Forum OpenACS Development: Re: Too much customization to use ad_form??

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Posted by Brian Fenton on
This is difficult to answer. OpenACS form builder is powerful (albeit dated) and delivers a lot. However, as with any framework, you are restricted to what it can do. If you need very unusual styling or element positioning, it may be possible that you have reached a limitation of form builder (I say form builder as I don't really enjoy using ad_form, as I find it less readable).

However, nowadays with heavy usage of JavaScript, it could be argued that there is less emphasis on a backend framework like form builder, and more possibilities to achieve your goals when combined with modern JS tools.

I must admit to being a little out of touch with the most popular web frameworks (node.js?) but I imagine their approaches are possibly quite different from how OpenACS works. That said it should be possible to create a "modern" website using everything in OpenACS.

(Vague answer to a broad question!)
Brian

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Posted by Iuri Sampaio on
Indeed, it's a broad question!

I agree that it's totally possible to create modern sites using OpenACS.
The main idea behind this post is, once again, to find ways to integrate frontend frameworks (JS based) with backend (OpenACS) more easily.

Thanks for your answer anyway. It has really helped to confirm my suspects about ad_form and even more important, you confirmed that I'm probably in the right path, understanding acs-templating pkg.

Best wishes,
I