29
Fri, Nov
0 New Articles

Enterprise-Class Web 2.0 Development Gets Boost from OpenAjax Alliance

Development Tools / Utilities
Typography
  • Smaller Small Medium Big Bigger
  • Default Helvetica Segoe Georgia Times

At today's AJAXWorld, the OpenAjax Alliance announced the successful interoperability of two key technologies with more than a dozen Ajax products. These advances will further enable software developers to create enterprise-class Web sites with Web 2.0 features using its open standards software.

Ajax, based on open formats such as HTML and JavaScript, is the Web development technology behind most interactive, rich Web 2.0 applications--such as mashups, widgets and gadgets. With today's milestone, the Alliance is showing that the technologies announced in the spring can successfully interoperate with industry-leading Ajax products.

The OpenAjax standards address two workflows, Ajax integrated development environments (IDEs) and Ajax mashups. These OpenAjax standards initiatives will enable better Ajax developer tools and will promote greater security and interoperability with mashups. This is critical as Web 2.0 applications extend from the consumer space into the enterprise.

Adobe, Aptana, the Dojo Foundation, the Eclipse Foundation, Google, IBM, ILOG, Lightstreamer, Nexaweb, ProgrammableWeb, SAP and TIBCO are among the vendors who received interoperability awards today for OpenAjax standards for integrated development environments (IDEs) and mashups, a Web site or application that combines content from more than one source into a browser-based Web application.

The OpenAjax Alliance is an organization of vendors, open source projects and companies using Ajax that are dedicated to the successful adoption of open and interoperable Ajax-based Web technologies. OpenAjax members include more than 100 organizations including Adobe, the Eclipse Foundation, Google, IBM and Microsoft working towards the mutual goal of accelerating customer success with Ajax. The prime objective of the group is to accelerate customer success with Ajax by promoting a customer's ability to mix and match solutions from Ajax technology providers and to help drive the future of the Ajax ecosystem. To learn more about OpenAjax Alliance, please visit: http://www.openajax.org

The Alliance's Latest Milestones:
1. Metadata Integration: The Ajax industry today has several popular developer tools in the form of integrated development environments (IDEs) and hundreds of useful Ajax libraries, but integration of Ajax libraries into Ajax tools has been a largely library-by-library manual process for the tool vendors. As a result, Ajax tools only provide strong code assist and interactive-help features for a highly restricted set of Ajax libraries, and have difficulty maintaining compatibility with new Ajax library releases.

To solve this integration problem, OpenAjax Alliance has developed an industry standard XML format, OpenAjax Metadata, that describes the JavaScript APIs and widgets found in Ajax libraries. This standard will allow arbitrary Ajax tools to work with arbitrary Ajax libraries so that the tools can provide intelligent code assist, interactive help, and drag-and-drop visual editing using Ajax widgets.

"The OAA Metadata specification is a huge win for Ajax," said Kevin Hakman, chair of IDE Working Group and director of Evangelism, Aptana, Inc. "With the dominant majority of all leading IDEs having contributed to the specification and having pledged to support it, soon anyone creating Ajax libraries or widgets and describing those with the OAA Metadata can be assured to have broad compatibility with a vast array of tools--and developers will be able to further ease and accelerate their projects that include Ajax."

2. Mashup Security: Mashups represent a revolution in Web application development, where end users can assemble situational applications within the browser by drag-and-drop assembly of pre-built Web components (widgets and feeds) onto a mashup canvas. However, mashups represent a security challenge due to the risk of potentially malicious third-party components.

The alliance has produced OpenAjax Hub 1.1, which provides an industry-standard secure mashup runtime that isolates third-party widgets into security sandboxes and mediates messaging among the widgets with a security manager. OpenAjax Hub 1.1 will be delivered as both an open specification and commercial-grade open source reference implementation.

"Today's announcements from the Alliance illustrate how OpenAjax is evolving from the consumer space into the enterprise by being able to run mashups, widgets and gadgets in Ajax applications," said David Boloker, OpenAjax Alliance Steering Committee chairman and chief technology officer for Emerging Internet Technology, IBM.

3. Widget Interoperability Standard: The alliance includes within its OpenAjax Metadata standard the ability to define "mashable widgets," where widgets identify the properties that they share with other widgets and the messages that they can publish and receive from other widgets.

To speed industry adoption of its mashup technologies, the alliance has produced both an industry XML format for "mashable widgets" and an open source mashup application that demonstrates all of its mashup technologies working together. The mashable widget format is upwardly compatible with the OpenAjax widget format used to document widgets within an Ajax library, thereby allowing Ajax widget libraries to be "mashup ready." The open source mashup application provides reusable open source for processing the OpenAjax Metadata standard for mashable widgets. The mashup application also demonstrates integration of OpenAjax Hub 1.1 in order to provide a secure mashup runtime. The alliance has also developed an open source widget repository that supports the OpenSearch standard.

