No Browser Required: Rich User Interfaces in a Web World
Abstract of Seminar Contents:
During the past decade, the web application platform has emerged as the standard way of delivering enterprise applications to users. This platform constitutes a major step forward from standalone and client-server applications, in that it facilitates centralized administration, low-cost application deployment, workstation security, and cross-platform execution capabilities. Typically, the user interface of a web application utilizes a browser to render html, which is often dynamically generated by a component installed within a web server.
The use of html as a mechanism for delivering applications’ user interfaces easily obscures the fact that html is essentially a document markup language; that is, html was originally designed to be read, not used. Various extensions to html have improved its user interface capabilities, but all the same, many developers and application users have found html user interfaces less appealing than the rich, interactive interfaces common in the client-server era.
In the first half of our seminar, we will explore alternatives to html that are available for delivering richer user interfaces within the basic web application architecture. We will investigate solutions based on the Java 2 platform as well as the Microsoft platform. A discussion of the architectures that make this happen will be accompanied by demos and code samples.
In the second half of our seminar, we will look at the emerging SOAP protocol used for deploying web services. We’ll give a short introduction to XML, the concept of remote procedure calls (RPCs), and the idea of web services. We’ll show some simple SOAP examples, and demo the examples using both the Java-based Apache SOAP toolkit and the Microsoft SOAP toolkit.
Throughout the seminar, attendees will gain a perspective on how and when to get started on the technologies discussed (like .NET and Java 2), and what is needed in terms of infrastructure to begin using these technologies for real solutions. We will also compare and contrast the various technologies in terms of ease of use, ease of maintenance, ease of learning, and availability of developer support.
Outline:
Rich User Interfaces within a Web Application Architecture
- Overview
- Java Platform Options
- Quick Java Platform overview
- The Swing API
- Java Webstart
- The Jiffybus toolkit
- Microsoft Platform Options
- ActiveX in Internet Explorer
- Win32 native options (VB, C++)
- The future: .NET
- Auto-update and auto-deployment technologies
SOAP and Web Services
- Quick XML overview
- Quick RPC overview: background, technologies
- The concept of web services
- The SOAP Protocol
- Examples
Presenters
Scott Came -- Scott is a Senior Managing Consultant in the Olympia-based e-government practice of Logical. His focus is on developing web applications on the Java 2 platform, with particular expertise developing and deploying user interfaces with Java. He has been doing object-oriented development with Java for four years, and has delivered solutions for the Washington Department of Ecology, Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, and Washington Department of Natural Resources. He has taught Java programming at the University of Washington and fulfilled several mentoring engagements involving Java development, software process, and object-oriented software construction.
Wayne Allen -- Wayne is a Senior Managing Consultant in the Olympia-based e-government practice of Logical. His focus is on developing web and distributed applications using Microsoft technologies, with particular emphasis on distributed architecture, server hosted components, software process and object orientation. He has been providing Microsoft solutions with Logical since 1997 for clients such as Washington Department of Natural Resources, Washington Department of Transportation, Washington Office of Financial Management and Washington Department of Labor & Industries. Before partnering with Logical, he owned and operated his own computer consulting firm started in 1989.
Seminar Registration
Space is limited. Registration is on a first come/first served basis. This seminar is now full and registration is closed. (08/06/01)
For More Information . . .
Contact: Sheryl Hall or Dennis Jones,
IPMA Professional Development Committee Co-Chairs.