Look at the new features in UEv4... those aren't focused at the do-it-yourself gadgeter. We do features for both ease of use and increased functionality. It is true that we are focusing on simplification of the product line itself at the moment, but we also are working on improving and adding features for the developer as well.
I think you will see this as relatively consistant from WebAssist, we will try to make things more simple while adding more complex features that can be configured by the more experienced developer.
The tools will never help you imagine the end product or workflow you are trying to create. The underlying framework and server behaviors will stay in tact and not be replaced by the wizards. The wizards are just an example of providing more than functional examples of how they work together so you can build your vision from there.
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I need a form there to gather data; I need to insert the record into that database over there; and I want to protect that page over there so spammers and the unregistered can't get in or do an SQL injection. And all that envisioning straight away tells me the tools I need, and how to start doing it. They are all together in my mind, and it is my clarity of mind that brings them together.
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Because you have gone through the painstaking process of figuring out how all of our tools work together you might be successful there... however someone else might have a hard time creating a form with data-assist and trying to apply validation after the fact, or the exact steps necessary to apply securityAssist to protect a page over there.
If a wizard had you enter those details and created the site and database for you, we could concentrate on documenting how the tools can be used in creative ways instead of documenting the process of tying them all together. This is another thing you yourself have asked for in terms of documentation.
We know that ultimately a developer should learn the underlying languages if youwant to maximixe our tools potential. This will never be something an end user can do. We will always push our users to learn more, like you have been pushed by our extensions, this won't change. We will introduce people to development and development process, they will learn and become better developers, and then hopefully will progress to become experts at PHP, HTML, SQL, and CSS.
This is a natural progression... one that it seems you have experienced. We want to open the door to entry for this experience by making our wizards easy enough so that the newbie can be successful right away. We then hope like any developer, they will progress in thier knowledge of the underlying languages and frameworks and might even contribute in the long run when we allow import and export to a common exchange.
I guess we are creating competition for our existing developers in that way, and maybe that is part of the frustration, and that is another thing that will push them to learn the underlying technology. We try to both shorten the learning curve and improve the end capabilities.
I understand all of the underlying technology, and I would use the tools to improve my time to solution on any project I did. Books are a good idea, but online resources and playing with the pre-generated code by webassist would probably be faster.
