I'm looking for a quick way to build the front-end AJAX for an administrative interface.
Is their a "Javascript Generator" similar for example to the Microsoft Visual dev environments where you can just place controls by hand in a graphical environment, and then double click the controls to enter the code that should power the object?
Here are the suggestions so far:
RadPHP / PHP for Delphi
WaveMaker
SLinb
Sigma Visual Widgets
Sencha Ext Designer
Has anyone had good / bad experiences with any of thse?
What about something like this:
VisualJS (online)
or maybe something like Wavemaker.
Is this what you were looking for?
I do warn you that (that I know of) you cant build AJAX applications as simple as you describe it.
Sencha/EXT Designer may be what you're looking for. It's not free.
Related
I have to figure out how a huge JavaScript code base works and I'm wondering if there are any CASE/UML tools to analyze its structure. I understand that there are several limitations because of the dynamic typing and existence of eval(), but I suppose if IDEs can offer meaningful inspections for JavaScript code these days, there must be some way to visualize dependencies, etc.
use JS/UML which is an eclipse plugin from jsuml.org
WAVI Web Application Viewer 2 (Node.js)
Generate a svg class diagram for your node.js web application.
WAVI is intended for developers who wish to document their web application or as a reverse engineering tool to recover the structure of a web application.
https://www.npmjs.com/package/wavi
I am wondering if anyone knows of any program / tool / or addon that offers a feature like the Live Accessibility Checker in Microsoft Office Word for html coding.
I think it would be great to be able to offer our developers something like this that flags accessibility errors as they are coding them.
There are many tools for checking conformance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) of published websites such as WAVE and Total Validator. A full list is maintained on the W3 website: http://www.w3.org/WAI/RC/tools/complete
However it doesn't appear there are any for checking within an IDE as you're coding, which is what you're looking for. The nearest would be if you're developing something like PHP / classic ASP where changes can be constantly published to a test website and a check subsequently performed with one of these external tools.
In general currently I think that's the best option to consider, including into any build scripts a call to an external tool for WCAG check and potentially parsing the output for number of non-compliances. It doesn't meet the 'live' check, but probably about the next best.
EDIT - one possible tool that may fit the bill (for users of Eclipse IDEs) : http://www.eclipse.org/actf/
The ACTF componentry and the utilities
will be integrated into a single
tooling environment on top of the
Eclipse framework. The framework
components will function cooperatively
with each other and with other Eclipse
projects to provide a comprehensive
development environment for creating
accessible applications and content.
I haven't worked with any IDE that has had an on the fly accessibility checker while you code, but I use http://wave.webaim.org/ sometimes.
I have 6 years of C# programming experience and I'm looking to broaden my horizons. I'm going to build a simple web app to demonstrate knowledge of Ruby on Rails so I can get my foot in a place that might want a Rails programmer. It's the hot new thing, so I want to be marketable.
Anyway, I have been playing around with solr and tomcat and I want to use solr as a search engine for a products database. This means that I will be using some java (tomcat and solr) and for the web app I will be using MSSQL because I'm using Windows. A friend suggested that I look into jRuby because if I'm going to be working with tomcat, it makes sense to put it all on one webserver. I want to use Eclipse as my editor. I hear that rails programmers typically use prototype as their java selector tool but I really like jQuery (or even mootools). I have also heard that jRails is something that ties jQuery to my ruby application.
Given that I use tomcat in conjunction with jRuby using Eclipse as the IDE, what would you suggest I use for handling javascript/ajax and what are some useful plug-ins, software, or tips you have for me that can help me get started on the right foot with ruby on rails?
I would stick with jQuery for your JS/ajax. My perception is that the RJS/Prototype is falling out of favor to jQuery but that could be just me. Where jRails would fit in is if you want to use RJS to generate JavaScript from Ruby code. My personal preference is to keep all of my JavaScript in application.js and keep it unobtrusive.
Some plugins I like are Authlogic, Nifty Generators, Paperclip, ssl_requirement, subdomain-fu, and QueryTrace.
