Latest News from AJAX & RIA Journal

Layered Technologies Makes Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Available

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:45:00 EDT

Businesses need the latest technologies to help them meet their needs, support their goals and compete in the marketplace. Layered Technologies has announced that Microsoft Windows Server 2008 is now available on its automated Web hosting platform to ensure that customers can choose from the broadest range of the powerful servers for deploying business-critical applications and the most robust operating systems for increased flexibility and control. Layered Tech customers can select from a full range of Windows- and Linux-based servers to best fit their business needs.

Direct RIA + Google App Engine = Simplicity + Scalability

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:00:00 EDT

Direct RIA is a robust and comprehensive rich Internet applications engine which turns any client (web browser, mobile device) into an efficient and engaging environment. Direct RIA maximizes developer productivity by direct access of user interface, database, and web services. Direct RIA minimizes the development cost by transparent and automatic synchronization between client and server.

Navigating the RIA Iceberg

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:15:00 EDT

Rich Internet Applications for the Enterprise (Enterprise RIA) can convey multiple benefits to a business, from lower cost of ownership, overall application availability and better security, to tremendous user experience. But these benefits come at a price: complexity and cost. For enterprises and ISVs looking for an efficient way of acquiring RIA-build capabilities, there is now a new breed of end-to-end RIA platforms designed to overcome the limited scope of client-side RIA platforms and the lack of deployment flexibility inherent in cloud-based Platform-as-a-Service solutions.

SYS-CON's iPhone Developer Summit Day One ROCKS

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:00:00 EDT

Today was the first day of SYS-CON's iPhone Developer Summit, in the Roosevelt Hote in NYC.

Data Mashups at AJAX World RIA Conference & Expo

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:45:00 EDT

At the 7th International AJAX World RIA Conference & Expo in New York, held June 22-23, 2009, Suresh Chandrasekaran, leader of sales and marketing in North America and APAC for Denodo Technologies, discussed the Enterprise Data mashup platform and how to build virtual data services.

Magic Software's uniPaaS with .NET Integration for Mobile RIA Clients

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:30:00 EDT

Magic Software, a provider of application platforms and business and process integration solutions, has announced the release of the latest version of the uniPaaS application platform, now with .NET integration for Rich Internet Applications (RIA) Clients and equivalent support for mobile devices.

AJAX World RIA Expo: 3 Dimensional Web

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:00:00 EDT

3 dimensional web is all about interacting with the content provider about their contents. The ability ask questions and clarification while checking a product from an online retailer.

Building RIAs with a Direct RIA Solution

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:15:00 EDT

With the Direct AJAX programming model, Web applications can access data model and back-end integration directly. No more asynchronous communication between client and server, neither the security of sending the business logic to the client.

IBM Smart Business #CloudComputing Press Release (DRAFT)

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:30:00 EDT

Based on nearly two years of research and hundreds of client engagements, the IBM Smart Business cloud portfolio is meant to help clients take complex business processes and turn them into simple services. To accomplish this, Smart Business brings sophisticated automation technology and self-service to specific digital tasks as diverse as software development and testing; desktop and device management; and collaboration.

Tomorrow’s IBM “Smart Business” Cloud Computing Strategy

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:30:00 EDT

The NY Times broke IBM’s embargo this morning by publishing their story on IBM’s new cloud computing initiatives. I’ve posted the full release here on CloudBzz. The diagram below gives a bit of insight into where IBM is today and where they are heading. IBM is also updating their collateral with a bit more detail. Here is a fact sheet for their Smart Business initiative: IBM is also updating their collateral with a bit more detail. Here is [...]

Maneuver Warfare in IT: A Cheerleading Pundit

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:44:00 EDT

The Twitter conversation between Christofer Hoff and I went like this:

Christofer - I haven't formally blogged a resp. (yet) to @Kevin_Jackson on his 'maneuver warfare in IT' Not just a cultural shift but a huge tech. one

Kevin - @Beaker I'm looking forward to your comments.

Christofer - @Kevin_Jackson I want them to be constructive, so I'll do my best. I'm having trouble with the reality distortion field vs. unicorns ;)

Kevin - @Beaker LOL

I strongly recommend that you read his response titled "Cloud Computing Security: (Orchestral) Maneuvers In the Dark?". It begins:

"I enjoyed Kevin’s piece but struggled with how I might respond: cheerleader or pundit. I tried for a bit of both."

