Using XAP Tree

Although I am no longer employed by Nexaweb, I will probably continue experimenting with and possibly using Apache XAP in real projects.

For one community project, while still with Nexaweb I put together an overview of the XAP Tree and posted it here.

The XAP Tree is one of the UI components included in the XAP Build. This document described the components and how it fits with the rest of the XAP framework - shown below.







While I didn't test performance, particularly with large complex trees, it can be built declaratively either statically or dynamically using virtually any server side framework and thus most likely fit into your existing web development methodologies and technologies. It can also save you a lot of time.

Main Takeways from Eclipse Con (Santa Clara, CA 3/4-8)

• Eclipse development is about we (us/community), not me or I. Developers need to be social. As someone who has reverbed between engineering and sales/marketing, sure. But for some it may be new. But I am also no longer a committer anywhere - so it is easy for me to say ;-)
• Less is more - particularly when it comes to preso's. As an example, James Governor's (from Redmonk) session was minimalistic - some slides had one word on them - but stayed with me.
  
• Got an updated perspective on Eclipse - kind of like a trade association with bits. Some pioneering still to do but I think they are on the right track. One big question I think is how far can an IDE-focused organization go? Developers want tooling but people/enterprises want OS's, platforms, applications, solutions.
  
• Spent time with some of the Apache Maven folks and an interesting company (Simula Labs) they are part of. They cracked open Apache XAP (which BTW had its first incubator release - o.3.0 - Applause!) and worked on a Maven build for it. I look forward to the results and insights (is Maven good for Javascript?).
• Eclipse and more generally Open Source business models need more attention. Probably shouldn't rival technical sessions in number, but more depth and analysis would be helpful.
  
• Look forward to followups at AjaxWorld and Open AjaxAlliance F2F in 2 weeks in NY. Ajax was BIG topic here - faster growing than Java - Eclipse-Ajax is even tracking with Visual Studio-Ajax, according to some job-based analysis provided by Don Smith of Eclipse. The game is changing....
  

I need to write an ROI calculator as part of some demos at Nexaweb. I may as well show the process. Since this is not intended to be a robust mission critical application, I am really looking for how easy it is to go from concept to development and to iterate (since I am sure there we won't get it right the first time)

So let's start with the ROI logic in - surprise - an Excel spreadsheet. (Excel being where many of these rules and formulas are created.) .

Here is the spreadsheet.

Since Nexaweb technologies is based on declarative XML (XAL), the approach I decided to take (with the help of Fred Mikkelsen) was to use Excel itself to generate the basic XAL markup which would in turn form the basis of the Nexaweb ROI calculator (without the formulas).

So, while formulas would not be preserved, cells and tabs would be. The rest of the development then would be to implement the formulas (such as sum) and spread sheet like functionality (such as auto update when a user exits a cell) with Javascript (added to Nexaweb platform as MCO's) and Nexaweb event handling and UI update technologies.

Open Source Software (OSS) and Ajax

In looking at all the open source activity around Ajax (here is a good list including Dojo, Google, Microsoft Atlas, Yahoo - from last year but a good place to start - to which I'd also like to add Apache XAP - Full disclosure: I have been a consultant to Nexaweb - contributors of the technology comprising this Apache incubator project - since the beginning of the year), it got me to thinking - is Open Javascript any different from other open source?

So I went back and started looking at all kinds of data points, ranging from the canonical (such as Cathedral and Bazaar) to the pragmatic discussions of commercial business models (such as Taber) and lots in between (including Greg Stein's Apache vs Eclipse, and looser models like SourceForge) and considered the nature of the language itself.

So where do I come out? I guess the following themes emerge:

• Open source is innovation. Since many of the most talented developers and experts are engaged in open source for a whole host of reasons, solving the problems that invariably need to be solved (such as name space collisions, memory utilization, debugging to name a few) virtually require their involvement - particularly if we want these problems to be solved sooner rather than later. Honey attracts the bees - if you want bees, go to where the honey is.
  
• Code is already visible. Isn't Javascript already "open source" by its very nature? Should code be obfuscated or should this be embraced? Embrace it.
• Javascript is social. As a key underpinning to social neworking, it is already part of the architecture of participation, of community. Leverage community.
  
• There is a lot to do. To make Ajax really work well, particularly for businesses, more invention and problem solving needs to be done. Again, go to where the bees are.