"The mashup work at OpenAjax Alliance will help accelerate the time when end-user mashups will become a mainstream part of Web application development," said Stewart Nickolas, chair of the Gadgets Task Force and distinguished engineer at IBM. "The alliance has addressed both the widget interoperability problem facing the industry with its widget standard that is in OpenAjax Metadata and with the open source mashup runtime in OpenAjax Hub 1.1."

Adobe

"With the recently launched Adobe Dreamweaver CS4, Adobe's goal was to take the mystery out of Ajax development, and give our customers a rapid and intuitive way to incorporate Web Widgets into their projects," said Scott Fegette, product manager in Adobe's Creative Solutions business unit. "That's why we used OpenAjax Metadata as Dreamweaver's native format for defining Ajax widgets--so our customers could easily take advantage of widgets from a variety of third-party developers to enhance their designs."

Aptana

"Aptana is pleased to have contributed to this milestone specification for the API metadata, much of which was derived from the open source ScriptDoc format from Aptana," said Lori Hylan-Cho, Ajax wrangler, Aptana, Inc. "This means that Aptana's ability to interpret the OAA metadata and use it to boost Ajax developers' productivity in Aptana Studio has been a breeze. We are excited that there's now a robust non-proprietary way to describe Ajax libraries and widgets in a consistent manner, which benefits tools, library and widget developers, and ultimately all JavaScript developers, who can look forward to improved code hinting and widget management in their IDEs."

The Dojo Foundation

The Dojo Foundation was a charter member of OpenAjax Alliance and serves on the OpenAjax Alliance Steering Committee. "The open source Dojo Toolkit is one of the industry's most popular and comprehensive Ajax development platform," said Dylan Schiemann, chief executive at Web application development and design firm SitePen and co-founder of the Dojo Foundation. "We are excited that many widgets from our Dijit project are available both to visual IDEs and to mashup applications due to support for OpenAjax Metadata. We are also pleased that the open source sample mashup application posted on the OpenAjax Web site uses Dojo for many of its features."

The Eclipse Foundation

"The Eclipse Foundation has expanded its industry-leading open source IDE technologies to go beyond Java to also support JavaScript and Ajax developers," said Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation. "We strongly support the IDE interoperability efforts at OpenAjax Alliance and are excited about our future support for OpenAjax Metadata within Eclipse's JSDT component. Our various JavaScript initiatives will allow Web developers to experience the same power and flexibility advantages that Java developers have realized for years from the open source Eclipse platform."

Google

"Google believes in the value of the open Web, and we are working with the Web community to make the open Web even better," said Graham Spencer, director of Engineering, Open Web Technologies, Google. "Therefore we're pleased to be recognized by the OpenAjax Alliance for our work in building interoperable Ajax technologies."

IBM Rational

"IBM is thrilled to see the Open Ajax Alliance provide specifications to increase interoperability between industry-supplied widgets and tooling metadata. We are incorporating these specifications into Rational Application Developer," said Karen Hunt, director of Development Tools, IBM Rational Software. "The OpenAjax metadata support in Rational Application Developer will enable support for adding widgets to the palette, allowing the widgets to be in the drag-and-drop WYSIWYG page designer editor. In addition, the latest specification will help ensure that the Dojo Widgets we make available can interoperate with Google Gadgets, Microsoft Gadgets and others."

ILOG

"ILOG is pleased to demonstrate compliance with the OpenAjax standards and to participate in this second InteropFest," said Jean François Abramatic, chief product officer, ILOG. "Ajax is a continued effort at ILOG with a continued effort at ILOG with a solid need from the market for standards and interactive and graphical Web displays."

Lightstreamer

"We are very pleased that Lightstreamer passed the 2008 InteropFest too, after the successful participation in the two previous InteropFests," said Alessandro Alinone, chief technology officer, Lightstreamer. "OpenAjax Metadata will be an important industry standard to simplify the development of Ajax applications based on different libraries. It will be even easier to leverage IDEs and mashup editors to integrate the Lightstreamer libraries into any application. With Lightstreamer, it is straightforward to implement the 'real-time Web,' based on the 'Comet' paradigm, updating any Web page with live, low-latency data."

Nexaweb

"Nexaweb is committed to driving open Web innovation as evidenced by dojo.e, which allows users to more easily create enterprise Web applications based on the Dojo Toolkit," said Bob Buffone, chief architect, Nexaweb Technologies. "Further, the Alliance's efforts around mash-ups and integrated development environments go beyond traditional toolkits and enables Nexaweb to provide a comprehensive application modernization strategy and related software and services that advance the mission of the OpenAjax Alliance in accelerating customer success."

ProgrammableWeb
"ProgrammableWeb is the leading resource and community site for mashup developers and Web 2.0 development," said John Musser, founder of ProgrammableWeb.com. "We are happy to see OpenAjax Metadata's emerging standards around mashable widgets. These widget standards will enable easy drag-and-drop assembly of third-party visual components within a mashup."

SAP

"The 2008 OpenAjax Alliance InteropFest provided a great opportunity for SAP to demonstrate our support for enterprise-class mashup platforms," said Anne Hardy, vice president, SAP Research Americas and China. "Interoperability is a key requirement for our customers and provides the ability to compose flexible mashup applications using OpenAjax compatible Web widgets."