The challenges he had with my article, include:

Mixing tenses in some key spots seemed to imply that out of the box today, Cloud Computing can deliver on the promises Kevin is describing now. Given the audience, this can lead to unachievable expectations
The disconnect between the public, private and military sectors with an over-reliance on military analogies as a model representing an ideal state of security operations and strategy can be startling
Unrealistic portrayals of where we are with the maturity of Cloud/virtualization mobility, portability, interoperability and security capabilities

His last couple of paragraphs, however, really brings it home:

"It’s absolutely a cultural issue, but we must strive to be realistic about where we are with Cloud and security technology and capabilities as aligned. As someone who’s spent the last 15 years in IT/Security, I can say that this is NOT the “…dawning of a new day in IT security,” rather it’s still dark out and will be for quite some time. There is indeed opportunity to utilize Cloud and virtualization to react better, faster and more efficiently, but let’s not pretend we’re treating the problem when what we’re doing is making the symptoms less noticeable.

I am absolutely bullish on Cloud, but not Cloud Security as it stands, at least not until we make headway toward fundamentally fixing the foundational problems we have that allow the problems to occur in the first place."

Please read his post and comment. This is a GOOD conversation !!

MS Access Tool Replaced by a Web-Based Job Maintenance Application

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:11:49 EDT

Culpepper and Associates, Inc. is a leading provider of compensation data and human capital benchmarks. Over 1,500 organizations use Culpepper survey market data to benchmark their global total rewards programs. The company provides job descriptions for a wide range of positions and reports compensation/benefits data for those positions. Culpepper Job Descriptions is an online subscription service with comprehensive descriptions and level cutter guides for a wide range of jobs in IT, technology, and life science organizations.

Visual WebGui Launches Weekly Online Show

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:49:00 EDT

“Geeks on a Role,” hosted by Visual WebGui creator Guy Peled and Eyal Albert, VWG’s developer experience manager, will provide a platform for information and knowledge sharing for the Visual WebGui community by discussing the latest company news, product announcements, technology demos and general development topics. In addition, each week Geeks on a Role will choose questions sent in from the audience or posted on the Visual WebGui forums to provide on air answers and solutions.

Visual WebGui 6.3.7 Platform for Rich AJAX Applications Released

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:30:00 EDT

Gizmox released today a new version of the Visual WebGui Platform for Rich .NET AJAX applications. Visual WebGui 6.3.7 is a further stabilization to the 6.3 pre-release version which adds support for wrapping of AJAX based controls into the Visual WebGui framework as well as support for additional languages.

Adobe Previews Cloud-based BrowserLab

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:00:00 EDT

Adobe has broken out a free preview of BrowserLab, a hosted cloud service that will let web designers compare their sites on various browsers and operation systems to pinpoint anything squirlly.

Try BIRT Report Designer Today to Design Rich Interactive Content

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:15:00 EDT

BIRT Report Designers are easy to use visual report development tools that offer programmatic control, extensibility and a component-based model for reuse.

SYS-CON White Paper: Secure Critical Information in Excel

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:30:00 EDT

Microsoft Excel is one of the most commonly used tools for reporting, analysis and "what if" scenarios, with over 250 million users worldwide. This paper will discuss the steps involved in understanding the requirements for an automated solution. It will also introduce a solution for automating the generation and secure distribution of spreadsheet reports.

Tutorial: Building a Data-Centric App Using Catalyst and Builder Betas

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 06:45:00 EDT

During the learning process of getting up to speed with the beta releases of Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder I created a simple version of the Employee Directory application that we use inside Adobe to find information about employees.

Create Interactive AJAX Charts with Chart FX 7 for Java

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:16:00 EDT

Chart FX for Java has for many years been the leader in Data Visualization components for Java server applications. Chart FX 7 for Java Desktop now gives all the power of Chart FX to Swing application developers in both NetBeans and all Eclipse-Based IDEs.

