1. Rich Web Clients
Christopher Bartling

2. Web apps today
• Development can be tedious
• Browser compa;bility issues
• Simplis;c interac;vity

3. Web apps in the future
• Rich visualiza;ons
• Highly interac;ve
• Data rich
• Real‐;me data push
• Desktop integra;on

4. Adobe Flash and AIR
• Distributed by Adobe Systems
• Introduced in 1996
• Vector and raster graphics
• Bi‐direc;onal streaming of audio and
video

5. Ac;onScript 3.0
• Scrip;ng language based on
ECMAScript
• Bytecode targets AVM2 in Flash
Player 9 and 10
• Performance improvements
– JIT compiler
• Modern language constructs

6. Flash Player 10
• Introduced September 2008
• Custom filters and effects
– Adobe Pixel Bender technology
• 3D transforma;ons and anima;on
• Rich text layout
• GPU hardware accelera;on

7. Adobe Flex 3
• Free, open source SDK
• MXML for layout and component setup
• Ac;onScript 3.0 for event handling and
programma;c logic
• IDEs:
– Flex Builder 3.0
– IntelliJ IDEA 8

8. Flex/AJAX Bridge
• Library file included in Flex app
• Allows Ac;onScript classes to be
scripted by JavaScript
• Hybrid Flash/AJAX applica;ons

9. BlazeDS
• Remo;ng
• Messaging
• Java server‐based technology
• Open source: LGPL v3 license
• Ac;on Message Format (AMF)

10. Open Screen Project
• Collabora;on of 20 companies
• Consistent run;me environment based
on Adobe Flash
• Driving rich Internet experiences across
devices and plaborms
• Adobe will open access to Adobe Flash
technology

11. Microsoc Silverlight 2
• CoreCLR
– .NET Framework implementa;on
• Cross‐browser, cross‐plaborm
• WPF and XAML
• Variety of languages
– C#, VB.NET, IronPython
• LINQ

12. Silverlight tooling
• Visual Studio 2008 and beyond
– Developer tool
• Microsoc Expression Blend
– Designer tool

13. CoreCLR
• Small common language run;me
• Works seamlessly with desktop CLR on
Windows plaborms
• Cross‐plaborm
– PAL on Mac OS X CoreCLR
– Moonlight and Mono on Linux
• Lessons learned from SSCLI (aka Rotor)

14. HTML Bridge
• Allow Silverlight app to access
browser’s DOM
• Expose managed types and methods
to JavaScript
• JavaScript methods ahached to
scriptable managed events

15. Java SE 6 Update 10
• Consumer JRE
• Java Kernel
• New Java Plug‐in
• Java Deployment Kit
• Nimbus Look and Feel

16. LiveConnect
• Java to JavaScript communica;ons
and vice‐versa.
• Re‐implemented in Java SE 6 Update
10.
• Consistency across browsers.

17. Java FX
• Sun’s RIA strategy for the Java
plaborm
• Project Nile
• JavaFX Script
• Scene Graph API

18. Barriers
• Loss of web metaphors
– Bookmarking, addressable URLs
Penetra;on of plugins/run;mes
•
Search engine visibility
•
Sandboxing
•
Addi;onal development complexity
•
Tes;ng complexity
•
RIA plaborm lock‐in
•

19. RIA Examples
• Flash
– Google Finance, Picnik, Spa;alKey, NoteFlight,
Aviary Phoenix
• Silverlight 2
– NBC Olympics, Top Banana, MLB.com
• Java FX
– Sun’s examples

20. Where are we headed?
IE 8 /Firefox 3.1/Google Chrome
•
Flash Player 10/Adobe AIR
•
Silverlight 2
•
Java 6 Update 10 and Java FX
•

21. Ques;ons
• Are you sa;sfied with your current
AJAX applica;on? Why or why not?
• Are RIA technologies on your
roadmap? Why or why not?
• Which RIA technology interests you?
Are you currently inves;ga;ng one
or more of the technologies?

22. Ques;ons
• What barriers do you see for
adop;on of RIA technologies for your
company or client?
• If you already use RIA technologies,
what issues have you encountered
with them?

23. Contact Informa;on
• Email: chris.bartling@gmail.com
• LinkedIn: hhp://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisbartling