[Yanel-dev] Need help to figure out things

[Josias Thöny]

Evaldas Taroza wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I still can't avoid comparing Yanel CMS framework to Servlet API. Ok ok, 
> I know that Servlet API does not know anything about repositories nor 
> resources, nor realms. Still
> - A "realm" is quite similar to a "webapp"
> - A "resource" is quite similar to a "servlet"
> - A "repository" is quite similar to a "db" to which a servlet can 
> connect to
> 
> To elaborate more on this similarity. A database in Servlet API can be 
> accessed through JNDI either globally or only in a specfic context 
> (webapp). This database can well be a Yarep or JCR repository, or any 
> other data store. Then, I can have servlets behaving like Viewable, 
> Creatable, Modifiable, Deletable simply by implementing doGet, doPost, 
> etc. I have standard user's repository that I can access in each 
> servlet. I can configure servlet mappings. All in all, it looks that I 
> can do much of the stuff that I can do with Yanel.

To me, one difference seems to be that a servlet supports "only"
doGet(), doPost() etc., whereas yanel supports more complex interfaces
for stuff like workflow, versioning, etc.

josias


> 
> I understand, that with the Servlet API I don't talk in terms of content 
> management as I do with Yanel. But still it looks that I can do the same 
> with both. Actually if I had nicely called interfaces and abstract 
> classes then I could say, that my servlet extends BasicXMLResource or 
> something like that.
> 
> Hm, maybe this similarity is actually a good thing...
> 
> I haven't worked with CMSs before, and probably this is my problem why I 
> don't get it.
> 
> So can somebody clarify, why do we need such a thick layer on top of 
> Servlet API, when it looks more like renaming concepts than implementing 
> something completely new and original? I may need to read about CMSs in 
> general, but what are the most important things that a CMS should 
> provide? What is it so valuable about a CMS (and maybe Yanel in 
> particular) comparing to some Web framework like Ruby on Rails, 
> Symphony, JBoss Seam, etc.?
> 
> I raise these questions in order not to criticize but rather to better 
> understand Yanel.
> 
> Thanks for help,
> Evaldas
>