Re: practical question on planning new application: use flash, applet or SVG?

Hi, zhangweiwu-

What you are looking for is basically a constrained DAG (directed 
acyclic graph).  I've written many applications in SVG on this general 
theme, and they are perfectly fast and usable in FF1.5+.  Obviously, 
there can be some lag if the number of elements is very large (hundreds 
of thousands of entities), and there are inherent challenges in 
automatic layout algorithms and path avoidance (if you need that sort of 
thing), but you would face that in any language.

Writing large JS libraries can itself be a challenge, but with a 
well-designed architecture, and knowledge of efficient DOM programming, 
I am confident that you can make an efficient codebase that is easily 
maintained.

Most of the stuff I've done has ended up on an intranet, so I don't have 
anything public I can show you.  If you really need reassurance, 
however, maybe I could give you a WebEx demo or something, if I find the 
time.

Finally, this is not the best list to ask such questions on, since it is 
mainly intended for discussion of the specification itself.  You will 
find many helpful developers over at svg-developers@yahoogroups.com .

Regards-
-Doug

Research and Standards Engineer
6th Sense Analytics
www.6thsenseanalytics.com
mobile: 919.824.5482


张韡武 wrote:
> Hello. Recently we are starting a new project developing a simple
> web-based workflow editor. 
> 
> In this web application users will use use drag-and-drop to create a
> workflow chart within the browser. Requested feature:
> 
>      1. possible to print the chart using browser;
>      2. possible to store workflow chart made by user on the server.
>         e.g. the user edit a workflow, and save it. Later when he comes
>         back to the website he can go on work on the workflow chart he
>         yesterday saved;
>      3. possible to export the workflow chart in any vector image format
>         (can be done on server-side)
>      4. application should run reasonably fast on Firefox on recent
>         years hardware
> 
> Ideas we have now includes: 
>      1. use html with javascript (will have difficulty drawing pointers
>         and lines);
>      2. Active Script with Flash
>      3. javascript + SVG
>      4. Java applet
>      5. write an ActiveX control
> 
> We need to decide which technology to use mostly by estimate effort we
> need to develop and maintain. Because at this moment we don't have
> developer familiar with active script, Java and ActiveX, the developers
> are all very familiar with javascript, thus SVG+Javascript looks like
> the best solution for us. But I wish to ask the mailing list first in
> order to have a rough idea of how difficult it is to develop such
> application with SVG + Javascript. e.g. is it possible to write
> drag-and-drop application with SVG + Javascript? Would the application
> be too slow? Is there limitation in SVG or firefox support of SVG that
> can make such application difficult to make?
> 
> I also couldn't find a fast-and-complex example of SVG application
> similar to our project. If I can find such an example, it's easier to
> gain confidence over this technology and firefox's support of it. Do you
> happen to know such application?
> 
> Thank you very much in advanced.


--

Received on Saturday, 11 November 2006 22:34:21 UTC