v3 change log?

[fzammetti]

Hi all... is there an official Ext JS 3.0 change log available somewhere? I'm looking for a concise list of all the changes thus far coming in v3.

This is actually for two purposes... one is that I'm working on upgrading a project at work from 2.2.0 to 3.0 and want to have as much information as possible to address breakages.

The other reason is that I'm currently nearing completion of my Ext JS book and the publisher has requested I cover v3, which the book currently doesn't since it was begun nearly six months ago... I'd like to be able to enumerate what's new in v3 and describe it as best I can.

Thanks,
Frank

[mjlecomte]

Woah, another book? AFAIK there's no "official" changelog.

[fzammetti]

Well, this is the same Ext JS book I've been writing for a few months now... it's basically done at this point, would have hit shelves in a month or so, but Apress now wants me to cover v3 since it's so close to release... which I agree is a smart thing to do! I think this'll only be the second Ext JS book available (someone else seems to have beaten me to press... there were none available when I began my book).

Does anyone else, someone on the Ext team specifically, know of such a changelog? Or, would anyone on the team by chance be willing to put one together for me for the purposes of the book? It would be OK if it was just the bugger bullet points and wasn't literally a detailed changelog, since at this stage I won't be able to cover everything in-depth anyway, I'll have to cherry-pick what I cover... the style of the book precludes covering every little nook and cranny of the library anyway so I've already done some cherry-picking.

I of course have what's listed on the roadmap page, and if there's nothing else that's what I'll have to work from, but I was hoping for something slightly more expansive.

[aconran]

Frank, send me an email at aaron at extjs.com and we'll try to help you out.

Thanks,

[fzammetti]

Will do Aaron, thanks very much!

[kubens]

Both things sounds very interesting May we see although a rough summary of main changes and if we are talking about this book then I am very intersted into an index of content preview

Thanks
Wolfgang

[fzammetti]

Yes, that is indeed the book. I don't think I'd get in trouble for giving a quick rundown of what you'll find in it...

Nine chapters in total. The first is your typical "Intro to Ext JS". I start with a few pages on RIA development, the evolution of web development in general, etc. I talk about how there's now a lot of choices in toolkits and of course wind up saying that Ext JS is the best of the bunch IMO I then quickly give a basic first application with Ext JS (not much more than "hello world"). Then it's on to some details... things like Ext JS's overall structure, the stuff added to intrinsic classes, then the stuff directly under the Ext namespace. I then go into Ext.util in some detail.

Chapter 2 is the more "advanced" introduction... I cover the inheritance model behind widgets, the basics of widget usage, then details about the concept of layout and layout managers. I then cover most of the core widgets in some detail. I also talk about the data subsystem, templating capabilities, drag-and-drop and state management. I also talk a bit about plugins and some of the great user extensions out there. This chapter also introduces Gears, which although the lesser player in the game is a big part of the chapters to follow.

(Keep in mind that this book is in no way trying to be an exhaustive, detailed look at Ext... I purposely had to leave some things out, but I tried my best to cover everything that I thought was most relevant to a modern web developer).

Chapters 3-9 are the project chapters. Each of them presents a sovereign, unique, full application using Ext and Gears. This is the meat of the book (the "practical projects"!). The idea here is learn-by-example (and learn-by-doing because the end of each chapter presents suggested exercises to the reader). Here's a rundown of the projects presented:

* OrganizerExt - This is a pretty typical PIM application, similar structurally to Outlook. Notes, appointments, contacts and tasks can be stored, modified, searched for, etc.

* TimekeeperExt - This is a poor-man's project management/time-tracking application. Create projects, estimate number of hours, tie resources (people) and tasks to them, book time against them and view a current status for each.

* Code Cabinet Ext - A place for your stuff! Create snippets of code, categorize them, include keywords and assorted meta information, then recall them either by browsing via a tree structure or searching for them based on various criteria.

* Local Business Search - A mashup that allows you to search for businesses in a given area and see a map for them and detailed information. Allows for storing and quick recall of favorites and uses Yahoo! web services to accomplish it (this one actually has my own implementation of the Mac OS doc, or the Dojo Fisheye list, so it's kind of interesting I think)

* SQL Workbench - A utility for working with local SQLite databases (what's behind Gears). Allows you to create databases and tables, run ad-hoc queries, browse data, etc.

* Dueling Cards - A game! You play against the computer trying to get rid of all your cards in a (somewhat) unique way. This is actually a fairly unique project in that it looks nothing like the others (not a typical GUI app) and uses lots of nifty little effects, thanks to Ext. Also uses Gears WorkerPool so the computer opponent can run in the background.

All of these applications are "sovereign", i.e., they run in your browser without a server behind it (except for the Local Business Search, which needs the Yahoo! web services). Therefore, almost all of them are storing data to a local SQLite database thanks to Gears.

The final chapter's project is not yet determined, it's being discussed now since it is a late addition.

Hope that helps,
Frank

[kubens]

That is an impressive index of content.
Thanks for your summary.

Wolfgang

[danh2000]

Is it still the case that there's no official changelog (or even an unofficial one)?

Could anything be made available?

[mjlecomte]

Only thing I'm aware of:
http://extjs.com/forum/showthread.php?t=70352