Rich Internet Applications (RIA)

This is just a quick note about the WJAX Java developer conference that take place last week in Munich.

The conference program was quite balanced and beside the main stream topics about SOA (ServiceOrientedArchitektur – represented by the SOACon conference), Spring, Application Security and OSGi there was a huge number of different topics, which were addressed by several talks.

Most interesting from my point of view were following sessions:

• Keynote from Jonas Jacobi: Re-architecting the Web with HTML 5 Communication.
• Talk from Karsten Lentzsch: Efficient design of swing UI’s.
• Talk from Angelika Langer: Java programming in the age of multicore.
• Talk from Dierk Koenig: RESTful JEE with Grails.

Canoo was exhibiting on a booth, which gave the great opportunity to present and talk about our products UltraLightClient (ULC), the just released language application for the IPhone (using canoo.net), our demo for the new JavaFX platform and fancy UltraLightClient / Swing rich client applications. In addition Canoo members used the presence to keep in touch with existing costumers, contact new ones or presented the company to potential new staff members.

Canoo Online Quiz

All the visitors on the booth and all other interested software developers had and still have the possibility to join an online quiz. Its possible to win an iPod touch or one of ten ‘Groovy in Action’ books. The quiz can be found at www.canoo.com/quiz and will end at the 30.11.2008.

Dierk König, Canoo fellow and author of the ‘Groovy in Action’ book, was holding a groovy workshop and was giving a talk about RESTful JEE with Grails.

Canoo recently published a new look for one of its UltraLightClient sample applications.

Our aim for this sample project was to show that Java web applications need not rely on the standard “grey and clunky” look and feel, but can be customized to fit into a company’s corporate design or to match current web design trends.

The design for the OnlineShop sample was developed by User Interface Design GmbH. Two Canoo developers then implemented the final design within two weeks.

The sample application can be accessed online:

Please note: you will need the Java plug-in to view the sample application.

Canoo has released a new sample application at ria-map.net. The application shows typical Web 2.0 interface elements such as tagging or Flickr-like editing fields.

I asked the developer, Jonas Zuberbühler, the following questions on the new Canoo sample application.

SW> What is riamap?

riamap is a Web 2.0 community site that maps the world of Rich Internet Applications. Unlike mere information aggregators on the topic, it builds on user contributions to assemble not only a list of current RIA technologies, but also how they relate to each other.

Users can explore what technologies are available, what they have in common, how they differentiate, what competitors they have and how they complement each other. These relations make up a graph that any user can extend by adding new connections or voting how strong any such connection based on his or her own judgment.

SW> What technologies did you use to build it?

We used Grails for the web application framework and Groovy as it is the perfect partner for implementing server-side logic.
In addition, we used Prototype, Scriptaculous and LivePipe to integrate AJAX features and to improve the user interface.

SW> Why did you select Grails? Why not adapt an existing PHP- or Java-based content management system?

Canoo has a strong footing in Java and Grails is the perfect choice for developing Web 2.0 applications on the Java platform. We can build on our solid understanding of this ecosystem and use all the existing tools for development, deployment and operations. On top of this, Grails provides us with the concise, expressive and interactive development style that modern applications require.

Further screenshots:

To get a login for riamap, sign up here to join riamap. Try out the various Web 2.0 interface features. If you feel like adding information on a RIA technology, enter the details here or edit an existing entry.

Buzzword

In the second Canoo RIA newsletter, we added a new category featuring cool sample applications. Here’s what we had to say about Adobe’s online word processor, Buzzword:

Buzzword (http://www.buzzword.com/) an online word processor is an example of a successful Rich Internet Application.
The application is based on Adobe’s Flash, Flex, and AIR technologies. Users access the software by means of a hyperlink and can open, write, and edit documents just like in MS Word. A local installation of the Buzzword software is not required. Like Google Docs, the documents are accessible online.

Buzzword was purchased by Adobe in October 2007.

For further details see:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Stewart/?p=292

Parleys.com Beta

Another cool Adobe Flex / AIR application that I’ve seen running on the screens of our developers’ laptops is Parleys.com. Christian wrote about this application in his JavaPolis blog post. Parleys is an online application to view the JavaPolis video and slides (there is a Canoo talk as well, but the sound is very low and hardly audible ). After installing Adobe AIR, the videos can be downloaded and viewed offline. A cool feature if you’re travelling with lots of time to spare.

For further details on how to login into the browser version or how to install the standalone version, see this page.

Last week beta version 2.1 was released.

And here are two screenshots (click for large view) showing the application: