8.16.2006

August 2006 Meeting - Building Web Application with XXFramework

For the August meeting, we will take a look at a new MVC tool for web development called XXFramework. The framework promotes a use case oriented development approach. In this approach, use cases are defined for each task the user will perform. In general, each use case will be implemented by a single logical servlet, as defined in the J2EE Specification. The logical servlet may be implemented by one or more implementation classes each implemented a distinct portion of that use case and providing a portion of the resultant display.

The developer simply needs to write implementation of for these classes. Configuration files determine which implementation classes are called based on user click events. The most common implementation approach has each class return an XML result, yielding a set of XML documents for each use case.. XSL transformation is then applied to the XML results, each transform providing a portion of the desired display. A single JSP page is then used to display the final product.

The framework then builds upon this foundational approach to provide automation of typical application tasks, such as add, update, delete, select of records from a database. By specifying a simple mapping from the HTML page on one end, through the middle layers, and to the database on the other end, a large subset of application functionality can be achieved without the need to write any Java code. Instead, a combination of XML configuration files, XSL transformation templates, as well as open source tools, namely Hibernate and Castor, are used.

The goal of the framework is to incorporate more and more common programming tasks, in an open, configurable, and generic manner. Furthermore, since much of the framework if based on XML and XSL, automatic generation of complete applications is achievable.

This talk will provide and introduction to the XX Framework. A sample application will be demonstrated to illustrate key framework concepts and methodology. Background material, such as the XSLT transformation language will also be addressed.

Speaker Bio
David Moskowitz is the president of Infoblazer LLC and is a developer and application architect with over 15 years experience in the computer industry. David has built applications in technologies ranging from Turbo Pascal and DOS through Java and XML. His recent interest and focus has been the design of multi-tier Internet applications using XML Web Services as a foundation. He has implemented this approach in numerous applications, ranging from large corporate clients to E-Commerce startups.

For the past 6 years, David had been developing and refining his unique approach to application development involvement, involving the use of UML, XML, and Java. In 2006, David formalized this approach into the XX Framework which was released as an open source project.

Meeting Detail
Speaker: David Moskowitz
Date: 08/29/06
Networking: 6:30 pm
Presentation: 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Location:
GCA Technologies Solution
4919 Memorial Hwy. Suite 150
Tampa, FL 33634
Google Map