2. The DataFlex Web Framework Changing the Game Stephen W. Meeley Development Team Data Access Worldwide www.dataaccess.com

3. The DataFlex Application Framework is great for business application development. For Windows application development it is a true rapid development environment There is a need to create similar types of applications on the web This is a specialized type of application – This type of business application is different than most web- pages and even different from many web-applications There is no easy way to build these type of applications The Opportunity

4. Developing for the Web is way too complicated HTML and Web Browsers were not built for running applications – Web standards are complicated and messy. You have to deal with… HTML and the HTML DOM Model, JavaScript, CSS, ASP, XML and JSON – Browser compatibility issues across versions and vendors are (still) a big challenge – Lack of application persistence is a big challenge None of this has gotten appreciably better over the last 10 years The Challenge

5. Our Goal The DataFlex Web Application Framework must be simple, comprehensive and extendable. 5

6. Simple Our product is targeted to the business application developer and not the “web developer” – There is a difference between business application development and low level development – Their tools should be different If you can write a DataFlex Windows application, you can write a DataFlex Web application – Our framework and our Data Dictionary technology makes this possible – Our Studio makes it as easy to build a Web application as it is to build a Windows application 6

7. Comprehensive The Web Framework and the and classes must: – Provide the controls required for a web business application – Work great and look great – Insulate you from web complexities We provide the tools allowing you to navigate (actually, avoid) the complexity and inconsistencies of web development Those complexities and inconsistencies still exist but they are our problem, not yours (unless you choose otherwise) 7

8. Extendable We use industry standard techniques, which can be extended Appearance and styling is customized using CSS – But you don’t have to… You can extend existing controls, create custom controls, and do fancy browser customizations using HTML and JavaScript – But you don’t have to… Because this is based on standards you can use all of existing browser resources, technologies, and tools (e.g., client debuggers) 8

9. Web Objects and Web Views Build the Web application entirely in DataFlex code User Interfaces modeled in DataFlex objects Controls represented on server by DataFlex classes DataFlex control classes have corresponding JavaScript classes Web View syntax is strikingly similar to a Windows application view – The WebView contains DDO Structure and 'web' data entry objects (DEOs) – The biggest difference is layout – flow vs. absolute positioning

10. The JavaScript Engine is the Key DataFlex Classes generate JSON code that is sent to client JavaScript engine interprets JSON code and instantiates client-side objects JavaScript objects render the HTML to the page 1 to 1 relation between DataFlex web objects and JavaScript objects We provide the JavaScript engine and the JavaScript classes. You may never deal with them…

11. Did we hit the mark? Simple – yes, even I can use it Comprehensive – the training and symposium will show you the full range of capabilities of the product Extendable – absolutely, but be prepared… Let’s test the first part now…