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Web Application Development with New
Product, Code-named: XLiRAD Introduction - The first generation of Web
development centered upon the use of static HTML page builders that could
assist non-technical people with the intricacies of constructing HTML
documents. The vast majority of Web sites on the Internet and within
Intranets are still based upon this same static technology. For most
companies it was important to have a Web presence of some sort and static
HTML pages offered the fastest and easiest approach to getting a Web site
up and running. [This strategy was also compatible with the first
generation of Web-hosting companies (ISPs), who were well-versed in
configuring simple HTTP servers and managing flat files.] However, very
quickly it became apparent that the process of updating static HTML pages
on an ongoing basis was a time-consuming and error-filled process. The
solution was to generate content from a dynamic repository of data. This
made all the sense in the world, given that, in the years just before the
modern Web generation was born, most companies had spent their time and
energy building extensive relational databases (and
client/server
applications to populate these databases). A new class of
Web development tool was created that could combine the simplicity of HTML
development with the power of a dynamic relational database, and the
market called these products "application servers".
While software
vendors continued to "up the ante" in the growing application server
marketplace, the baseline technology of the Web continued to
evolve.
Market Evolution - In particular,
four critical technologies have emerged to change the market for dynamic
Web sites:
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ISPs become Application Service
Providers
-
Multi-platform development and
deployment (Linux, Windows, MacOS etc.) gains momentum
-
Java Servlets Emerges
-
Portals
Internet Service Providers
(ISPs) have taken on whole new areas of responsibility for their
customers. Not only are they capable of managing Internet connections and
static Web sites, they can also provide complete hosting and management
services for a wide range of critical enterprise applications. [Including
complex, data-backed Web content and applications.] They have grown from
being mere suppliers of hosting services into full-fledged Application
Service Providers (ASPs). Client companies have seen the value of
outsourcing many information technology functions to their ASP partners,
and these ASPs have grown more sophisticated from a technological
perspective. As part of this shift towards outsourcing, the need to
embrace multiple operating platforms has emerged.
While the various versions of
Windows have long had a hammerlock on the desktop and workgroup server
marketplace, the ASPs are embracing the more cost-effective and scalable
Linux platform. Corporate clients are integrating their high-end
back-office systems (Sun Solaris, HP-UX, IBM AIX) into the mix and artists
and creative designers continue to embrace the Macintosh as the ideal
platform for graphics and artwork.
Finally, Sun's Java language has
gained broader acceptance as a language for generating dynamic Web content
at the server level in the form of Servlets, with the output being
standard HTML data - which is compatible across all browsers and
platforms. As part of this evolution to dynamic Web-site generation, the
market has also gelled around the concept of "portals". [A portal is a
personal gateway in which a user can interact with his/her customized data
on the Web.] Users may have multiple portals (business vs. hobbies, etc.),
but they expect their portal environments to be customized to their needs
and to be dynamic.
The Net Effect - The net
result of all of this activity is quite simple. Technology-wise, companies
and application service providers alike have embraced the concepts of
multiple-platforms and operating environments based upon a set of
standards (such as Java Servlets). In order to keep traffic flowing, the
market has endorsed the concept of making Web sites dynamic and personal -
and relational databases are perfect for this task. While this market
evolution was occurring, the application server vendors have continued to
increase the breadth of functionality in their servers (thereby increasing
the complexity). The net result is a huge market need for dynamic Web-site
generation, with a shrinking pool of easy-to-use application server tools.
One vendor with a unique solution for this evolving marketplace is HHPN
Development Corp. with their new application server, which has been
code-named XLiRAD.
XLiRAD
Fundamentals - The XLiRAD product is built around a very
simple concept; it is a specialized application server that provides
database interaction for HTML pages. This application server is built with
the Java Servlets SDK, so it integrates easily with any high-end
application server (IBM WebSphere, Sun iPlanet) or popular HTTP server
(Apache, Sun/Netscape Enterprise Server, Microsoft IIS) that supports a
Java Servlet engine. XLiRAD provides a very specialized service that is
needed by all dynamic Web sites - and they do so without making the
product overly complex for the developer. Its unique architecture allows
it to fit in with any Webserver solution that you may already have in
place without requiring fundamental changes to the way in which you
currently develop Web sites. XLiRAD provides tools for editing and
developing SQL queries and tools for building templates that use these
queries inside of Web pages. We recently spent several days with the HHPN
developers taking a detailed look at the product. For analysis purposes,
we compared XLiRAD to Allaire's Cold Fusion across ten different
categories:
1. Productivity - XLiRAD integrates
into the database and the Web site using five simple yet powerful
HTML-like tags. The template wizard automatically generates and configures
these tags for the developer, which dramatically improves the learning
curve for new developers. Competing products use a much larger set of such
tags, (Allaire Cold Fusion has over 200 tags and functions), which makes
them harder to learn (and not necessarily more functional). The template
builder and SQL editor can be used in conjunction with any existing HTML
design tools that you may currently be using, such as Microsoft's
Frontpage, Symantec's Visual Page, Macromedia's DreamWeaver or NetObjects'
Fusion. When compared with Cold Fusion, we estimate that XLiRAD is at
least twice as easy to learn; and our analysis and independent tests have
confirmed that typical dynamic Web applications can be developed in less
than half the time.
