Rich Internet Applications

Here are a couple of interesting RIA links that I stumbled across during the past week:

Java FX
Javalobby has posted an interview with Tom Ball, lead architect on the openjfx compiler project:

We’ve been interviewing lots of design houses, and the biggest complaint they have with Java-based client applications is how much longer it takes the Swing engineers to turn a design cycle than the designers do — the designers can crack out a design in a week which their developer counterparts take three months to implement.

It is definitely an encouraging sign to see that Sun is moving ahead in this area.

10 Future Web Trends
Richard MacManus lists RIA in his list of 10 Future Web Trends:

As the current trend of hybrid web/desktop apps continues, expect to see RIA (rich internet apps) continue to increase in use and functionality. Adobe’s AIR platform (Adobe Integrated Runtime) is one of the leaders, along with Microsoft with its Windows Presentation Foundation. Also in the mix is Laszlo with its open source OpenLaszlo platform and there are several other startups offering RIA platforms. Let’s not forget also that Ajax is generally considered to be an RIA - it remains to be seen though how long Ajax lasts, or whether there will be a ‘2.0′.

Flex vs. Silverlight
James Ward compares Flex and Microsoft Silverlight in this interview published at InfoQ.

Do you use AJAX, RIA or other Web 2.0?
Eric Chiu asks in this thread on LinkedIn (you’ll probably need to log in to read the thread):

Do you use AJAX, RIA, or other Web 2.0?

Do you think AJAX made the web easier to use? What are some of your favorite AJAX frameworks? I would like to know how companies are using AJAX to improve usability, interaction and collaboration.

Most people in the thread reported that they are using AJAX libraries such as Prototype, JQuery and RIA tools such as Adobe Flex. Perfomance and security are major concerns. While others cite customization and extensibility as being important.

As mentioned in last week’s blog post, UltraLightClient 6.2 offers a new test framework.

We put together a 6:15 minute screencast showing how to create functional tests for ULC using this new framework:

View screencast.

Tests written with the ULC test framework can be executed in development mode, as well as in deployed mode, allowing you to test the application in a “real” situation.

Automated functional testing to be one of the most important building blocks you need to deliver reliable enterprise rich client applications. The ULC test framework is a tool that will allow you to build, accumulate and automatically reproduce and test all relevant interactions between a user and your application.

More infos on UltraLightClient 6.2:

• Recent announcement
• ULC 6.2 release notes
• Interview with Daniel Grob, lead developer

Disclaimer: This is my second go at narrating a screencast

The first screencast can be found here. Hopefully this will help you to learn more about UltraLightClient and get a quick overview.

iX has published an article by Mike Mannion on Java FX. It is written in German:

Eignet sich Suns neue GUI-Sprache für Einsteiger? Ein erster Schritt

Download the .pdf from the Canoo Press Room.

See also:
Music Pinboard - the sample application referred to in the iX article.

All Java FX related posts published within this blog.

Canoo has released version 6.2 of its Java RIA library, UltraLightClient.

Download the new version here. As mentioned by Daniel Grob in a previous blog post, this release focuses on improving testing of UltraLightClient applications.

New features include a new test framework, integration into Mercury QuickTest Professional and many feature requests:

• Custom labels for slider.
• Cell-based popup menus to add a context menu to every cell in a table, a tree, a list, or a table tree.
• A number of small improvements for existing user interface components such as:
• Adding component orientation - from left to right / right to left,
• Scrollable tabs,
• Window decorators,
• Table column events.
• Spinner component support.
• Possibility to customize the InputBlocker during server roundtrips to provide feedback to users.
• Enhanced extensions to access the client file system.

A list of changes can be found in the release notes. In addition to ULC 6.2, a new version of the ULC Visual Editor for Eclipse 3.2 is available.

Further UltraLightClient resources:
Documentation
Mailing Lists

We just updated the Canoo events page and I would like to point to Dierk König’s impressive Autumn 07 schedule at: http://www.canoo.com/events.html

Dierk will be speaking at:

• iX Workshop in Zurich, Munich and Frankfurt.
• Grails eXchange 2007.
• W-JAX in Munich.

If you’re attending any of these events, stop by and say hello to Dierk…

He recently wrote a series of articles on Grails for iX magazine (in German).

The Flex-Ajax-Bridge is a library which exposes Flex application to scripting within the browser. As stated on the Adobe Labs wiki:

After you insert the library, essentially anything you can do with ActionScript, you can do with JavaScript.

We introduced the Flex-Ajax-Bridge in our talk Mixing Ajax, Flash and Swing. It seems Adobe has now decided how they want to distribute it: They moved it out of Life Cycle Data Service 2.5 (limited free use only) and into Flex SDK 3 beta. Which is certainly good news.

And there is more Ajax support: With Ajax Data Service Adobe provides Flex Data Management Services capabilities (pushed updates, conflict management, lazy loading, and direct integration with back-end domain models) for Ajax applications. Ajax Data Service is available in Adobe® LiveCycle® Data Services ES.

Here are some links on Rich Internet Applications (RIA) that caught my eye during the past week:

James Breeze is looking for research on RIA usability. He lists some articles on usability, but most of these are fairly old from Macromedia times.

The most recent article he points to is:

• The Business Case for Rich Internet Applications, Forrester report by Ron Rogowski.

Needless to say, I am interested in hearing about other research reports as well.

Tim Anderson tried out Tafiti, a search application based on Microsoft’s Silverlight and Live Search.

RIA on Mobile Devices

Ryan Stewart writes:

RIAs can help bring the worlds of desktop, web, and mobile together and that’s going to bring about all kinds of new use cases for applications as well as new business models and modes of communication.

In my opinion, posts such as this one or this one are first indicators that RIA on mobile devices will become important.

Planet RIA

For further blogs, see Canoo’s RIA aggregator at: http://www.planet-ria.org
And feel free to add your favorite feeds.