A couple good resources for starting out are Rails Guides and Railscasts. I think it's a good idea to learn the language itself before learning the framework, but I'm sure it's possible to develop a simple Rails application with minimal Ruby knowledge.
As for your application stack, I would recommend reconsidering deploying a Rails app to Windows. Even developing a Rails app on Windows will likely be painful. If you can, I'd get a VM (or old machine) running with Ubuntu and use MySQL. If you're looking for a full text search on Rails you could use Thinking Sphinx - here's a Railscast if you're interested. I'd also give a gentle nudge into trying a Text Editor instead a full blown IDE - I like TextMate on OS X and gedit on Linux.
I also had a Microsoft background when I decided to learn Rails. There was a lot for me to take in - Not having the framework pretend the web is stateful (asp.net), learning a new language, learning a new framework, getting stronger css/html/javascript skills, new OSes (OS X and Linux for me), learning new databases. Overall I'm very happy I did. I'm a better developer for it.
If you want to be marketable, I'd start with learning the lowest common denominator, the default Rails stack, to get broad appeal. Then maybe consider acquiring some more niche skills to raise your value to a subset of potential clients/employers.
That pretty much means targeting MRI 1.8.6/7, Rails 2.3.4 (consider learning at least HAML and rspec in addition to erb and test/unit) and MySQL in an Apache *nix world.
I wouldn't recommend learning much about deploying to a Windows stack - the target for servers is overwhelmingly Linux or perhaps some other *nix flavour. For development web server purposes, Mongrel works fine on Windows.
Build on Windows by all means - I do, without too much pain - but be aware that the visible part of the Ruby/Rails community (the people who mostly develop the libraries and frameworks and most of those who write about it online) are predominantly OSX or Linux users, so there's often a delay in the trickle-down to Windows users, especially where OS interaction is called for or where there are compiled elements to libraries. Also, I'm reliably informed that Rails startup is much slower on Windows. I don't want to confirm it personally - I might get upset.
MSSQL works fine with Rails, but I'd be cautious about using any platform-specific features for reasons mentioned above: you're unlikely to find a site that will be happy to deploy to a mixed Win-*nix environment. The MSSQL ActiveRecord code may also not be quite as hardened as MySQL or SQLite - the one bug I ever found in any version of any Rails-related code was in there. That said, if you don't use any MS-specific features you'll find porting easy. But then if you don't use any extra stuff, why not skip it completely? There are enough differences (the query "optimizer" in MySQL for one takes some getting used to) that you're probably better off learning the platform you're most likely to be targeting.
As for Eclipse, it's obviously a mature development environment but I'm not sure how good the Rails plugins are (and as a hostage to Lotus Notes I'm allergic to using Eclipse any more than absolutely necessary). If you can't live without an IDE (and I'd recommend that you try - you'll learn more) then there are several SO questions that cover the alternatives.
Using Solr in your project doesn't require that you have a Java stack for running the actual Rails app. There are quite a few Ruby libraries out there that would help you easily interface with the Solr backend. A few to look at:
solr-ruby – This is the official client library included with the Solr distribution. It's lower-level than some of the other alternatives, but gives you some good flexibility in accomplishing what you need to.
rsolr – Another lower-level library that looks like a replacement to solr-ruby. At first glance it appears to be more frequently updated.
sunspot – I have not used this, but it looks like it's currently the most popular Solr => Ruby object mapping library. The acts_as_solr library was once an option, but I think that it has since fallen out of favor.
I agree with the other posters that you would want to target a C Ruby / *NIX environment, but if using Tomcat/JRuby helps you learn this faster, go for it.
I'm looking for a way to write a non-GUI bot using Mozilla Framework. The bot should be able to work like normal browser (automatically download relevant JS files, make XMLHTTPRequests, run JS operations, modify DOM), except no GUI will be needed.
I wonder if it is possbile to build XULRunner without X, GTK/KDE (without any GUI dependencies), as I will run the bot on FreeBSD server 6.4.
It may sound a bit weird but I need a bot with capacity to operate like browser, runs JS, modifies DOM, submit forms running on non-GUI environments.
I've looked into other browsers such as Lynx, Links, Hulahop, Chrome V8 engine, WebKit JavascriptCore but yet to find desirable output.
