Framework Features

[Dalfy]

This post is the second one on the content creation framework we are going to start after the release of CEGUI 0.5. Its goal is to define a preliminary list of features of what we want to provide in this framework. This list is not fixed yet and is toward CEGUI content creation tool at the moment. This framework aims at providing the foundation for a unified editor able to handle each kind of file type manage by CEGUI. At the time being (or really soon) you are able to create Imageset and Layout via tools. We want to unify those tools and provide a common feature set that is going to be use for defining look&feel as well. Each content creation is going to be done in separate plug-ins loaded at run time. Using such modular architecture it's easy for you to add editing capability for your own kind of file based on the framework.

The list bellow is a coarse grain list of feature which is going to be provided by the framework. Any suggestions are welcome.

Document management

Each file is represented as a document. Several documents can be edited at the same time and be groups in project. A project is mainly seen as a collection of files. The structure of a project can be defined at run time by each plug-in. Each document can request a CEGUI context for its display if needed. Document operations are managed by the framework: opening, saving, displaying property, status, etc.

Modularity
The aim of the framework is to allow for extensibility through dynamic module. A module is a dynamically loaded library which is included at run time within the framework. It registers within the framework in order to provide a new editing activity. Some other extension point will be provided within the framework. Those are not going to provide new editing capability. They will extent the Framework level of service provided.

Scripting
CEGUILuaApp has shown the interest of providing scripting capabilities for tool creation. Initially, the framework will provide a complete binding for Luu. After that it will provide a way to load other bindings. It will be able to define and edit activity almost completely using a scripting language. Lua is also going to be used for configuration of the framework, plug-in manifest and many other things.

Resource management
The framework will come with extended resource management to support file opening, saving, project management. The extended resource management system is going to be extensible to support loading / saving into zip file, resource creation and multiple source location per resource group.