Backbase introduced Enterprise Ajax 4.2 today. According to the company, the new framework version offers developers more technologies, allowing for choices between rich and lightweight Ajax functionality, between CSS and XPath, between JavaScript and tag-based development, between JSON and XML, between native widgets and 3rd party widgets and between online and offline RIAs.
The principal improvements to this version are:
- New hierarchical data binding
- New Data Services module
- Support for lightweight Ajax
- New and improved widgets
- Performance enhancements
A more complete discussion of the new features can be found in Jep Castelein's blog. The offline RIA feature is basically support for Adobe AIR (see sample at left). One of the more ambitious new widgets is a Rich Text Editor.
Speed improvements have been made in all three phases of Ajax operation: load, build, and runtime. The Enterprise Ajax 4.2 product has also been tested against beta 1 of Internet Explorer 8, Opera 9.5 beta, and nightly builds of Safari 3 and Firefox 3.
A Community License for development and deployment on up to 2 server-CPUs is free; this version can be downloaded today. A commercial license is available to businesses needing more CPUs or professional support and software maintenance. A JSF Edition (optimized for Java Server Faces) will be available next month.
Posted by Martin Heller on April 16, 2008 06:30 AM
