Germán Arduino wrote:
> Hello:
>
> We are evaluating dev tools to develop a new application (to better say
> an "appliance"). That app will run in Windows clientes and must deal
> with things like send http requests, receive pop3, mails and raw, and
> other related Internet stuffs.
>
> I've seen that Dolphin includes a web browser, a socket pac and
> also a xml pac.
>
> Will be Dolphin suitable for our project? Someone can say were
> we can find some examples of this type of apps?.
I presume you are doing a comparative evaluation? Seeing as this
question is about Dolphin, in the .dolphin newsgroup, I'll largely
restrict my comments to that.
I've been doing a fast track (3 weeks so far) evaluation of Dolphin, MT,
VW and VA for applications like these, and yes, Dolphin will do what you
want. It has socket support but doesn't come with protocol handlers. You
can use the native WinINet libraries for that - I recall seeing a Goodie
that wraps that library. Dolphin doesn't expose native threads, so for
network apps you have to use an asynchronous pattern that they provide
support for (it uses their lightweight concurrency facilities). Dolphin
can do all of COM apart from thread control, which may or may not
matter, and it can't create ActiveX controls (i.e. web browser plugins)
out of the box, although I think that may be theoretically possible (but
you're on your own). It can use ActiveX controls in it's windows (it's
really easy). BTW: the web browser you mention is simply a wrapping of
the IE Web Browser control with a URL bar and buttons, and the XML pac
is a wrapping of MSXML. Dolphin imports these things without fuss.
Comparatively Dolphin is 'closer to metal' of Windows than VW (I haven't
completed VA eval), but not as close as MT. It definitely feels more
abstract than MT. Personally I love using Dolphin and I think it's the
nicest to live in, but I'm going to buy Dolphin, MT and VW or VA as the
need arises - they each have their strengths. Dolphin's documentation is
not a strength, but you can find out enough by browsing the class
comments and examples, which seems to be the 'Smalltalk Way', and that
form of documentation is certainly definitive :) Dolphin also has quite
an active community, and you can't argue with the value for money!
You should also check addons such as STS, Omnibase and ReStore, all of
which are attractive, and attractively priced.
Oh dear, I think I've caught the Smalltalk bug.
-------------------------
Antony Blakey
mailto:
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Linkuistics Pty Ltd
Adelaide, South Australia
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