Parallel dialogs

[Benjamin G.]

Hello,

BDL documentation says that parallel dialogs are only available on "mobile plarforms" (http://4js.com/online_documentation/fjs-fgl-manual-html/?path=fjs-fgl-manual#fgl-topics/c_fgl_parallel_dialogs_intro.html).
We 've made a test with GDC and it seems to work. This feature is very interesting because we can create a MDI application with only one fglrun an only one DB connection in contrary with WCI approach.
In the VNEXT roadmap you've announced that's this feature will be available on GDC/GWC.

Questions about this feature :

1. have you planned to implement "tabbed container" ?
2. dynamic dialogs will be available with START DIALOG ?
3. what will the limitations be ?

Thank you

[Benjamin G.]

Hello again,

Another feature that would be nice with parallel dialogs would be to be able to START a dialog with the same feature as for MULTIPLE DIALOGS. Actually in a declarative dialog we can only use one INPUT or DISPLAY or MENU or CONSTRUCT ...

Regards

[Leo S.]

Hi Benjamin,
>1. have you planned to implement "tabbed container" ?
yes we planned to adopt parallel dialogs for the desktop and if once implemented it should be similar to the tabbed MDI container.
>2. dynamic dialogs will be available with START DIALOG ?
That's a very interesting question. Currently NO, a dynamic dialogs d.getNextEvent() will halt until the event arrived and is not
usable together with the fgl_eventloop() used in parallel dialogs.
(Well you can start a dynamic dialog somewhere from a parallel dialog, but as soon as you call d.getNextEvent() the fgl_eventloop() is inactive,
its the same as for a 'classic' dialog)
>3. what will the limitations be ?
I can't give you much insight here. It's intended that a program using parallel dialogs running on mobile runs untouched on desktop with a
similar UI.

What I'd like to know is if the many fglruns and DB connections are really biting you or is it more the weak interprocess communication between the processes that you think about changing code radically ?

[Benjamin G.]

Hi,

Today a modern UI must be designed like a MDI application. A user must be able to switch between multiple windows without leaving (parallel mode). One way to do that is running several fglrun (main). We don't like very much this approach because, like you said, multiple DB connections, lot of process and also weak interprocess communication (perhaps using shared memory our pipes ...).

Parallel dialogs seems to be a very nice feature to avoid those problems. We 've already made several "proof of concept" and the results are very good. The only thing that's yet a problem is the fact that we can't use inside a START DIALOG a "multiple dialog". There's maybe one approach for resolving that limitation but for that we would need a "event" at window level in the fgl_eventloop() and getNextEvent() when the focus change . Actually for "simulate" that feature we've put an "image" on each window (like if it was the window border). When image is clicked we know that the user want to change the window and then we can "re-route" the dialog ... but it's only a trick :)

Regards