DevCon Details: Web Edition 2 and iBuild@TopSpeed

by Dave Harms

Published 1999-10-06    Printer-friendly version

On the second day of DevCon '99 Bob Zaunere gave an overview of the new features in Web Edition 2, with a bunch of Team TopSpeed members doing "the wave" in the back of the room as he took the podium.

Zaunere began with a brief summary of Clarion history, beginning with the Clarion 3GL language and CPD model files through to the current product and the trend to applications being web-enabled. He asked for a show of hands of those who have Web Edition, and a large number indicated they did.

Performance issues with the existing Web Edition have been addressed with Web Edition 2. Java applets are no longer required, as all controls are displayed as straight HTML. This allows webmasters to make changes to the appearance of the app without needing to understand Clarion coding. WE2 also uses POST instead of GET which fixes some problems such as using large memo fields. There is also improved cookie support.

New in WE2 is a simple scripting language called TSScript.

Testing is now easier as there is an option to link the app broker into an EXE. Doing a make invokes the browser so that local testing looks the same as testing across the internet. The ABC templates and classes have also been updated (Joe van Niekerk covered a number of new features in his track session, including classes for Winsock/email and new language features like INTERFACEs).

Jim Defabia took over briefly to demonstrate a WE2 version of an application he'd created for a previous day's session on the current WE product. That first application, an employee status board showing who is in or out of the office, used Java classes to reproduce on the client machine a list box and various controls. The WE2 version used all HTML controls to reproduce the same functionality.

As the  image shows (if not very clearly) the list box is an HTML list or table with navigation buttons rather than scroll bars. There is a child list box and a status update button which brings up a change form. There is also an entry locator at the top of the list. A radio button indicates which record is selected.

With the Java WE application a change to the list box data results in a change to the list box only. The page itself is not resent. With the WE2 Java-free application any change to the list box results in a new page being sent, but as the amount of data is very small this happens quite quickly.

One advantage of using a non-Java approach is data can be copied to the clipboard, since everything is straight HTML. (At present there is no DHTML generated by WE2.)

Defabia demonstrated changing the look and feel by substituting a different set of HTML templates which the application used at runtime. In WE, which generates the HTML at runtime, this change would have required a recompile.

You can still have a dual-mode Windows application if you wish.

No upgrade pricing has yet been set. Zaunere expected a beta to be released sometime in October. He pointed out the key features were the increase in speed and the integration with existing web sites.

IBuild And AppKits

Zaunere went on to talk about the new iBuild@TopSpeed product, which is positioned to make the creation of web-enabled applications easier. TopSpeed's strategy includes creating horizontal application development kits which developers can modify. TopSpeed will also provide application hosting via an arrangement with eData (which has a massive fiber infrastructure in place, according to other reports).

There are three app kits planned for the initial release: iSell@TopSpeed (e-commerce), iMarket (contact management), and iPublish (content management). Also included in the iBuild product is a full release of Dreamweaver (expected to increase the cost by under $100). There is a new version of the app broker which can run applications on secondary workstations on a round-robin basis. This approach can also be used for redundancy.

App kits include Clarion templates, HTML templates, DLLs if needed, dictionary, and wizatron style sheets.

Click Here for MPEG video of Bob Zaunere explaining what's new in Web Edition 2. (1384k)

iSell comes with storefront and store manager components, including a wide range of features. Initial transaction support will be for CyberCash.

The development cycle, according to Zaunere, involves generating the application which creates the initial web pages, then switching to Dreamweaver and making changes. These changes are merged back into the application by means of wizatrons when you task switch back to the application.

There will be an option to generate static HTML pages for use by search engines.

iSell planned features include category and product management, special pricing, product options, inventory management, customer account management, security, store manager security, taxation, order tracking, and non-CyberCash transactions.

iPublish, the content management app, lets users manage web site content directly by filling out forms. This could involve new HTML documents (such as press releases), products, menus, etc.

iMarket is an email marketing/contact management app kit. When kidded about iSpam@TopSpeed, Zaunere replied (tongue planted firmly in cheek) that this would be in a subsequent release.

These app kits can all be integrated to work within a single web site. 

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David Harms is an independent software developer and the editor and publisher of Clarion Magazine. He is also co-author with Ross Santos of Developing Clarion for Windows Applications, published by SAMS (1995), and has written or co-written several Java books. David is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA).

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Clarion Magazine ISSN 1718-9942