The compiled JavaScript output of a GWT application is divided into various files, for instance
*.cache.html
*.gwt.rpc
hosted.html
*.nocache.js
...
I know this is done with the purpose of minimizing the size of the JavaScript, which has to be downloaded by users. For instance so that a Firefox user does not have to load the JavaScript specifically compiled for IE6.
However, especially for small GWT applications it might often be faster to download a single file of say 500kb rather than make two sequential requests first for the 5kb *.nocache.js script and then for the rest of the app (cache.html files, etc.).
This leads me to the question: Is there any framework or procedure to bundle the output of the GWT compiler into a single JavaScript file?
First, you can merge all permutations in a single file by using so-called "soft permutations".
Then, you can inline your *.nocache.js into the HTML host page (e.g. using a JSP's #include directive) to cut one additional request (you might have to add a <meta name=gwt:property content='baseUrl=myapp'> where myapp is the subfolder where the .nocache. files are located).
AFAIK that's what Google are doing for their GWT apps.
Alternatively, you can run the permutation selection on the server-side if you can totally replace the selection script (*.nocache.js) with server-side content negotiation (based on User-Agent and Accept-Language request headers for instance) that can directly generates a <script> tag for the appropriate *.cache.js file (provided you use the xsiframe linker).
AFAIK, Google use all these techniques for their GWT apps (such as Google Groups). For a small app, though, I'm not sure it's worth the effort…
Also, the last two techniques work best when your HTML host page is already dynamic and therefore already non-cacheable; otherwise you're mostly moving the problem, not solving it.
I wonder whether the sso linker can be used when you collapse all properties and soft-permutations down to a single hard permutation.
Yes, but it's maybe not something you want. See this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/4453716/66416 to this stackoverflow question: Merge GWT generated files.
I found another way to accomplish this: Writing a custom Linker for GWT. Two examples for linkers which compile into a single JavaScript file are:
GwtNodeLinker.java from Gwt Node project
ServerSingleScriptLinker.java from Env.js project
Related
I know that wicket will take min files when running in deployment mode. But I would like to have possibility to bundle multiple javascript files into one, so that the generated page can load whole javascript from single url. This should happen only is deployment mode, development should still deliver pages containing multiple javascript files.
You need to use "resource bundles". See http://wicket.apache.org/guide/guide/resources.html#resources_6.
You can wrap the registrations with "if (usesDeploymentMode()) {...}"
Greetings,
I'm looking for a way to launch a GWT module when a user clicks on an XML file and have the module consume the xml data. Ideally I would like to render the XML in a rich manner and would prefer to use GWT controls instead of having to lay it out by hand via xslt + javascript.
I'm supposing one way would be to point the xml to a well known xslt that creates a simple html page that forces a redirect to the gwt module but how would I transfer the xml data to said module to allow for enhanced formatting?
Another way would be to have the process that produces the xml also include the bootstrap gwt module but it would be creating multiple bootstrap instances over time and pollute the user's directory.
The use case is that a user would run this app on their local machine which outputs an XML file. If they try and view the xml file in a browser, I'd like to have the GWT module take over and present the data accordingly. I would rather they not have to go to a page and upload the data manually.
Appreciate any ideas on the matter.
TIA
If it's something that runs on the user's machine, I would recommend to ship an executable, or generate a parallel HTML file to present the data. JavaScript run from file:/// will not be able to acces the filesystem.
I am looking to compile my gwt application into a single, monolithic, cross-browser compatible .html file. Ultimately, I'm trying to design an Amazon mechanical turk template via gwt. These templates must be a single .html file, since they are hosted on Amazon's machines. The .html file can reference external sources, but via absolute address only since I have no control over the file hierarchy.
It does not concern me that the monolithic file will load slower than having separate files for each browser. I am developing a fairly simple web form containing only client-side code that will be seen by very few people. Therefore, speed and cross-browser correctness are not primary concerns.
I have found that by adding the following line to my MODULE_NAME.gwt.xml I can generate a single javascript file that works exclusively for a single browser (e.g. firefox as shown below):
<set-property name="user.agent" value="gecko">
I then embed the generated code into my .html file, and it works for the single browser specified. Unfortunately, when I try opening the .html file in other browsers, the gwt generated javascript does not load.
