GWT MVP - How to architect the application

Question

I am trying to get the following UI. I am looking at using gwt mvp(activities and places). I am following the simple example provided with documentation. So far i have achieved a basic tab panel using GWT MVP(activities and places). The url changes depending on which tab panel you are in. How do i get the header(login info) and footer? I also want to make the second tab available only if the user is logged in. Is GWTP better suited for such a user interface?

Answer 1

The footer can be easily added in your HTML Host Page as static content. For your login informatation widgets, in the Host Page you can get a DIV element properly positioned and later add any content you want:

RootPanel.get("yourDivIdentifier").add(widgetsWithLoginInfo);

MVP is an excellent pattern for GWT applications and it will certainly work for your page. The Second Tab addition can be managed like this in the Presenter:

//This is the callback method invoked after login
if (isUserLogged){
    display.addSecondTab(...);
}

And the in your Display class add the corresponding widgets to your View.

Answer 2

In my opinion you should create a different region for the header and footer.

I assume that when you render the tab panel, you are checking if the user is logged. In that case you can stablish a conversation between two regions with the event bus.

Also you should crate one "home" place, when it was fired at the beginning, in the corresponding activities you implement the content of the regions (the login panel in the header and the tab panel in the other region).

If some comes here, I´d recommend take a look into: http://blog.ltgt.net/gwt-21-activities-nesting-yagni/

Answer 3

GWTP has everything you need. Use nested presenters for your UI with different regions. Use Gatekeeper for restricting the access to some part of your app.