Can anyone recommend a GUI builder tool for creating DHTML web apps using AJAX to communicate with a web service backend? I'd like to avoid having to mess around with designing HTML, marshalling/unmarshalling data, checking for browser compatibility, etc. The tool should have a library of widgets that can be put into an application and hooked up to functionality, and be extensible enough to be able to define custom widgets. Of course free and/or open source is preferrable but I would consider proprietary tools too.
Also to what extent does the choice of GUI tool affect what platform or language I would use for the backend? If the GUI is just calling a web service then I should be able to use anything on the server-side to provide that interface but maybe some gui-side tools use a proprietary data exchange format that requires some specific server-side code?
Edit: I don't need a widget that can be dragged, I want an IDE that allows one to build a gui easily (i.e. a RAD tool).
WaveMaker is open source, runs on J2EE.
If you're comfortable with Java, maybe you could try Google Web Toolkit? http://code.google.com/webtoolkit/
I'm using Wavemaker and it does exactly what are u asking...
It is really easy to use and very perfomant....
I believe Dreamweaver does some of this, but in my opinion such editors are not a good idea. They produce horrible, unmaintainable server-side code and are quite inflexible.
Wavemaker beats everything else I have used hands down. Applications can be developed rapidly, has drag and drop, can connect to any web service, and has unmatched database management tools. The only problem with it is that it has kept changing hands/ownership so much and its future direction is not clear.
Delphi for PHP from Codegear has some of this capability, but I would agree with ceejayoz that such tools don't necessarily make for nice code.
On Dan's suggestion I took a look at GWT. I'd heard of it before but never looked at it that closely and it seems pretty interesting. Certainly it takes away the annoyance of pixel pushing and making things work in multiple browsers. I also tried searching for "gwt rad tools" and came up with a couple of results:
Instantiations GWT Designer (commercial, $59/year)
Wirelexsoft Vistafei (still in beta but will have a free and a commercial version)
I'll take a look at these but if anyone's used something else let me know.
Related
Excuse a non-developer being forced to develop applications instead of administrating networks like I'm used to. This is a horrible post in many ways.
I'm developing an application which has reached the point of needing a GUI. However, I haven't done any GUI development ever before, so I feel the need to ask for help on this.
The application is your standard data collecting/management app, with all common widgets and stuff that every application is using. The problem is that I need the application to be able to display websites using an external browser of some sort, to pass a captcha on the site the application works against. The website guys haven't given me permission to circumvent the captcha in any way.
I know of GTK, QT, Tcl/Tk etc. None of these frameworks have struck me as easy to use. To be honest, I'd like to design the interface using drag-and-drop like I used to do in VB6 when I was a kid, although I get chills thinking about writing this thing in Basic.
I was thinking about Adobe Air, and to design the application in Flash/ActionScript. From what I've learned about Air, I should be able to do everything I want to do. And I do believe it has built in sqlite, right? Would it be considered more "simple" to develop the actual GUI using Flash than using one of the traditional frameworks? What pitfalls am I facing?
A few guidelines:
It only needs to run on Windows
I need to be able to work against a database. Currently using SQLite3.
Some sort of browser integration is crucial. A browser window of some sort needs to open up inside my interface, be directed by the application, and the application needs to be able to read some data from the site that is being used.
Any help with this would be great. This is a clear case where I have to rely on the experience of others to complete the project at all. I'm happy to provide more information if you need that to make a suggestion.
You can always try Titanium Framework, it was aquired by Appcelerator nor so much ago. http://www.appcelerator.com/
It actually puts a webkit browser in a window, so if you can design HTML and CSS you can use this framework.
I'm looking for a set of Javascript based UI components for a web app I'm building and have found that many of the best looking web apps were built with the Capuccino framework; see http://www.getflow.com/, http://www.picsengine.com/home/ and http://timetableapp.com/ for examples.
However, I'm not a Cocoa developer and have no interest in learning Objective-J. Ideally, I'd find a set of components that provide the visual end result of Capuccino apps without the underlying weight of the framework.
I have seen the Aristo jQuery UI them (http://taitems.tumblr.com/post/482577430/introducing-aristo-a-jquery-ui-theme), but jQuery UI just doesn't seem to have the depth of components available in Capuccino.
I realize this may be a long shot, but I figured it can't hurt to ask. :)
Thanks.
As another option, there is jQuery UI: nice if you are already familiar with jQuery, with the plus side of not being too heavyweight, but may not have all the components you need pre-defined. A nice thing is that it encourages to write the HTML in a way that degrades gracefully when your application in older browsers.
Maybe sproutcore is an alternative for you, although it requires you to hand-code everything in javascript from scratch. It offers most basic components and is easily adjustable to your personal design goals. Sproutcore is used in Apples Mobile Me and in some other big projects.
Another possibility might by vaadin which offers a rich set of prebuild controls and is based on Googles GWT javascript compiler. But it only makes sense if you are developing in a java environment.
I'm developing a WinForm app in c# 4.0 and would like other (non-developer) colleagues to contribute writing a context sensitive end-user helpfile. First I thought I could use "HTML Help Workshop" from Microsoft, but it seems outdated (Vista and Windows 7 not supported).
Then I've looked at Sandcastle, but the documentation is lacking and I wonder if it is suitable for non-technical users to write end-user documentation.
