RADpage - Browser Based Rapid Application Development

Rapid Application Development (RAD) is a collection of techniques to create applications with a fraction of the effort required for conventional techniques. Initially components existing in a library are composed. By combination of multiple components this already leads to quite complex and flexible applications. If required in a second step programs are used to further customize the application and to implement still missing functionality.

RADpage brings these techniques to the web. RADpage introduces a mechanism to flexibly place components on web pages. XML tags are used to represent these components (as shown on the right). Multiple components can cooperate on a single page. The example shows a shopping basket component It contains an HTML-table defining the layout as well as basketfld components to insert the actual data. the shopping basket in action.

As you might imagine applications can be customized very flexibly using these techniques and the RADpage component library. Further customization is possible using the object-oriented features of the heitml programming language.

RADpage provides a powerful development environment to efficiently create applications by editing components on the pages: The RADpage application builder brings RAD directly into the Web browser. I.e. you can develop your Web application and its components directly inside the browser. As a developer, you see the fully functional application running in your browser, as anybody else visiting your site. However for the developer, RADpage displays additional handles on the pages providing editing functionality. Except for the handles your Web site functions exactly as in production. Because it is running in the browser all browser features can be used and function correctly.

You no longer need to switch between development view and final application and no longer need to follow a strict edit - compile - debug cycle. Instead the application shows up in the browser and changes can be made right away and are effective immediately.

The RADpage application builder is a specialized development environment for components and applications. It also has some features to edit the layout of a page and you can also work on source code level. In addition it was carefully designed to work together with many other editors and tools:

• Use Text-based or WYSIWYG-HTML editors to create and modify the page layout. This works great for the static parts of the pages, while the dynamic parts are either not shown or replaced by placeholders in WYSIWYG mode. Depending on the editor used, you need to ask RADpage to hide RADpage components (e.g. inside HTML comments or <% ... %> characters).
• Use XML editors (that support xhtml style) to edit layout and components.
• Use text editors for embedded programs, scripts etc. RADpage tries hard to keep the text source code readable. Editing with RADpage does not reformat the source code but affects only the parts of a page that are really changed. This way it is no problem to switch back and forth between RADpage and a text editor.