[Koha-devel] To React or not to React

[Kyle Hall]

On Tue, Sep 20, 2016 at 6:29 PM, David Cook <dcook at prosentient.com.au>
wrote:

> I think it differs in that a search engine and a RESTful API adds core
> functionality. Without them, we can’t really search or expose services. We
> already have a JS UI toolkit, which seems to be working fine.
>

Yes, jQuery UI does work just fine, however libs like React really solve a
different problem domain. In fact, it's expected that jQuery will be used
within React for API access.


>
>
> Why do you say that React is necessary and long overdue? In terms of your
> email, do you mean that it lets you do more with less code? I’m not
> necessarily opposed to that. I do get annoyed by having to write so much
> code to achieve small things at times.
>

That's the problem React solves! I takes *so* much less code to write an
equivilent feature with React than it would with html and jQuery dom
manipulation. I was actually a bit shocked at how fast I was able to
rewrite the item messages feature in React.


>
>
> I suppose I’m curious as to the motivation behind React at this point.
> Aren’t there higher priorities for Koha right now? I suppose maybe that’s
> just my own naïveté speaking, and part of the joy of having so many
> developers on Koha is that we can all focus on different aspects of the
> system.
>

That's the great thing about Koha as a community. Koha has no priorities,
but each stakeholder can. I'm sure your priorities could be much different
from my, but they can be pursued simultaneously!


>
>
> Yet, shouldn’t there be some cohesion? Are our interfaces going to be a
> combination of plain JS, jQuery, Bootstrap, React, Yui (if it’s still
> used), and whatever other libraries we’re still using? This is what I mean
> about bolting things on.
>
>
>
> Then again, if React really does allow for cleaner interfaces, perhaps
> we’d find it taking over our interfaces rapidly, and it would become a de
> facto standard. I don’t know.
>

There's only one way to find out ; )

In all seriousness, I just want Koha to be the fastest, slickest most
useful ILS in the world. I want it to be an absolute pleasure to use. And I
think this is a necessary milestone to achieving that goal.

Kyle


>
>
> David Cook
>
> Systems Librarian
>
> Prosentient Systems
>
> 72/330 Wattle St
>
> Ultimo, NSW 2007
>
> Australia
>
>
>
> Office: 02 9212 0899
>
> Direct: 02 8005 0595
>
>
>
> *From:* Kyle Hall [mailto:kyle.m.hall at gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Tuesday, 20 September 2016 3:31 PM
> *To:* David Cook <dcook at prosentient.com.au>
> *Cc:* Owen Leonard <oleonard at myacpl.org>; Koha Devel <
> koha-devel at lists.koha-community.org>
>
> *Subject:* Re: [Koha-devel] To React or not to React
>
>
>
> For my part, I don't know if we need to keep bolting on more new and shiny
> to Koha.
>
> ElasticSearch makes sense. A REST API makes sense. Fixing broken things or
> adding missing essential functionality.
>
>
>
> I'm not sure how this differs from Koha adding Zebra, adding Elastic or
> adding a restful api. To me, this is not a matter of adding new for the
> sake of new ( React isn't even new at this point ) but of adding something
> that is necessary and long overdue. The question isn't about needing React
> or not, it's about the need for a modern JS UI toolkit to take advantage of
> our svc and rest api's without the need to write crazy amounts of code to
> make it work with just jQuery. Take a look at the javascript file for the
> holds table and you'll see what I mean. A React implementation of it would
> be *so* much cleaner and easier to understand for everyone. Please don't
> ask me to rewrite it as a poc though ; ) I *will* be happy to rewrite it
> post-adoption.
>
>
>
>
> Also, how would this React POC go in terms of translations?
>
>
>
> React is just Javascript, and is translated the same way translate all our
> other js files.
>
>
>
>
> David Cook
> Systems Librarian
> Prosentient Systems
> 72/330 Wattle St
> Ultimo, NSW 2007
> Australia
>
> Office: 02 9212 0899
> Direct: 02 8005 0595
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: koha-devel-bounces at lists.koha-community.org [mailto:koha-devel-
> > bounces at lists.koha-community.org] On Behalf Of Owen Leonard
> > Sent: Monday, 19 September 2016 11:33 PM
> > To: Koha Devel <koha-devel at lists.koha-community.org>
> > Subject: Re: [Koha-devel] To React or not to React
> >
> > > Another thing is that you need nodejs to compile it so is another
> > > thing to throw on the stack.
> >
> > Isn't this the kind of dependency requirement that killed my request to
> > introduce a front-end build tool like Grunt or Gulp?
> >
> >   -- Owen
> >
> > --
> > Web Developer
> > Athens County Public Libraries
> > http://www.myacpl.org
> > _______________________________________________
> > Koha-devel mailing list
> > Koha-devel at lists.koha-community.org
> > http://lists.koha-community.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/koha-devel
> > website : http://www.koha-community.org/ git : http://git.koha-
> > community.org/ bugs : http://bugs.koha-community.org/
>
>
>
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