Well, it’s here. The secret is revealed. I’m not talking about the over sensationalized “Secret”, no, this is one that will actually make a difference in your life so long as you’re a wanna be ThinWire developer or even if you’ve been kicking the wheels on the framework for a while now. For the past couple months, both Ted and myself have been working on the first ever ThinWire book! And as of a week or so ago, you can now download your very own electronic copy from here. Now, granted, it’s not free ($12.95), but thanks to the formal publication process we’ve ended up with something really cool that should be helpful to everyone…. and at least there is such a thing now :D Also, if you have a Safari Online subscription, you can add this book to your book shelf for only .5 of a slot by visiting this page. Here’s some quick details about the book:
Total Length: 183 pages
Chatpers:
- Introduction to ThinWire – Covers what ThinWire is, book contents, the framework design philosophy & goals, as well as how to get started with development.
- Component Overview – Discusses each Component, its unique features and how to use them.
- User Interactions with Events – Learn how to effectively use each type of event.
- Layout Management – From concepts and usage through rolling your own layout.
- Styling an Application – Global styling, subclass styling, HTML text styling, visual effect engine.
- Application & Utilities – Coverage of the Application object, XML Object Definition (XOD), ArrayGrid and ImageInfo
The only negative thing about this book is that it doesn’t have move to it! We could easily do another 6 chapters covering a range of additional topics and with any luck we’ll get the opportunity sometime if the future. If the demand for this eBook is strong enough, they’ll ask us to do a full printed book at which time we’ll have to expand on more topics, so tell your friends about ThinWire and the new book!
Erik Weibust | 02-Aug-07 at 3:58 am | Permalink
Congrats guys!
When will it be on bookshelves? Where can I get a signed copy?
Rex Rivera | 02-Aug-07 at 11:41 am | Permalink
For a new and great framework like Thinwire and for the world to know that this framework indeed GREAT, I think a handbook like this should be freely available…
Just my thought anyway
Joshua Gertzen | 03-Aug-07 at 2:58 am | Permalink
Well, by publishing through a channel like this we get a lot more exposure then we would otherwise. Plus, we didn’t write the book to make money, we wrote it to educate people on the intricacies of the framework and we figured the price tradeoff, which is much less than a printed book, would be well worth the additional promotional benefits we get. Plus, the editors and all the Prentice Hall people we worked with us closely to get this done. In any case, I hope you all like the book!
al0 | 03-Aug-07 at 12:51 pm | Permalink
What about sample chapter for free download - or just published on Thinwire -(quite common practice for such type of books)?
Have you discussed such possibility with your publishers?
Regards,
Oleksandr
Joshua Gertzen | 03-Aug-07 at 4:11 pm | Permalink
Oleksandr,
Yeah… we decided on a sample chapter just before release, but I don’t where we’re supposed to be able to access that from. I’m still waiting to hear back from the publisher on a few details like that but I figured it was worthwhile to make a statement about it now. I’ll let everyone know once we figure that out. In the meantime, you can try the “Read Online Now” link in the upper right corner of the safari online link (http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780132366229) It wasn’t working for me when I just tried it, but at one point it let you read through a few pages before asking you to signup for the safari bookshelf.
Thanks,
-Josh
al0 | 06-Aug-07 at 7:48 am | Permalink
Thank you
Domenico F. | 06-Aug-07 at 1:48 pm | Permalink
I’ve just bought it!!! My first impression is that it will be very useful for us. I think that now I deserve a free download of the “Form Creator”…
Jimmyc | 09-Aug-07 at 3:29 pm | Permalink
I just bought it as well, definitely worth the short change. Answered some questions for sure. Would still enjoy a larger book with many examples, especially where TableLayout is concerned. And yes, would be sweet to have a “Form Creator”. Is that still pending?
Thank you.
Chandramoulee | 14-Aug-07 at 6:34 am | Permalink
Form Creator will put thinwire into real life
Chandramoulee | 14-Aug-07 at 6:35 am | Permalink
A tutorial of creating a website using Form Creator - is a must to make thinwire a great framework
al0 | 16-Aug-07 at 7:13 am | Permalink
Indeed good book, my congratulations!
BTW, I have noticed one small issue - in the FlowLayout sample code margin is used as left margin only, i.e. possible maximal width is calculated as innerWidth()-margin thus not allowing for a right margin. Is it intended so?
Regards,
Oleksandr
al0 | 16-Aug-07 at 8:58 am | Permalink
Hello,
I have looked on layout description in the book more closely and have released that I have misunderstood the margin purpose, so disregard what I have said about Flowlayout in my previos comment. Sorry.
Regards,
Oleksandr
Chandramoulee | 25-Aug-07 at 5:04 am | Permalink
I had come across WebOnSwing which leverages Swing, pure HTML templating for a Rich RIA framework.
Thinwire No support for Form Creator had put it on hold (may be forever)
Thanks
Chandra
Anonymous | 02-Sep-07 at 5:21 am | Permalink
I have been using dojo.
will give a look to thinwire.
it seems promising.