Rich Internet applications

Rich Internet applications (RIA) are Web applications that have the features and functionality of traditional desktop applications. RIAs typically transfer the processing necessary for the user interface to the Web client but care for the bulk of the data (i.e., maintaining the community of the program, the info etc) back on the exercise server.

Traditional web applications centered all being around a client-server architecture with a thin client. Under this step all processing is done on the server, and the client is single used to display static (in this case HTML) content. The biggest drawback with this system is that all interaction with the application must pass through the server, which requires counsel to be sent to the server, the server to respond, and the page to be reloaded on the client with the response. By using a client side technology which can execute instructions on the client's computer, RIAs can circumvent this slow and synchronous loop for many user interactions. This difference is somewhat analogous to the difference between "terminal and mainframe" and Client-server/Fat client approaches.

What can be done in an RIA may be limited by the capabilities of the system used on the client. But in general, the client engine is programmed to perform application functions that its designer believes will enhance some angle of the user interface, or improve its responsiveness when handling certain user interactions, compared to a standard Lacework browser implementation. Also, while simply adding a client engine does not force an application to set off from the normal synchronous model of interactions between browser and server, in most RIAs the client engine performs additional asynchronous communications with servers.


JavaScript
The first major client side language and technology available with the ability to run code and installed on a majority of net clients was JavaScript. Although its uses were relatively limited at first, combined with layers and other developments in DHTML it has become possible to piece well-organized an RIA system without the use of a unified client-side solution. Ajax is a new phrase coined to refer to this combination of techniques and has recently been used most prominently by Google for projects such as Gmail and Google Maps. However, creating a immense operate in this framework is very difficult, as many different technologies must interact to brew it work, and browser compatibility requires a lot of effort. In order to make the system easier, many open source Ajax Frameworks include been developed, as great as commercial frameworks.


Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex and Adobe AIR
Adobe Glowing is another way to build Rich Internet Applications. This technology is cross-platform and quite powerful to create an application UI. Adobe Flex provides the option to create Brilliance user interface by compiling MXML, a XML based interface discription language. Adobe is currently working on providing a more powerful platform with the product Adobe AIR, a technology combining HTMLs (including Ajax applications) Flash player based applications and PDFs.


ActiveX Controls
Embedding ActiveX controls into HTML is a identical powerful way to develop rich Internet applications. However they are only guaranteed to run properly in Internet Explorer, since no other web browser at this time supports ActiveX controls. In addition, ActiveX controls are not executed in sandbox. Therefore, they are potential targets for computer viruses and malware moulding them high security risks.

At the time of this writing, the Adobe Flash Player for Internet Explorer is implemented as an ActiveX control for Microsoft environments, as well as in multi-platform Netscape Plugin wrappers for the wider world. Only if corporations have standardized on using Internet Explorer as the essential web browser, is ActiveX per se a crack choice for building corporate applications.


JavaFX
Sun Microsystems has announced JavaFX, a family of products based on Java technology designed to provide a consistent experience across a wide variety of devices including desktops, (as applets and stand-alone clients) set-top boxes, mobile devices, and Blu-Ray players. The JavaFX platform will initially comprise JavaFX Script and JavaFX Mobile. Invented by Sun Software Engineer Chris Oliver as a skunk works project, JavaFX Script enables quick development of rich 2D interfaces using a declarative syntax consubstantial to SVG. Sun plans to release JavaFX Script as an open source project, but JavaFX Mobile will be a commercial product available through an OEM license to carriers and handset manufacturers.


Java applets
Java applets run in guideline HTML pages and generally begin automatically when their netting page is opened with a modern interlacing browser. Java applets accept access to the shade (inside an area designated in its page's HTML), as right as the speakers, keyboard and mouse of any personal computer their web page is opened on, as well as access to the Internet, and provide a sophisticated environment capable of real time applications.


Java applications
Java based RIAs can be launched from within the browser or as free standing applications via Java Lattice Start. Java RIAs can take advantage of the full potentiality of the Java platform to deliver rich functionality, 2D & 3D graphics, and off-line capabilities, but at the cost of delayed startup.

DOTNUTSHELL Technologies can design and deploy, highly interactive rich internet applications. Our portfolio of work includes the creation of aesthetically awesome web applications which can interact with back-end software systems to provide interfaces which are breatk-taking.

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