Is Vaadin right for me?

General
1

A few months back I attempted to create a business app with a given set of requirements using SmartGWT (and before that straight GWT) and wasn’t completely successful.
The main screen of the app is similar to a web mail message table (page-able) except editable - utilizing the following cell editor types:

  • Calendar
  • List
  • Text
  • Upload
  • Download (link)
  • Tree Picker
  • Buttons with icons

And here’s where it gets tricky - sometimes the editors are cell dependent.
For example, following an upload in a given table row, that cell would change to a download link.
In another case, a list value in one column dictates one of several editors in another column.

Also required is support for validation (missing values, incorrect values, two field comparison), and adding/removing rows dynamically.

For some of these, I can go through the samplers and see some support.
I also know that, unlike SmartGWT, a non-expert can extend the toolkit.
But it’s hard to know if everything can be done without spending a week creating a prototype.

Could someone with thorough knowledge what’s possible tell me if Vaadin is a viable option,

before

 attempting the prototype?

Thanks,
Scot

2

The features you describe are simplistic. Vaadin can easily do that.

Have a look at this full demo to have a real idea of what Vaadin can do :
Vaadin demo

3

You can easily do most of the stuff using Vaadin Table.addGeneratedColumn or Table Field Factory support.

4

Thanks for the replies.

I’ve gone through these samples, but I’ve not (yet) seen these particular features.
I can easily believe that “per cell” editing is available.
However, for the “table row upload” feature, I’d really hoped for a better answer.
Neither SmartGWT not Ext GWT can (easily) do this, as the upload widget needs to reside on a form.

5

I hope this is what you’re looking for :


myTable.setTableFieldFactory(new TableFieldFactory()
{
            @Override
            public Field createField(Container container, Object itemId, Object propertyId, Component uiContext)
            {
                        ...
            }
});

Thus, you can return the component you want for a given editable cell.

6

Does this work dynamically?
Typically, for “per cell” editing, row and column are input arguments.

Issue #2: Are there any examples anywhere of upload widgets on a table?

7

There isn’t really any difference between a Field in a Layout and a Field in a Table. As long as that createField returns an Upload -component, you should be set to go.

The three examples on a upload component can be found here:

http://demo.vaadin.com/sampler/#UploadBasic


http://demo.vaadin.com/sampler/#ImmediateUpload


http://demo.vaadin.com/sampler/#UploadWithProgressMonitoring

Hit the “view source” button to get the code.
An example with a table genereated column, which is an other option to the field factory, can be found here:
http://demo.vaadin.com/sampler/#TableCellStyling