307
Using Commands Via the AOM	p. 310
Commands and XPCOM Components	p. 314
Existing Commands	p. 316
Style Options	p. 317
Hands On: Command Design	p. 317
Debug Corner: Catching Unexpected Commands	p. 322
Summary	p. 323
Windows and Panes	p. 325
Ordinary [left angle bracket]window[right angle bracket] Windows	p. 326
Popup Content	p. 327
Dialog Boxes	p. 329
JavaScript Window Creation	p. 332
Embedding Documents in Panes	p. 340
Mixing Documents	p. 344
Managing Existing Windows	p. 346
Style Options	p. 347
Hands On: NoteTaker Dialogs	p. 349
Debug Corner: Diagnostic Windows	p. 357
Summary	p. 359
RDF	p. 361
Mozilla Uses of RDF	p. 364
Learning Strategies for RDF	p. 365
A Tutorial on Facts	p. 366
RDF Syntax	p. 379
RDF Examples	p. 393
Hands On: NoteTaker: Data Models	p. 398
Debug Corner: Dumping RDF	p. 407
Summary	p. 408
Overlays and Chrome	p. 411
Overlays	p. 413
The Chrome Registry	p. 424
Persisting Window State	p. 428
Related AOM and XPCOM Objects	p. 429
Hands On: The NoteTaker Toolbar	p. 429
Debug Corner: Overlay Tips	p. 432
Summary	p. 433
Listboxes and Trees	p. 435
Text Grids	p. 436
Listboxes	p. 438
Trees	p. 449
Style Options	p. 468
Hands On: NoteTaker: The Keywords Panel	p. 473
Debug Corner: Making [left angle bracket]listbox[right angle bracket] and [left angle bracket]tree[right angle bracket] Work	p. 493
Summary	p. 494
Templates	p. 497
An Example Template: Hello, World	p. 499
Template Concepts	p. 501
Template Construction	p. 517
Common Query Patterns	p. 534
Template Lifecycle	p. 539
Scripting	p. 541
Style Options	p. 546
Hands On: NoteTaker Data Made Live	p. 546
Debug Corner: Template Survival Guide	p. 559
Summary	p. 561
XBL Bindings	p. 563
Binding Concepts	p. 565
Constructing One XBL Binding	p. 572
Combining Multiple Bindings	p. 591
How Bindings Are Processed	p. 594
Scripting	p. 595
Style Options	p. 598
Hands On: The [left angle bracket]noteplacer[right angle bracket] Tag	p. 598
Debug Corner: XBL Diagnosis	p. 614
Summary	p. 615
XPCOM Objects	p. 617
Concepts and Terms	p. 619
General-Purpose Scripting	p. 623
Data Transfer	p. 638
Web Scripting	p. 652
Platform Configuration	p. 662
Hands On: Saving and Loading NoteTaker Notes	p. 677
Debug Corner: Working with Data Sources	p. 700
Summary	p. 703
Deployment	p. 705
Overview of Install Strategies	p. 707
Steps Toward Remote Deployment	p. 712
Install Technologies	p. 725
Hands On: Bundling Up NoteTaker	p. 744
Debug Corner: Logging and Testing	p. 751
Summary	p. 752
Index	p. 753
About the Author	p. 771
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Excerpts

IntroductionWelcome to Software Development the Mozilla WayThe Mozilla Platform is a large software development tool that is a modern blend of XML document processing, scripting languages, and software objects. It is used to create interactive, user-focused applications. This book is a conceptual overview, reference, and tutorial on the use of the platform for building such applications.The Mozilla Platform encourages a particular style of software development: rapid application development (RAD). RAD occurs when programmers base their applications-to-be on a powerful development tool that contains much pre-existing functionality. With such a tool, a great deal can be done very quickly. The Mozilla Platform is such a tool.One strategy for doing RAD is to make sophisticated HTML pages and display them in a Web browser. This book does not explain HTML, nor does it show how to create such pages. It has very little to do with HTML. Instead, it shows how to create applications that require no browser, and that might appear to be nothing like a Web browser. Such applications might be Web-enabled, benefiting from the advantages that Web browsers have, or they might have nothing to do with the Web at all.Because Mozilla is closely linked to the Web in people's minds, this last point cannot be emphasized enough. The Mozilla Platform is far more than a browser. Here are some statistics: Mozilla contains well over 1,000 object types and well over 1,000 interfaces. It is highly standards compliant, supporting many standards from bodies such as the W3C, IETF, and ECMA. These bodies are, respectively, the World Wide Web Consortium, the Internet Engineering Task Force, and the European Computer Manufacturers' Association. Mozilla is built on a very big source code base and is far larger than most Open Source projects. It is 30 times larger than the Apache Web Server, 20 times larger than the Java 1.0 JDK/JRE sources, 5 times bigger than the standard Perl distribution, twice as big as the Linux kernel source, and nearly as large as the whole GNOME 2.0 desktop source--even when 150 standard GNOME applications are included. As a result of the browser wars in the late 1990s, the platform has been heavily tested and is highly optimized and very portable. Not only have hundreds of Netscape employees and thousands of volunteers worked on it, but millions of end users who have adopted Mozilla-based products have scrutinized it as well.This extensive and tested set of features is a huge creative opportunity for any developer interested in building applications. These features also offer an opportunity for traditional Web developers to broaden their existing skills in a natural way.This book covers the Mozilla Platform up to version 1.4. Changes between minor versions (e.g., 1.3 and 1.4) are small enough that most of this book will be correct for some time. Useful KnowledgeSome experience is required when reading this book. Some familiarity with Web standards is assumed. This list of skills is more than enough preparation: A little HTML or XHTML A little XML A little JavaScript, or another scripting language, or one of the C languages (C, C++, C#, Java, IDL) A little CSS2 A little Web page development A little SQL A little experience working with objects The pleasure of having read the W3C's DOM 2 Core standard at least onceAll the standards for these technologies, except SQL and JavaScript, are available at .To read this book with very little effort, add these skills: a little Dynamic HTML; a little Prolog; more experience with an object-brokering system like COM or CORBA; additional experience with another RAD tool like a 4GL or a GUI Designer; and more SQL experience.It is common for advanced Mozilla programmers to

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Rapid Application Development with Mozilla

0131423436

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

Excerpts

Rewards Program