Here’s an annotated peek at some Actiontastic and Actionatr source code for the 1.0 releases. I don’t like Photoshop hype nor do I like showing a raw un-styled UI, so this is my attempt to show real working code and highlight some of the new features that it enables.

1. All Actions View

Sometimes you just want to see everything on your list, regardless of what project or context contains the items.

2. Project List View

The new project list view shows all projects with their actions listed underneath in a tree-like view. Projects can also be marked as complete.

3. Tags Instead of Contexts

Tags are a great way to build a scalable user interface. By scalable, I mean an interface that grows with the user. Contexts are canonical to GTD but tags are more universally understood, not to mention expendable. If you don’t do full-on GTD, tags are easier to ignore than the imposing “Contexts” button in the toolbar of Actiontastic today. (As an aside, the toolbar is going away in favor of an iTunes-like source list.)

So, you can still have tags for contexts like “calls” or “errands” but you can also use them in a more free form manner as your personal system grows. Beyond this, there is no more “one context per action” rule; you can apply as many tags to an item as you desire. Tag collections are in the works too, for things like “important” and “calls” in a single click.

4. Time Travel

Go back in time to see what was completed on each day.

5. Trash

Just in case you delete something that you didn’t mean to delete, these apps now have a Trash Can, just like your desktop.

Just over two weeks after the release of GWT-REST, the next layer of the Actionatr stack is ready for release.

GWT on Rails

http://code.google.com/p/gwt-on-rails/

GWT on Rails integrates GWT client side compiled JavaScript with Rails RESTful web services by providing client and resource generators, migration support, asynchronous RESTful client support, and Rake automation. A summary follows.

GWT Client Generator

Until now, building a GWT interface for a Rails project required the use of either an IDE or command line tools to build a GWT “module” which then had to be tweaked for use with Rails instead of the default embedded Tomcat server. Using Rails conventions as a starting point, the GWT client generator allows one to generate a GWT interface (or any number of them) with a single command:

script/generate gwt_client dashboard /Users/jdoe/java_libs/gwt-mac-1.4.61

Rake support is included so that cleaning, compiling, and running your hybrid project are also one-liners:

rake dashboard:compile

rake dashboard:hosted

rake dashboard:clean

GWT Resource Generator

Any ActiveRecord model can be exposed on the client side by simply running the GWT resource generator:

script/generate gwt_resource Project dashboard

Migration Support

Once the resource generator has created a client side resource/model, your ActiveRecord migrations will transparently keep everything in sync. Any fields that are added, altered or removed will likewise be updated in JavaScript-land. By generating a base class that is recreated after each migration and a corresponding model that extends this base, custom code can remain intact while the basic model changes.

GWT-REST

The GWT-REST module comes bundled with this plugin, allowing easy CRUD operations with the built in RailsJsonResourceCollection class.

More details are available on the Google Code project site. Enjoy!