So I read about RoboHelp, but it's way to expensive for me.
I'm getting lost in all the information that is available about helpfiles. Can someone help give some best practices or information on what tools to use and what output format I should target (still chm or other).
Great question. I like your idea of non-developers contributing to the end-user documentation.
This idea might motivate users and testers of your application to easily contribute to the documentation.
The first thing that comes to my mind, is using a some sort of wiki engine. You could build a simple function in your WinForm application, that fires up a browser and directs in to the wiki. You could use the context from which it is called to build up an url; e.g. http://dev-wiki.mycompany.com/LoginForm?action=edit. Here the name of the form ("LoginForm") is used in the url of a wiki page.
Alternatively, you could simply use the embedded web browser control for WinForms to access the wiki. That would look something like:
var url = GetWikiUrl(myForm);
browserControl.Navigate(url);
This would be very easy to embed in your application.
In a controlled (office) environment, this would be very easy to set up. In you production environment it might be a bit more difficult, but still doable. It might leverage some end-user contributions too.
For writing documentation, I use sphinx.
It lets you document in plain text and has various output formats (chm, html, pdf etc.).
Some of these (chm, html) can be used as context-sensitive help sources.
However simple, the sphinx user-interface (text editor and make file) might not be suitable for non-technical users.
I would recommend to use Help+Manual for creating CHM documentation. It's similar to MS Word and any PC user can start to contribute doc development after short education.
But this tool isn't free :(
First of all, I'm sorry because of this lame question. But I'm kind of lost in all dynamic-html, ajax, etc stuff. So i decided get help from the pros.
Basically what I'm trying to do is creating a web page which have dynamic content(messages) coming from a web server(asp.net or php) presented in floating(movable by viewer) boxes in the page. And those boxes will be created dynamically upon a trigger from the server. And the viewer should be able to draw lines between those boxes to connect them(this information will also be sent/received to/from the server). Now which technologies should i use to have this? Is a combination of ajax+html5+jscript enough for this? Or do i need libraries like Yahoo's YUI, Google's GWT, etc.? Or, is flash/silverlight the best solution? Or something else?
Thanks
I'm no pro but I'd go for the HTML+JS+CSS version. As for the libraries, they'll help you in getting your content accross the many browsers and provide you with some nice utilities ;)
You don't need frameworks to do any of this. They might make the job easier, but, ultimately, they'll produce HTML and Javascript that make use of AJAX to get the job done.
Sounds like a big job, so be sure consider appropriate server-side and Javascript frameworks, and good luck.
You first have to decide between HTML5/JS/CSS, Flash and Silverlight for your client technology. Consider the client machines you need to support (Windows, Mac, Linux, iPad etc.)
You then pick your server-side language/platform. AJAX is your communication medium.
If you're going with HTML5/JS/CSS you'd like to pick a JS framework to speed up development. jQuery makes for quick coding. Other frameworks may have more features but are more abstracted from plain JS. You might want to use GWT if you're more familiar with Java than Javascript.
Just wondering what software you use to create a visual sitemap / site structure representation before you start big sites?
I am looking to map out a large site, but cannot find any good software to help me map the site visually (And in pages/categories)..
Maybe SketchFlow http://electricbeach.org/?p=145 ? which is included in the Expression Blend Trial http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=92E1DB7A-5D36-449B-8C6B-D25F078F3609&displaylang=en
I strongly suggest taking a look at this tool: http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mockups
The Balsamiq tool is the best for doing mockups (i assume this is what you are referring too when talking about sitemaps before you start...). With this software you can quickly generate a working wireframe of what ever you are creating. So much functionality that you can actually share it with your client to get some good sign offs prior to typing the first bit of code.
Very powerful!
And the other one...just shown at the last MIX09 is SketchFlow. Couldn't remember it to save my life. This is a WAY COOL tool for site maps and UI mock up. I was trying to find you the actual MIX presentation as it is super cool to watch. But here are some YouTube videos of that presentation from a user perspective I guess.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsAZjb7FKXA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3ErrS68YMM
Check it out!
update...found the SketchFlow video!!! http://videos.visitmix.com/MIX09/C01F
Great keynote from there too: http://videos.visitmix.com/MIX09/KEY01
I know this is an old question, but for others who find this via search, I personally love mocking my websites up with mind mapping tools. I've tried several but my favorite was MindNode for Mac and Xmind for Windows.
XMind free download:
http://www.xmind.net/
MindNode free download:
https://mindnode.com/
I've also tried MindMeister which works just as well as other mind mapping tools and is hosted for you so you can access your mind maps anywhere. However, MindMeister only allows you three maps (currently) without upgrading to a paid subscription.
Another that I've worked with is mockflow.com which is great for mocking up websites with all their features and buttons and even making clickable navigation. They have a free version, but again it's very limited without upgrading to a paid version.
I'm using Slickplan. This cloud based app allows me to have access to my projects from different machines regardless of their operating systems. All I need is one of the leading web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari).
With Slickplan you can create visual sitemaps from scratch or you can use Site Crawler to import your existing website to visualize and reorganize its structure.
Of course you can always export your projects to the XML format, and use the exported file to create pages and menu systems inside some popular content management system - Slickplan provides plugins for WordPress, Joomla, concrete5 and a few more.