Build a GUI for launching demos

[AloisSeckar]

This is one of the ideas for future development I have. No final assignment yet, just a subject to talk about it and possibly bring some good ideas together. I am looking forward to hear your feedback or thoughts.

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This is wild idea. As you can see, currently the demo suite is a command line program - you launch it in terminal, it prints out something.

In #268, #270, #271 and #272 we discuss ways of configuring it.

But in my thoughts, it should get even better - the program should start as an app with GUI (I guess a website makes best sense nowadays, not a proprietary desktop application), user should pick what demos to run, where to store the output, and re-launch the suite based on his selection on demand.

I haven't thought about this any more yet, so the field is open for ideas.

My secret favorite would be some solution involving Vaadin Flow, but maybe someone know better? I would prefer to stay in Java Ecosystem though...

[Rossville]

@AloisSeckar please assign this issue to me.

[AloisSeckar]

Thank you for your interest @Rossville But lets first talk about your idea of implementing this. It will be quite complex task I guess affecting this project a lot.

[Rossville]

React/Next.js Frontend + Java Backend

• Backend(demos REST APIs) - Spring Boot
• A modern JS frontend (React, Next.js or Vue) calls the REST API.
• Output and configurations are rendered dynamically.

We can stick to Vaadin Flow for Java-only environment.
Pros: Modern UI, easy theming, possibly easier for contributors.
Cons: Leaves Java-only ecosystem (because it also includes JS Framework)

Implementation Plan

• Refactor demo discovery/execution into a DemoRunnerService class.
• Build REST endpoints (or Vaadin views) to run demos and return output.
• Add a web UI for selection and output display.
• Package the app as a single runnable JAR (spring-boot:run or java -jar webapp.jar).

[AloisSeckar]

Sorry, but that feels to me like AI blabbering, not your own words and thoughts about what are you about to do. I am more critical in those RFC labeled tasks, because I would like to have them implemented right. Not just spit out some AI-assised code and hope it will work out somehow.

Aside from that and based on what you (or your AI) posted:

• Unless it turns out to be necessary, I really don't want to introduce JavaScript to this project. I believe we should be able to build some frontend with pure Java.
• I am also not very convinced about Spring Boot either, since this will bring in a tons of dependencies and stuff we don't really need for a rather simple demo runner.

I see it is a default option for current Vaadin, but I also see other starter packs - namely the "Plain Java" - here https://vaadin.com/hello-world-starters

I would like the assignee of this issue to explore the Plain Java template and see if it fits to create what I dream of. I currently don't have time to explore and create the POC myself. But we can as well just keep this issue open and I will come back to it one day. Or someone else...

This definitely won't be so straightforward task as implementing new JEP demos or creating the linking classes. The contribution will be more valuable to the project, but hacktoberfest will only count the PR once. They cannot put weight into the complexity and impact of the changes. That is not meant to discourage you, just to let it clear at the beginning. It will take you quite some time, I will be here to giving feedback and making you to do changes, probably more than one round. It will be worth it in the end, but it won't be easy,

Are you still up to it? :)

[Rossville]

Sure I still want do workon this issue, it'll be good opportunity for me to work on this project and explore java in more depth. I understand that this'll take quite some time so you can remove the hacktoberfest tag if you want.

[AloisSeckar]

Ok, thank you for your dedication and commitment. I will leave the tag on. It will be a valuable addition, it it is completed before the end of October. But it is not strictly necessary, take your time.