Griffon vs RCP

[Jeremy Anderson]

I know Griffon is supposed to be like the Rails of desktop development, but what advantages does it offer over something like Spring RCP or Eclipse RCP? If I still have to code all the swing for things like window layout and docking, am I really gaining anything?

[Andres Almiray]

Griffon differs from an RCP solution in the sense that it does not force you to choose an specific layout or application profile from the get go. Griffon also lets you build and deploy an application in 3 modes: standalone, applet and webstart. Because of that the core is very slim. Applications can be enhanced by installing plugins.

It is certainly possible to build an RCP solution on top of griffon, that is, create a set of plugins that:
- provide an specific application archetype
- docking options
- domain classes
- validation
- view scaffolding

Work on some of those plugins is already underway.

Cheers,
Andres