Xandros Creates Enhanced User Experience for Netbook Users with Moblin V2

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:00:00 EDT

Xandros today announced it is developing software products based on the recently released Moblin Version 2 project for Intel® Atom(TM) processor-based platforms. The new version of Moblin will enable Xandros to provide customizations with advanced Internet, media, social networking and graphics capabilities for the ASUS Eee PC. A turnkey Xandros software solution employing new Moblin v2 technologies will be demonstrated for the first time at the Intel booth at Computex, Taipei, Taiwan, June 2-6, 2009.

Adobe AIR Is Cool and Not So Cool

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:30:00 EDT

It includes an ActionScript component OfflineDataCollection that allows you to program local/remote data synchronization. Open source Clear Toolkit framework is here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/cleartoolkit/ The source code of the OfflineDataCollection is here: http://tinyurl.com/p23do5 A demo recording of the sample occasionally-connected AIR application is here: http://flexblog.faratasystems.com/?p=394. To see the demo in person, come to my talk at AJAX World in New York City in June.

Using ZK Calendars Component to Create RIA Apps

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:00:00 EDT

ZK have announced a new AJAX component called ZK Calendar for Java applications. It is a fully featured web-based calendar boasting a similar feature set to Google’s calendar application.

AJAX Usage Among .NET Developers in 2009: Survey

Thu, 28 May 2009 23:00:00 EDT

A couple of years ago Simone Chiaretta did a survey of .NET Developers usage of Ajax. I just saw that he is refreshing that survey to see what has changed in the industry. Are people still actively moving to Ajax? Are they using MVC or WebForms with their Ajax?

Using Visual WebGui to Develop Web-Based EDP for a Hospital

Mon, 18 May 2009 12:30:00 EDT

A well-functioning EDP is the alpha and omega for the treatment of patients in a hospital. Each investigation is recorded electronically and is available for the treating physicians at any time and place. This allows recording and evaluating patient data at the bedside to the satisfaction of the patients and the physicians. Unfortunately, in some areas of the medicine, Doctors and nurses often have to work with complicated software that doesn’t meet the needs of the users, or do not offer such interfaces to expand the software by the required functions.

Mobile & Wireless Solution Provider Cuts Costs Using Visual WebGui

Mon, 18 May 2009 12:13:35 EDT

Nexus Informatica develops Mobile and Wireless solutions from 1997 and provides mobility solutions specializing in retail, barcode technology, Mobile solutions and Personal Shopping Systems. WCube Logistic was created with the objective of streamlining the organization and control of all logistical activities of the warehouse through the use of radio terminals connected interactively to the system of departmental logistics. WCube Logistic solves the need of warehouse logistics and inventory management to be connected at any time by using mobile devices.

Case Study: Manufacturing Activity Management System

Wed, 13 May 2009 10:29:16 EDT

Manufacturing industries extensively use contract resources to perform 'non-core' or 'overload' tasks or services, and require business processes and systems to manage and control the activity of these providers. Paper based processes, while apparently simple and effective up-front, cannot readily provide the necessary site access control or comprehensive reporting, neither for planned activities nor for review of activities, in the event of an issue.

Converting Excel Spreadsheets Into Enterprise AJAX Apps

Tue, 12 May 2009 06:00:00 EDT

ZK Spreadsheet enables AJAX applications to deliver the rich functionality of Excel to browsers in pure Java. With embeddable Excel functionality in pure Java, developers can create collaborative and dynamic enterprise applications like never before.

David Littlewood Joins Kaazing to Spearhead Growth of Realtime Web Acceleration

Tue, 05 May 2009 00:01:00 EDT

Kaazing Corporation has announced that David Littlewood is joining the company as Vice President of Worldwide Sales. In his new position, Littlewood will lead the growth and management of Kaazing's global sales and alliances with particular emphasis on the financial services industry. This announcement comes on the heels of the release of Kaazing Enterprise Gateway, which provides ground breaking new features such as support for full-duplex Web communication for Microsoft's Silverlight technology.

Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:00:00 EDT

The relationship between IP addresses and web applications to most end-users is much like the metaphorical language of the Tamarians in Star Trek: The Next Generation “Darmok”. It is incomprehensible without the proper foundational concepts; to anyone who lacks the proper context. In the case of IP addresses and web applications that foundation is technological rather than the historical basis of the Tamarian’s metaphorical language.