2. Webserver Integration -
XLiRAD builds upon the Java Servlets platform, which is fast becoming a
defacto standard. All of the major HTTP servers support direct interfaces
for servlets. And every high-end application server engine implements
servlets. XLiRAD can easily plug directly into both of these layers
without the overheard of interfaces such as CGI (or the complexity of
solutions such as NSAPI and ISAPI).
3. Multi-platform
Development -XLiRAD supports multi-platform development. Cold
Fusion offers development tools for the Windows 32 platform, while
ignoring other critical development environments such as Linux, MacOS and
Solaris. XLiRAD's Java-based SQL Editor and Template Builder make it
possible to easily leverage all of the development platforms within an
organization.
4. Multi-platform Deployment -
Applications that are developed with XLiRAD can be re-deployed on any
platform that supports Java Servlets, providing flexibility and improved
use of resources. Competing solutions are often limited to supporting only
the most common platforms such as Windows NT and
Solaris.
5. Database Performance - XLiRAD
features optimized database access with JDBC. The major database vendors
have greatly improved the performance of their products by offering
high-speed interfaces using standard Java Database Connectivity (JDBC)
drivers. XLiRAD leverages this investment by relying on JDBC for all
database interaction, giving it support for the widest possible range of
database servers including Oracle8i, IBM DB2 UDB and Microsoft SQL Server
7. Cold Fusion on the other hand relies primarily on ODBC - which is
platform specific. (They also offer a limited set of proprietary drivers
for Sybase and Oracle that are version-specific.) XLiRAD's reliance on
JDBC ensures that it has access to the latest database interfaces from
each vendor, as quickly as they become available.
6.
Separation of Database-logic and Application Code - XLiRAD
separates the physical database commands from the HTML pages that render
the data. This allows database programmers to make changes to SQL that can
be instantly deployed to applications without the overhead of manually
changing the HTML itself. Cold Fusion, on the other hand, allows the
developer to embed SQL commands directly into the HTML pages, making it
potentially difficult to update these pages as the database
changes.
7. Replication - XLiRAD offers
built-in data replication. While most database vendors provide solutions
for automated data replication, these solutions are often expensive and
complicated to implement. The XLiRAD application server can replicate data
across heterogeneous databases in real time. This allows every Web site
(even smaller ones) to provide for constant-availability through
hot-backups. While there are cases in which a database vendor's
replication solutions are more comprehensive, XLiRAD's support for
replication is a valuable feature for many applications. No other Web
development tool we've seen provides full data replication at the
application server level.
8. Extensibility -
XLiRAD provides an application-programming interface that allows
developers to extend the product through a simple Java interface. Server
data such as user-variables and state management are automatically made
available to these extensions, making the server easy to customize. HHPN
provides several example modules that have been built using this API
including an e-mail interface and a module that provides credit-card
authorization. (Allaire's Tag development API relies upon Visual Studio
and the C++ language.) XLiRAD's Java interface assures developers that
they can easily migrate these extensions to multiple server platforms as
necessary.
9. Pure HTML - XLiRAD generates
pure HTML and this allows your Web sites to support the widest possible
range of client browsers. While you are certainly free to add
platform-specific code to your applications (e.g. ActiveX controls,
Plug-ins), XLiRAD itself relies on pure HTML. HHPN has created some very
innovative techniques for rendering sophisticated interfaces (such as
hierarchies) using standard HTML. By comparison, Cold Fusion requires the
use of Java applets in order to implement hierarchies within the
browser.
10. Server Performance - XLiRAD
interfaces with the HTTP server using native Java Servlets, which allows
for low overhead and fast processing. The server implements many common
functions such as caching, to ensure that performance against the database
remains brisk. In particular, XLiRAD supports a unique capability to
perform next/previous page processing without re-querying the database, a
function that is all but impossible with many competing products. Allaire
requires the developer to re-select data in order to implement
next/previous functionality on Web pages.
Conclusions -
When you consider the feature set that it offers, XLiRAD is entering the
market at the perfect time. Most Web sites are still relying on static
data, but momentum is building to create increasingly dynamic Web sites.
Meanwhile, most of the high-end application server products have been
adding features for the upper-end of the market (mainframe interfaces,
EJBs, etc.), to the detriment of the mainstream. By virtue of its reliance
on Java Servlets, XLiRAD can easily integrate into these applications to
provide a scalable, easy-to-use layer for dynamic database
access.
We consider XLiRAD to be a superior
solution for database-enabling Web sites in light of its ease-of-use,
lower learning curve, faster development, flexibility and multi-platform
characteristics.
Kuromaku Partners specializes in
technical analysis in the Web application development
arena.
Copyright © 2000 Kuromaku Partners LLC
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