recent meetings
03/03/10: "Boost Your Hibernate and Application Performance" by Greg Luck
01/26/10: "Scaling the Cloud" by Kirk Spadt
12/02/09: "Character Sets, Encodings, Java and Other Headaches" by Brian Clapper
11/04/09: "Protecting Java Code" by Mike Dulaney
10/14/09: "Are You Covered" by Keith Gregory
"Direct Web Remoting" by Frank Zammetti
Sponsored by GSI Commerce
ABSTRACT:
RIAs, or Rich Internet Applications, are where it’s at! Ajax specifically has changed the world of web development, and there is no shortage of options when developing such applications, from plain Javascript with the XMLHttpRequest object to popular libraries such as Dojo, jQuery, Ext JS and Prototype, or more “proper” frameworks such as JSF, Echo2 and ZK. What’s a Java developer to do?
One option that has grown increasingly popular among Java developers is DWR, or Direct Web Remoting. Simply stated, DWR provides what is essentially an RPC mechanism that makes calling server-side Java code from a Javascript-based client look like calling local Javascript code. There’s no mucking about with complex Javascript, no cross-browser issues, no URLs to map and no complex server-side framework to work within. You in fact don’t even have to think about that fact that you’re working with HTTP! You’ll think in terms of what you know: classes, methods, VOs, data structures and basic Java types. DWR allows you to use your Java skills in a highly efficient way while in no way limiting how you developer your client-side code.
In this presentation I’ll introduce DWR and show all that it has to offer. From the basics of using it to more advanced topics such as so-called “reverse Ajax” you’ll see lots of examples and lots of code. You’ll see how DWR builds in security at a very fundamental level and how it can integrate with other popular technologies such as Spring. You’ll see how DWR, in concert with a good client-side library like Ext JS and a clean, POJO-based server-side API, produces a unique and elegant architecture that does away with a great deal of the complexity that tends to creep into modern J2EE solutions. We’ll also take a brief look at the future of DWR, specifically what new and exciting features are coming with the pending version 3 release, including automatic REST interface creation.
SPEAKER BIO:
Frank W. Zammetti is an “architect/lead/developer/whatever is needed on any given day” for PNC Bank. These days he is primarily focused on RIA development, mentoring others in this area and helping set direction for a number of projects and the organization as a whole (thankfully he still has his hands in code on a regular basis too!) Frank has authored five books focused on RIA/Ajax development, including the only book currently available on DWR, and has been a technical reviewer on a number of others. He is the creator of APT (a component of the Java Web Parts projects) which is a JSP taglib that allows for declarative, Javascript-free Ajax capabilities for Java developers, and is a contributor to, and in some cases a leader of, a number of other open-source projects. Frank has been a speaker at The Ajax Experience the past two years (unofficially that is… long story!) including co-presenting a session on DWR with its creator, Joe Walker.
PRESENTATION SLIDES CAN BE DOWNLOADED BY CLICKING HERE