Compiled Web vs. Interpreted Web

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:57:00 EDT

Software technologists tend to learn by oscillating. We never arrive directly at the right solution; we just come closer to it by going back and forth. We always think (or like to think) that our current solution is correct; only to realize, some years later, that we overshot and need to take a few steps back. The evolution of the software application model is a great example of this syndrome. Every technologist knows about the three main application model phases—Mainframe, Client/Server, and Web [1.0]—and many of them think they know what the next phase will be. In fact, two models are currently being promoted. In order to better understand the current trend, it is important to first understand the three original model phases.

Intuive MVC Pattern for AJAX Applications

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:00:00 EDT

The main focus of ZK 3.6.1 was on bug-fixing, with over 47 bugs fixed. In addition to the host of bugs eradicated 20 new features have been added, including a debug mode for unit-testing and MVC enhancement!

Creating and Accessing Pop-up Menus in AIR Applications with Flash CS4

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 07:00:00 EDT

Reading my previous AIR tutorials, you’ve worked with menus that are associated with tangible elements of your applications, such as the following: Context menus that are activated on objects on the stage Context menus associated with icons in the system tray or dock bar Menus associated with windows and menus of the application itself AIR applications also allow you to create pop- up menus . These are native menus like all the other ones you’ve seen so far—the only difference is that pop- up menus aren’t natively associated with any element on the interface of the application. It’s up to the developer to define and implement the logic and the way in which a pop- up menu can be activated

AJAX Applications From JPA Entities

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:30:00 EDT

OpenXava 3.1.2, released recently, is a model-driven framework to develop Java Enterprise applications in an agile way: With OpenXava you provide only your POJOs annotated with JPA and you obtain an AJAX application ready for production.

A Telemedicine Second Opinion Application Developed on Web with One Developer in One Month

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:26:00 EDT

The functionality of the Telemedicine Pilot system was delivered by the Second Opinion Module - Provides all the back-end functionality for capturing, maintaining and managing Second Opinion cases. It also provides a portal with a Web-based user interface which provides access to facilities without automated medical record systems. This module also provides a comprehensive Web Services interface to enable access from external systems.

Servoy RAD Journal Launched on Ulitzer

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:45:00 EDT

Servoy provides a Rapid Application Development (RAD) and Deployment tool. Because of its features, Servoy enables organizations to make better use of their data; improve their business processes; and get the most up-to-date and accurate information from (and into) their databases and (legacy) applications.

What Does Adobe's Move on to TVs Mean for Digital Signage?

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:49:00 EDT

Adobe is at the National Association of Broadcasters show in Lost Wages this week, and its big announcement was how the company has put the pieces in place to allow it to deliver Flash content and interactivity to residential TV. “Adobe Flash Platform for the Digital Home will dramatically change the way we view content on televisions,” said David Wadhwani, the general manager and VP of the platform business unit at Adobe. “Consumers are looking to access their favorite Flash technology-based videos, applications, services and other rich web content across screens. We are looking forward to working with partners to create these new experiences and deliver content consistently across devices whether consumers view it on their desktop, mobile phone or television.”

Creating iPhone and iPod Touch Web Applications with ASP.NET and ComponentOne

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 07:30:00 EDT

With the advent of mobile technology, more and more people are using an iPhone as their on-the-go method of connecting to the World Wide Web. For those who develop Web applications, the task is to build Web applications that mimic the user interface (UI) of the iPhone and iPod touch devices. In response to the trend and demand, ComponentOne, a leading component vendor in the Microsoft Visual Studio Industry Partner Program, has announced a suite of Microsoft ASP.NET controls named Studio for iPhone.

First Major Update to JavaScript Since 1999

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:30:00 EDT

JSON will be safer and "getters and setters" will be standard in ECMAScript, Fifth Edition. That's what the creator of JavaScript, Brdendan Eich, has been telling a reporter this week. JavaScript, called 'The world's most underated programming language' by JSON creator Douglad Crockford, has not been updated in any significant way since 1999.

Microsoft’s First Cloud Server Hits Public Beta

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:30:00 EDT

Microsoft Wednesday sent Exchange 2010 out into public beta. It’s its first server built from the ground up, according to Microsoft, to be deployed in the cloud as an online service as well as on-site. It will be available as a cloud service from both Microsoft and third parties.