It's a part of school project, thesis. We will use to observe price change of budget airlines and after one year long data collection, we need to deduce pricing strategy and customer behavior. It is a serious Final Year Project.
Any hint or help is greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!
Regards.
You should be able to make progress with selenium. It's a record/test/play tool but its core is manipulating the DOM.
Update from Grundlefleck's comment: As for launching the actual tests there is selenium remote-control, which allows you to write your tests in Java, Ruby, plain HTML and other possible drivers.
Yes, it is possible (but it might very well require LOTS of code changes).
No, I do not know any of the details.
I would not recommend this approach for your purposes. From your comment, it sounds like you are trying to scrape webpages. If you really need to use JavaScript, you can use a stand-alone JavaScript-engine (Mozilla's is available here). Otherwise, I would use Beautiful Soup with Python or Twill. You might also want to read this question.
I am going to start a new application which mainly consist NavigationPane, Grid, Toolbar. Layout should look like this demo page http://www.gwt-ext.com/demo/
I am quite confused which one to use in terms of writing less code, more performant, etc..
Could someone tell the pros and cons of all these technologies.
All the while I coded in javascript, so that way ExtJs seems to be the easy one for me to code. But I am curios to try GWT Ext, Is it true that it could do a lot just by writing few lines of java code.
For eg: To achieve the layout ( given in above gwt ext demo url), which one should I opt ExtJs or GWT Ext.
I read SmartGWT is relatively slower than GwtEXT. Does it have any advantage over GWT EXT. I am also looking for hibernate based data modules ( as my application is going to have many database calls). Anyone of SmartGWT or GWTExt has support for such modules. I came to know that smartgwt doesn't offer all of smartclient enterprise version functionalities, that we are allowed only a few of smartclient features. Will it be an issue?
Your response is highly appreciated.
The GWT-Ext main page now says
"GWT-Ext is no longer under active development and has been superseded by Smart GWT. Assistance will be provided to existing users of GWT-Ext looking to migrate to Smart GWT."
so why would anyone use it?
To write the least code, use SmartGWT Pro. It provides a wizard that allows you to just pick from a list of Hibernate entities you've created, and instantly you have the ability to perform all CRUD operations on that entity, no code required. Then you can add business logic.
The wizard:
http://www.smartclient.com/smartgwtee/showcase/#tools_hibernate_wizard
The link about is just screenshots, but there are several Hibernate samples in the showcase. See especially the Master-Detail Batch Load and Save sample.
As far as performance, real-world performance of most enterprise apps is dictated by how often the application has to contact the server. In this area SmartGWT has a large lead because of features like Adaptive Filtering (see the Featured area in the SmartGWT showcase).
Almost all reports we receive of SmartGWT being "slow" are due to having Firebug enabled. Disable Firebug and performance is fine, so normal end users will never perceive slowness.
About 6 months ago, we studied whether we would use ExtJS or GWT-Ext for an internal application. We wanted the back-end to be J2EE standard frameworks (struts, spring, hibernate for persistence, etc.). We ended up choosing ExtJS because it seemed to us that GWT was not stable enough (too many changes in the API that is still recent), and Ext-GWT was always lagging behind in development.
application which mainly consist NavigationPane, Grid, Toolbar.
Well, this tells us a lot about your app, doesn't it :)
I think it comes down to how good you are at either Java or JavaScript. They are quite a different languages you know :) But if you are well-versed at both but only used Ext JS, then picking up Ext GWT (or GWT Ext, if you meant that), shouldn't be such a great deal. And if that application you are planning is going to be as simple and small as your description of it, then it's probably a perfect opportunity to try out something new.
I use GWT-Ext and it is quite good especially if you don't mind tweaking things with JSNI to customize the already existing Ext widgets it is incredibly powerful. Unfortunately development is stagnant, so my future projects will probably be either in SmartGWT or Ext-GWT. SmartGWT is written by Sanjiv Jivan (same guy who wrote GWT-Ext) and it has most of the widgets we need. I must say most of the skins are quite dated except the Enterprise skin which looks good, but you can always roll your own skin.