Is there a linker command that I can add to this file that will do the trick? I tried to invoke the SingleScriptLinker via:
<add-linker name="sso" />
but got the following error:
[ERROR] The module must have exactly
one distinct permutation when using
the Single Script Linker.
I also attempted to tweak the contents of the generated javascript files in order to make them compatible enough to embed in the .html file, but the javascript generated by gwt is too confusing (even in the detailed output mode). Is there a walk-through for how to do this?
I'm using the gwt eclipse plugin on OSX.
As luck would have it, I have found a workaround soon after posting my question:
http://groups.google.com/group/Google-Web-Toolkit/browse_thread/thread/79e9634110487490
In short, the answer is to use cross-site scripting.
Add the following line to MODULE_NAME.gwt.xml:
< add-linker name="xs" />
gwt will generate a MODULE_NAME.nocache.js file as well as some MD5.cache.js files (note the MD5 files end with .js, not .html).
Compile your application
Now, put all of these .js files on server A.
Modify your MODULE_NAME.html file to contain an absolute reference to MODULE_NAME.nocache.js on server A.
Upload MODULE_NAME.html to server B.
The cross-site linker makes everything work.
I have a web app project that I will be starting to work on shortly. One of the features included is going to be a content management system where users can add content and then that content will be combined with a template and then output as a regular .html file. This .html file would then be FTPed to their own web host.
As I've always believed in not reinventing the wheel I figured I'd see if there are any quality customizable CMSes out there that do this already do this. For instance, Blogger.com allows you to post all of your content to your account there; but offers the option to let you use your own hosting. Any time you publish a new article then a new .html page is generated (as well as an updated index page with links to the new article) and then the updated content is FTPed to your own server.
What I would like is something like this that I can modify to more closely suit my needs.
Required Features:
Able to host on my own server
Written in PHP
Users add content through their account, then when posted it is FTPed as .html to their server
Any appropriate pages are also updated to link to the new content (like the index page or whatnot)
Templateable
Customizable
Optional (but very much desired) features:
Written in CodeIgniter or a similar PHP framework
While CodeIgniter isn't strictly required, I would very much prefer it. It speeds up development time and makes things much easier to implement.
So - any suggestions? I've stumbled across a few CMSes that push to remote servers as static pages, but the ones I've found all are hosted on the developers servers which means that I cannot modify it at all.
Adobe Contribute might work for your situation. A developer/designer creates a set of templates with Dreamweaver and publishes the templates. Authorized users can then create pages based on the templates and only make changes within the editable regions. It includes systems for drafts and reviews prior to publishing (via many options, including ftp) and incorporates automatic version control. It can work with static html pages or dynamic pages like php.
Sounds like you need a separate application that can do this for you.
For example, you should be able to write something that queries Drupal's menu router and saves the output (with curl) to a directory and then run's rsync to push your content where you want it to go.
Otherwise your requirements are likely to be outside the scope of a typical CMS. Separating this functionality will give you better options.
You'd need to write a filter for your URLs too. It's a bit of work...
Hope that helps!
If there's a way for the client side GWT code to pre-process a file on the client computer?
For example, to calculate a checksum of it before submitting the file to the server.
No it is not possible. The manipulation of the file is done by the browser, not the HTML code.
Think about it, GWT is 100% javascript. And javascript has no access whatsoever of the file in your computer. That would be an pretty big security risk! GWT "wraps" the file input box so it can be displayed inside the GWT panel. But once you press the "upload" button, the upload is done by the browser.
You could do file manipulation with another technology however. Java applets for example. But that is outside of GWT area...
Using GWT, there is no way to read files on the client side yet. However, in HTML5, you can read files without uploading to a server using the "File API".
Links are provided below.
File API tutorial on html5rocks.com
Example of how to use File API in GWT via JSNI
I'm pretty sure that because GWT code compiles to pure JavaScript, there isn't a way without requiring some third-party browser plugin.
Do you mean from an <input type="file"...> file upload field in a form?
The short answer is no-- file uploads are handled by the browser, and are sent directly to the server (as an ENCODING_MULTIPART POST). And security restrictions on JavaScript mean there's no way to workaround that restriction.