The more that I learn about Vaadin and what I need it to do, the more I realize that I simply cannot do this alone. Nor do I really want to bother the entire community here on the forums with my hundreds of questions about Vaadin (and sometimes even Java in general) whenever those questions arise.
What I really need is some hand-holding. Someone upon whom I can lean for help getting me started with converting my Swing desktop Java application into a Vaadin web app. It’s not going to be easy, I’m sure, and it will likely take a great deal of time. But if someone is willing to be my email pen pal, we can discuss my unique situation and how best to solve it with Vaadin.
I fully realize that I am asking for a great deal, and with the only compensation being an attribution in my project. It will only be used internally at our company, though. Still, I really do enjoy programming, but I cannot afford to go back to school for it now. (I’ve already used up all of my federal financial aid studying graphic design). I want to further my knowledge and get better at it, especially so I can be more marketable in the world of software development. That, and my boss is expecting me to create this web app.
So, is anyone willing to be my guide on this road to becoming a good code monkey?
I suggest you start with one of the several Maven archetype projects that Vaadin offers. Install, build and run it (shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours) then start tweaking it to look like the way you want your app to look like. I was a Swing developer for 12 years and the jump to Vaadin was relatively painless. There is a learning curve but the best way to learn is by doing. Good luck.
And I would encourage you to post your questions to the forums. There might be other Vaadin beginners who are wondering the same things and we could also get pointers on how to improve our documentation.
Best of luck on your road to becoming a Vaadin expert!
Most of the problems that I foresee having aren’t related to the UI so much as the business logic: How to use SQLContainer, should I even use it in the first place, is JPAContainer a better choice since I need a Treetable to display my data, how to install JPA into Eclipse and make use of it to connect to MS SQL Server, how to integrate a checkbox into the tree part of the Treetable with 3 selection states, etc. It’s a lot, I know. I’m still an amateur with Java and Eclipse, even, so I’m still learning those as I integrate Vaadin into my learning.
I don’t even know anything about IvyDE, let alone Maven. And I’ve heard that Vaadin will start using Maven as a default in the future, so I might as well learn it now, but all I see anywhere (including the reference you posted, Teemu) talk about using the command line and using “mvn” commands. Where, when, and how? Just telling me to type in “mvn” commands doesn’t tell me
where to type them in (besides just launching Terminal on Mac OS X or CMD on Windows—in which directory should I be?), thus I’m lost already. Is there no beginner’s guide for someone like me? Someone with Eclipse and the Vaadin plug-in installed, but who apparently needs to know Maven, too? Something like, “Here’s how to start using Maven and integrate it into Eclipse with the Vaadin plug-in already installed, step by step.”
I really hope I’m making sense and that I’m conveying how disappointed I am that instructions for using Maven aren’t more newbie-friendly.
I guess I should have said that I’ve already done some searching, including Google, to avoid this sort of passive-aggresive response. Iyad, thanks for responding, but if all you have to offer is a useless LMGTFY link, I’d rather you not reply at all.
I still checked the links that your post came up with, just in case there was something I missed in my initial searches before creating this topic. The closest thing was
a Wordpress article from over two years ago. I think things have changed since then, not to mention how very complicated the installation and usage of Maven appears to be in that article (I was under the impression that Maven was supposed to make a developer’s live easier). Can anyone confirm or deny that the Wordpress article is still the way to install Maven properly?