Evaluation - logging, debugging, skinning and more ... problems

[lrkwz]

Hello
I'm evaluating smartgwt for a big sales-automation application based on springframework but I'm facing some problems mostly related to:
* data storage
* data filtering
* skinning
* execution environment
Can you please give me some advice on this?

_Data storage_
JPA pojos are sort of

@Entity
class Master{
   ...
  
   @ManyToOne
   Set<Slave> slaves;
}

I can create and save a Master object in a ListGrid (my "dao" service is called) but I cannot populate the slaves collection since your classes claim that the id is missing (of course is there with all the needed getters/setters).

_Data filtering_
I've attached SelectItem to a datasource in order to have some filtered data with completely no success. The backing dao service is never called.
Even if called it is not clear ho I would "translate" from the DSRequest carried Criteria to the JPA query sintax.

_Skinning_
Your objects seem to carry tons of hard coded html styles, I did not find a way to 100% externalise the look&feel + positioning

_Execution environment_
The application won't start when executed in development environment with "mvn tomcat:run", nor in the STS embedded VMWare vFabric server. These environments have proven invaluable for interactive server side debugging and profiling.
The app executes only in hosted mode (mvn gwt:run) or a complete tomcat6 deploy
(see http://forums.smartclient.com/showthread.php?t=24727).
It is not clear how to adapt the configuration in order to support all the scenarios.

_About project environment_
My app's architecture is roughly based on:
* data access layer: spring-roo managed data-access core classes based on JPA-HIBERNATE-DB2
* business layer: spring-mvc webapp with thymeleaf templating engine
* presentation layer: twitter boostrap responsive design HTML framework

Build environment based on:
* maven
* jenkins continuous integration

Resolving problems is particularly hard because of:
* lack of documentation/source code
* lack of real life examples based on similar architecture
* hard coded logging (you refer directly to log4j.isc.config.xml making impossible the use of more modern/robust logging frameworks ... logback + slf4j)
* cllient side code debugging seems impossible even with the latest STS + gwt plugin
* server side debugging is rough and slow since the only feasible way means deploying in a standard tomcat instance and remotely attach the debugger

Thank you
-Luca

[Isomorphic]

This mostly looks like a series of issues arising from not reading the documentation, or misconfiguration. Be sure to start by reading the QuickStart Guide, and follow through by reading the referenced sections of the JavaDoc.

Having done so, if you are having issues, read the FAQ about the information you need to post in order to get help on the forums, and take each separate issue to a separate thread.

On Skinning specifically, there are no hardcoded styles - read the Skinning overview in JavaDoc.

On your Maven issue, as we've explained, your environment is broken in a way that would interfere with many web applications - you just need to fix it or provide webroot programmatically. Nothing more we can do here.