Two Kinds of Web Development

State of Web Development

Web development has set back the way modern development tools function by nearly 15 years. Developing a web application today is very much like developing a Windows application 15 years ago. Very little is visually designed, and what is, is disconnected and not integrated. Very little is componentized, and the developer is constantly working at the lowest possible level and dealing directly with raw API's. Only in recent times have web development tools made strides to close this gap.

Such factors drastically increase development times, costs, and project complexity. These factors lead to systems that do not meet user expectations, do not match requirements, have over simplistic feature sets, and have high defect rates. As the system grows over time, they become more and more complex and become more difficult to maintain. Instead of growing an elegant system, each addition often becomes another level on a fragile house of cards.

Types of Web Development

Web development typically falls into one of two categories:

1. Web Site - A collection of static and dynamic pages. Most pages can operate independently from each other.
2. Application - A web application or weblication,  is any type of application that is similar to what you would put into an executable, but instead deployed using a web browser and the Internet. IntraWeb is the only tool specifically geared towards this type of development.

Many projects may fall into the gray area and be difficult to determine which approach is better. Most projects however are readily defined. For further assistance, please browse some characteristics and examples of weblications compared to web site.

Weblications include all forms in one deployment file and are tightly integrated. Entry and exit points are well defined. Individual forms depend on each other and cannot operated independently.

IntraWeb Weblication
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Pages on the other hand can operate completely on their own. Entry points are only defined by publishing a URL, but in fact every page has a unique URL and thus can be an entry point. Pages are loosely linked together by URL's.

ASP.Net Pages
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Let's forget web development for a minute. Imagine that you have been given a cabinet kit that you must put together. You have been given a pre fabricated cabinet kit which contains all the necessary parts, including the wood, nails, and screws. But all you have available in your tool box is a hammer. The hammer is ideal for assembling the parts of the cabinet that are fastened using nails. However when you reach a step that requires parts of the cabinet to be assembled with screws, the hammer will not do a very good job. But if you only have a hammer, you must make a go of it and use it on the screws.

This is very much the state of web development today. There is no debating that there are two types of web development (akin to nails and screws), but web developers are left in a world full of hammers. IntraWeb in this case, provides the world with the first and only screwdriver.

IntraWeb

There is very little difference between writing an IntraWeb application and a normal application. Most developers, even with no prior web development experience, successfully develop weblications using IntraWeb in under 30 minutes. Developers need not spend months learning how individual HTML pages interact using HTTP, or learning Javascript to customize the client interface. Developers can leverage their existing knowledge immediately.

Users often write us to say "Wow! I just deployed a web application to a customer and I do not even know HTML!". That is the power of IntraWeb. Just as your current IDE isolates your developers from the Operating System API with VCL, JDK or the .net framework, IntraWeb isolates developers from the Web API of HTML, Javascript, CGI, and HTTP. IntraWeb contains controls that map themselves to HTML and Javascript equivalents, just as normal visual controls map themselves to Win API calls. By using these controls on forms, you can build fully functional weblications without ever writing a line of HTML or Javascript, or dealing with HTTP.

IntraWeb - An API for the Web

In a typical web application the developer must constantly manage and interface to many differing low level protocols and standards including HTTP, Javascript and HTML. In a typical IntraWeb application, the developer needs not know or interface with any of these.

The .Net framework, VCL (Borland Tools), CLX (Kylix), and JDK (Java) all provide a higher level of abstraction for developers to use. Collectively we will refer to these as "class frameworks". Such class frameworks isolate the developer from the lower level operating system API's. However if there is something that the API does not implement, the developer can bypass the class frameworks and interface directly to the lower level raw operating system API's. By providing for this level of abstraction, the developer has a friendlier interface and gains much additional functionality.

Layering of Class Frameworks

IntraWeb functions in a very similar manner, with HTTP, HTML, and Javascript playing the role of the low level API's. The IntraWeb class framework sits between HTTP, HTML, and Javascript and provides the developer with a high level abstracted interface with additional functionality. However the developer can also bypass the IntraWeb class framework when necessary if something additional is required. IntraWeb's goal is to make it nearly unneeded for the developer to resort to HTTP, HTML, or Javascript, but allow the developer access to such when desired.

This approach provides for both easy of use, and maximum flexibility.

Layering of IntraWeb Framework

The Power of the Translucent Box

IntraWeb achieves its "magic", by putting things in a "translucent box". You may be familiar with the term black box. But black boxes are typically completely closed, which is not an accurate representation of how IntraWeb works. IntraWeb is more like a translucent box, in which things are contained, but the inner workings can still be seen and influenced. By putting things into this "box", IntraWeb can tightly integrate differing and often opposing aspects of web development and expose them to the developer in easy to use methods.

While this approach does put some restrictions on access to low level control, this does not mean that application mode is not flexible as many people assume. You can customize your application by emitting raw HTML, using style sheets, using templates, or even creating custom components for reusability and ease of use. Templates are a feature that allow your developers to develop, and your web artists to control the look and feel of an application. Templates separate the presentation layer from the implementation layer and also provide for other customizations.

Deployment

IntraWeb is a provider of web user interfaces and thus when deployed is just one piece that integrates with your other technologies. IntraWeb is an open architecture and allows you to choose your firewall, web server, and database independently.

Typical Deployment