TIBCO

"OpenAjax Gadgets, IDE and Hub provide a valuable common basis for the creation and integration of secure widgets and mashups. TIBCO is pleased to be a contributor to these efforts," said Howard Weingram, principal architect, TIBCO Software Inc.

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider, helping clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently, and securely. IBM's breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity, and service.

For more information, visit: www.ibm.com.

BLOG COMMENTS POWERED BY DISQUS

LATEST COMMENTS

Support MC Press Online

$

Book Reviews

Resource Center

  • SB Profound WC 5536 Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application. You can find Part 1 here. In Part 2 of our free Node.js Webinar Series, Brian May teaches you the different tooling options available for writing code, debugging, and using Git for version control. Brian will briefly discuss the different tools available, and demonstrate his preferred setup for Node development on IBM i or any platform. Attend this webinar to learn:

  • SB Profound WP 5539More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT Generic IBM announced the E1080 servers using the latest Power10 processor in September 2021. The most powerful processor from IBM to date, Power10 is designed to handle the demands of doing business in today’s high-tech atmosphere, including running cloud applications, supporting big data, and managing AI workloads. But what does Power10 mean for your data center? In this recorded webinar, IBMers Dan Sundt and Dylan Boday join IBM Power Champion Tom Huntington for a discussion on why Power10 technology is the right strategic investment if you run IBM i, AIX, or Linux. In this action-packed hour, Tom will share trends from the IBM i and AIX user communities while Dan and Dylan dive into the tech specs for key hardware, including:

  • Magic MarkTRY the one package that solves all your document design and printing challenges on all your platforms. Produce bar code labels, electronic forms, ad hoc reports, and RFID tags – without programming! MarkMagic is the only document design and print solution that combines report writing, WYSIWYG label and forms design, and conditional printing in one integrated product. Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Request your trial now!  Request Now.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericForms of ransomware has been around for over 30 years, and with more and more organizations suffering attacks each year, it continues to endure. What has made ransomware such a durable threat and what is the best way to combat it? In order to prevent ransomware, organizations must first understand how it works.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericIT security is a top priority for businesses around the world, but most IBM i pros don’t know where to begin—and most cybersecurity experts don’t know IBM i. In this session, Robin Tatam explores the business impact of lax IBM i security, the top vulnerabilities putting IBM i at risk, and the steps you can take to protect your organization. If you’re looking to avoid unexpected downtime or corrupted data, you don’t want to miss this session.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericCan you trust all of your users all of the time? A typical end user receives 16 malicious emails each month, but only 17 percent of these phishing campaigns are reported to IT. Once an attack is underway, most organizations won’t discover the breach until six months later. A staggering amount of damage can occur in that time. Despite these risks, 93 percent of organizations are leaving their IBM i systems vulnerable to cybercrime. In this on-demand webinar, IBM i security experts Robin Tatam and Sandi Moore will reveal:

  • FORTRA Disaster protection is vital to every business. Yet, it often consists of patched together procedures that are prone to error. From automatic backups to data encryption to media management, Robot automates the routine (yet often complex) tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAManaging messages on your IBM i can be more than a full-time job if you have to do it manually. Messages need a response and resources must be monitored—often over multiple systems and across platforms. How can you be sure you won’t miss important system events? Automate your message center with the Robot Message Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAThe thought of printing, distributing, and storing iSeries reports manually may reduce you to tears. Paper and labor costs associated with report generation can spiral out of control. Mountains of paper threaten to swamp your files. Robot automates report bursting, distribution, bundling, and archiving, and offers secure, selective online report viewing. Manage your reports with the Robot Report Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAFor over 30 years, Robot has been a leader in systems management for IBM i. With batch job creation and scheduling at its core, the Robot Job Scheduling Solution reduces the opportunity for human error and helps you maintain service levels, automating even the biggest, most complex runbooks. Manage your job schedule with the Robot Job Scheduling Solution. Key features include:

  • LANSA Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.

  • LANSAWhen it comes to creating your business applications, there are hundreds of coding platforms and programming languages to choose from. These options range from very complex traditional programming languages to Low-Code platforms where sometimes no traditional coding experience is needed. Download our whitepaper, The Power of Writing Code in a Low-Code Solution, and:

  • LANSASupply Chain is becoming increasingly complex and unpredictable. From raw materials for manufacturing to food supply chains, the journey from source to production to delivery to consumers is marred with inefficiencies, manual processes, shortages, recalls, counterfeits, and scandals. In this webinar, we discuss how:

  • The MC Resource Centers bring you the widest selection of white papers, trial software, and on-demand webcasts for you to choose from. >> Review the list of White Papers, Trial Software or On-Demand Webcast at the MC Press Resource Center. >> Add the items to yru Cart and complet he checkout process and submit

  • Profound Logic Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application.

  • SB Profound WC 5536Join us for this hour-long webcast that will explore:

  • Fortra IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn: