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diff --git a/kommander/README b/kommander/README new file mode 100644 index 00000000..7de24937 --- /dev/null +++ b/kommander/README @@ -0,0 +1,70 @@ +Kommander v1.0Alpha series +Eric Laffoon <sequitur@kde.org> +---------------------------------------------------------------------- +Kommander is a visual dialog building tool which may be expanded to create +full mainwindow applications. The primary objective is to create as much +functionality as possible without using any scripting language. This is +provided by the following features: +* Specials - these are prefaced with an "@" like @widgetText. The offer +special features like the value of a widget, functions, aliases, global +variables and such. +* DCOP integration - this allows Kommander dialogs to control and be +controled in interactions with other KDE applicatins. It is a very powerful +feature! +* Signals and Slots - this is a little less intuitive to a new user. It is +under review for how we process things in the first major release. These +offer a limited event model for when a button is pushed or a widget is +changed. Combined with "Population Text" it is rather powerful. + +The central key feature of Kommander dialogs is that you can bind text +(Kommander Text) to a widget. So if you have @widget1 and @widget2 and +they are line edits you can set Kommander to show their contents by +entering @widgetText in their Kommander Text area. Then enter hello in +@widget1 and world in @widget2. A button can have the string +My first @widget1 @widget2 program in Kommander +If you run this dialog from a console it will output +My first hello world program in Kommander + +Hopefully you begin to see a small glimmering of the potential. Kommander +enables a much faster design model for simple applications because if allows +you to stop thinking so much about language and revert to the more basic and +natural conceptual model. In computers language is a means to define concepts +and as such it is a layer between concept and implementation that can impede +progress with minutia. Kommander seeks to minimize that layer. + +Kommander also seeks to build on standards. It is built on the Qt Designer +framework and creates *.ui files which it renames to *.kmdr. It can easily +import any KDE widget and this can be done without having to rebuild +Kommander, by using plugins. + +Kommander's other significant factor is how it addresses the requirements of +language. Computer languages can be wonderful things but they tend to have +their own dogmas and zealots often seeking to provide an advance to GUI +design in an integrated development environment. Ironically the accpetance +of such IDEs is limited by the number of people willing to adopt a new new +language to gain access to a desired feature. It is really not reasonable to +expect people to need to change over to a dozen languages to access various +feature sets. By being language neutral and allowing a Kommander dialog to be +extended by using any scripting language Kommander positions it's self in a +unique position for wide spread adoption. Multiple script languages can be +used in a single dialog and applications can be taken over by people using +a different language than the original developer and gradually converting +and extending it. New widgets and featurs can be instantly leveraged by all +available languages. + +We hope that Kommander begins to get the developer support and recognition +required to achieve the potential it offers. Our end goal is to make Kommander +useful for novice users to extend and merge their applications. At the same +time it should become a good prototyping tool. Also it opens the door to the +promise of open source in a new way. We know that people can extend our GPL'd +prgrams, but the fact remains very few have the skills. With Kommander those +numbers see a huge multiplier! Some applications may be most logical as a +Kommander application. We already use it in areas we want to allow +extensibility in Quanta Plus. + +We hope you enjoy Kommander. Please help us with bug reports and example +dialogs, as well as any requests you may have. You can join our user list +for help developing Kommander applications at +http://mail.kdewebdev.org/mailman/listinfo/kommander + +Best Regards from the Kommander development team! |