AJAX and RIA 2009: More Choices, Tough Decisions

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:00:00 EDT

The story of software development in the last few years has been driven by the need to provide a good user experience without installation issues and update woes. For some people that has meant building "smart client" applications, as promoted by Microsoft. For others, that has meant building rich Internet applications (RIAs) using technologies such as AJAX, Microsoft Silverlight, and Adobe Flash and Flex.

The Future of the Web: I Disagree

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:00:00 EDT

Tim Bray, a Distinguished Engineer and Director of Web Technologies at Sun Microsystems has been interviewed by InfoQ about the future of the Web. With all my respect to Sun’s engineers, I have to disagree with some of the statements Mr. Bray made.

No More Excel! Access AJAX Spreadsheet Today!

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 11:45:00 EDT

ZK Spreadsheet enables Ajax applications to deliver the rich functionality of ExcelR to browsers in pure Java. With embeddable Excel functionality in pure Java, developers can create collaborative and dynamic enterprise applications like never before.

Trading Desk Application's UI Completed Using Visual WebGui

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:45:00 EDT

Montrusco Bolton Investments is a Montreal firm with over 60 years of investment experience. MBI offers a range of equity, fixed income and alternative investment solutions and is supported by two solid institutional partners: Affiliated Managers Group and Solidarity Fund QFL. The company uses a trading desk application to send trade information to brokers and to different departments within the company by email and printouts. The Trading Desk application is used to determine the transactions needed in the portfolios that the company manages. It is an interface that creates transactions into another table in the database for another department and sends emails to the brokers with the transactions to process in attachment (a pdf file that is created with Crystal Reports).

Help Desk Ticketing System Using Visual WebGui

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 09:30:00 EDT

“There is no other software platform on the market today that can give traditional desktop application developers the ability to transition that knowledge and experience directly to a web development environment – providing an unprecedented development experience.” Brian Butterfield

Automatic User Interface with OpenXava: An Evolutionary Option for GUIs

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 08:15:00 EDT

This is a story about creating a user interface easily, or better yet, about having good user interfaces without working for them.

New AJAX and RIA-Based System with Visual WebGui Rolled Out in UK

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:00:00 EDT

Craegmoor has a small IT team dedicated to supporting its IT infrastructure, so producing robust and secure web based applications was believed to be a challenge. The team considered bringing in external consultants, but this idea was rejected because it was not viewed as a cost effective measure and one that would carry much greater associated risks than an in house approach.

Developing Rich Client Applications Using Swing - II

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 23:00:00 EST

In Part 1 of this article, I introduced rich client development, available architectures for developing rich client applications based on the Swing toolkit, and technologies that could be used to make development more productive. In this second part, I’ll compare the most popular IDEs and evaluate them with an eye to Swing development for rich client applications.

Visual WebGui Version 6.3.1 Development Environment Released

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 07:56:00 EST

This is a stabilization of 6.3 and another step towards a release version. The new version brings a significant enhancement in cross-browser support with full compatibility for Netscape and added support for popular browser like Chrome, Safari and Opera.

AJAX and RIA Market Is Heating Up: Sun CEO

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:45:00 EST

"The economy might be cooling down, but the RIA market is definitely heating up," declared Sun's CEO Jonathan Schwartz recently in his widely-read industry blog. Schwartz was writing as Sun shipped its 100,000,000th JavaFX runtime - a download rate that makes it the fastest growing RIA platform on the market and demonstrating the fastest adoption of any product Sun has ever shipped.

Ariba Open Sources Framework for RIA Development

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:00:00 EST

Ariba has announced the open source release of AribaWeb, the company’s framework for development of RIAs. AribaWeb enables the creation of rich, highly interactive business applications. Among the key attributes that set AribaWeb apart: Auto AJAX: “Today’s users demand a highly interactive, rich user experience from their web applications. And to date, this challenge has been met primarily through AJAX,” said Craig Federighi, User Interface Technology Evangelist at Ariba. “But implementing AJAX typically involves the extensive (and expensive) hand-coding of brittle client-side JavaScript code. With its Auto AJAX technology, AribaWeb completely changes the game and dramatically alters the cost equation - AJAX user interfaces are produced automatically, without requiring the application developer to perform any client-side scripting.”