XUL runner as a GUI for my application, what am I missing here?
I recently got to know the mozilla XUL runner as the basis for the Front Line GUI it seems to be an ideal framework for me (no GUI user), based on xul and js for events and gives me the ability to use C ++ as a backend parts (xpcom). its seams are good to be perfect. my question is for guys who have a validity period in this frame job and can give me a few points regarding the limitations of this frame job. and also can I base commercial software on XULrunner binary? does anyone know about this license issue?
a source to share
XUL is part of the larger "Mozilla Application Platform". There's a lot of concept material out there to learn how to make the most of this excellent x-paltform development environment. Like the previous poster, good documentation is hard to comb.
I suggest you read MacFarlane's book, there is an online version here ...
This gives a very thorough treatment - so you can code the feeling of how you understand the platform, rather than how you accumulate hacks from the web. Another thing you can do is download well-written open source Mozilla-based applications like Komodo Edit and Songbird, and then browse through their chrome directories. You will save a lot of time checking out XUL experts at work.
Speaking of which, one of the major limitations I have encountered in commercial application development is that XUL design requires you to write your client code a lot in JavaScript. This means that your customers (and competitors) will receive a lot of source code. The obvious way to do this is to code the "main" code of the proprietary stuff using another language and link it to JS via XPCOM. Another method I've heard of (which I still have to try) is to drop the JS into the bytecode using mozilla JSXDRAPI. Firefox itself does this internally for caching XUL / JS files. I am yet to meet someone who got xulrunner to recognize compiled .AA files.
Edmond Begumis.
a source to share
The tricky part, I believe, is that you compile files for each platform you want to support. It's a pretty nasty limitation right there. And yes, the Mozilla license is pretty liberal, it's just fine for commercial purposes, here's a license and here's an annotated guide . I like the overview here .
a source to share
XUL is great.
One drawback is that it is not being promoted as a desktop development framework. So tool support is worse than Microsoft, not everything is documented, it doesn't have components to do everything.
If you are serious about XUL, be prepared to learn the structure, including its implementation details. Basically, if you are using components that Firefox does not actively use, you will have problems that you will need to figure out for yourself.
The framework, open source and freely licensed, allows you to patch it and use the patched runtime in your application.
a source to share