Re: starting point: manifests, configs, and the such

Ya let's do up a wiki.

At the "Future of Offline Apps" workshop there was some discussion about
merging config.xml and cache manifest. Some folks were for it, others were
against it. My understanding is the people who were against it felt it was
too much overhead (which I think is a bad argument; minimum case is
<widget></widget> which is trivial). Also classic web apps need the cache
manifest but not the other configuration parameters.

Following the workshop Mike posted up a brief proposal / first pass on how
a consolidation of these two specs could work [1]. I'd recommend taking a
gander at that. Also, RIM's web-based SDK (WebWorks) defines an extension
to config.xml that is basically this suggestion, called the <rim:cache>
element [2].

As for some of the issues you bring up, Brian, off the top of my head:

- cache manifest use case. Consider an installable app composed of both
packaged assets and externally-loaded resources. Perhaps something like a
first-run database to seed data in an app. Maybe this DB is hosted
externally. A cache manifest in this case could work well.
- issues with the current config.xml. Lack of splash screen support is the
biggest one from a phonegap perspective (although a media/content element
exists and the spec talks about specifying mime types for these - not sure
if they are at odds / diff. use cases). Again, RIM addressed this problem
in their Web-based SDK as well [3].

[1] http://log.michaelbrooks.ca/2011/11/05/appcache-and-widget-packaging/
[2] 
https://bdsc.webapps.blackberry.com/html5/documentation/ww_developing/rim_c
ache_element_1264486_11.html
[3] 
https://bdsc.webapps.blackberry.com/html5/documentation/ww_developing/rim_l
oadingscreen_element_834680_11.html

On 11-11-24 9:20 AM, "Brian LeRoux" <b@brian.io> wrote:

>This old chestnut. First we have W3C specs:
>
>- CACHE MANIFEST [1]
>- config.xml from the widget spec [2]
>
>And then we have analogues in the native app dev world:
>
>- Android: AndroidManfiest.xml [3]
>- iOS: Info.plist [4]
>- BlackBerry: config.xml [5] <-- yay!
>- WindowsPhone: App.xaml, WMAppManifest.xml ... possibly others
>- Bada: Application.xml, Manifest.xml
>
>And then we have other places that have embraced JSON:
>
>- webOS
>- Symbian
>- Mozilla Open Web Apps
>- Chrome Apps Store Apps
>
>All of the things (listed earlier) tend to abstract the metadata
>around the contents of the executable package. So, we have some good
>precedents. In the PhoneGap project we decided to embrace and extend
>from config.xml as our starting point. XML, while its lost its shine
>lately, does have explicit mechanisms for validation and extension
>whereas JSON does not (not really).
>
>Point being, I think this is our most fundamental starting point. We
>can't have an installable web app without this spec, and the spec for
>the config.xml has been evolving but a few things remain that need to
>be addressed:
>
>1. CACHE MANIFEST use case
>2. items found in the various native platforms not yet addressed
>3. the concepts around WebIntents/WebActivities
>
>* * *
>Thoughts on the three points above? Should I start collecting this
>info on our Wiki?
>
>
>[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/offline.html#manifests
>[2] http://www.w3.org/TR/widgets/
>[3] http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/manifest-intro.html
>[4] 
>http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/Xcode/Conceptual/ios
>_development_workflow/115-Configuring_Applications/configuring_application
>s.html
>[5] 
>http://docs.blackberry.com/en/developers/deliverables/30182/Creating_a_BB_
>Widget_configuration_document_834664_11.jsp

Received on Thursday, 24 November 2011 19:11:47 UTC