UCW intro
advertisement: UCW is now easily installable!! (experimental)
Get http://common-lisp.net/project/ucw/ucw-boxset.tar.gz, untar it, cd into the directory and execute:
YOURLISPHERE (-)-load start.lisp
Last modified: 28th of July, 2006
- changed info about loading applications through ucwctl (you need to add something to start.lisp nowadays)
- added info on how to load your app through start.lisp without ucwctl
table of content:
- Introduction
- Installation
- Add-ons
- Testing/Quickstart
- Configuration
- Setting up the environment (and a hello world on the side)
- Basic ucw mechanics
- Yaclml tags
- Widget Components
- Nested Components (:|,) containers and tabbed panes
- Html templating: TAL
- Advanced form handling
- Debugging Tools
- Miscellaneous
Introduction
This text will introduce you at a mild-mannered pace to the ways of this as-of-yet UnCommon Web framework, which is a framework to write web applications as you would write normal applications, i.e. with state. Check UCW's features page to get an impression of its features. UCW is an open-source project. Various people donate code on a regular basis. Check the mailing list for a flavour of the current topics. If you're wondering about the merits and weaknesses of either stateful or stateless web development check this rather nice one-page email conversation between the creator of ucw and a non-believer. If you want to use ucw on a Windows machine, I have got no experience or information on workability, but I would very much like to hear about your experiences.
This introduction wants to introduce UCW in a slow and concise manner. We will start with the installation and an initial setup. Then slowly, through simple examples, the reader will be introduced to the various components. We will delve from the outside in and will perhaps someday hit upon the burning hot core. For the brilliant and the impatient this pace will just be too damn slow. Them I advise to read and watch some other tutorials and documentation. They are:
- UCW Tutorial - a cliki tutorial in progress, not dissimilar to mine, which sets up a quick working environment and explains the different components with a lot of code.
- the UCW documentation page - diverse documentation sources which are a bit out of date. The email conversations are very interesting to get a good grasp of the use and limitations of UCW, and the video, although out of date, is interesting because you get to see UCW in action. Be warned: the source-code and the wiki example were a bit out of date last time I checked. It would be better if you were to just download the source code, in which you will also find the wiki example.
- the source code - the docs section of the source code unlocks apache setup code, two quickstarts which may be a bit out of date, and more. Also check the examples directory relative to the root. It gives you a good idea how to code up various aspects of UCW and it harbours the wiki example. It might just be a bit obvious but in the source code you can also read the source code; it offers great insight in the way ucw is put together.
P.S. If you want to edit the intro, or put something else up on this wiki, get a common-lisp.net account and log in.
