Canoo's UltraLightClient for easier RIA building

Mark Gibbs' Web site tips, plus network applications news headlines

So you’re sold on Rich Internet Applications as a Web application delivery philosophy. The whole idea of RIAs makes obvious sense as they deliver what really does look like an application as far as the user is concerned. The problem is how to build them.

If you have been following this newsletter you’ll have noticed the explosion of articles about AJAX related systems. The market seems to be more focused on AJAX technology than Flash or anything else.

Canoo’s UltraLightClient (ULC) platform is a Java Swing-based RIA solution that the company describes as “bridging the gap between Swing and a server-side architecture.” ULC definitely deserves consideration particularly for intranet and other non-consumer environments.

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So you’re sold on Rich Internet Applications as a Web application delivery philosophy. The whole idea of RIAs makes obvious sense as they deliver what really does look like an application as far as the user is concerned. The problem is how to build them.

If you have been following this newsletter you’ll have noticed the explosion of articles about AJAX related systems. The market seems to be more focused on AJAX technology than Flash or anything else.

Canoo’s UltraLightClient (ULC) platform is a Java Swing-based RIA solution that the company describes as “bridging the gap between Swing and a server-side architecture.” ULC definitely deserves consideration particularly for intranet and other non-consumer environments.

Canoo argues the key issues for selecting ULC are that it offers a simple pricing model at a base cost of $1,499 per developer seat with free deployment; allows you to use the full Swing widget set for your Web applications; can be developed and tested in all of the major IDEs; doesn’t require application deployment on the client; uses a generic presentation engine; takes care of code split and distribution issues efficiently; generates 10 times less network traffic than comparable HTML applications; you can deploy the same code base for on- and offline use on any platform supporting Java EE; and you wind up with “easily maintainable Java source code with no project risk even if Canoo discontinues development.”

Comparing ULC to AJAX, Canoo points out that J2SE is a "standard" (although admittedly a de facto one); is more mature than AJAX; provides a richer functionality; and that many AJAX libraries are proprietary which could prove problematic if the publisher quits the market. In addition, J2SE avoids cross browser problems introduced by variations in JavaScript implementation; and is a single technology while AJAX is a mixture of evolving technologies (JavaScript, CSS, HTML, DHMTL, etc.).

Canoo also sticks it to JSF/Struts, Eclipse RCP, and Swing (by itself) arguing in all cases that ULC creates a more integrated, streamlined platform that simplifies development and deployment of RIAs. This is certainly a good argument particularly if your developers have Java and Swing skills.

For green field nonconsumer environments choosing between going with ULC or going with AJAX or old school Java with Swing is a little harder. The choice will come down to what technologies fit your environment best and Flash will definitely be in the running for ease of development and deployment.

I just got a press release from Canoo pitching its free, open source XML development tool, ULC XML. The tool allows developers to create user interfaces specifically for ULC from XML files (useful if you are a ULC developer, not so much if you aren’t).

Choosing an RIA development strategy isn’t getting any easier and the reality is that enterprises will probably wind up adopting two or more technologies to achieve their goals. And where Java and Swing are involved, Canoo’s ULC has some huge benefits.

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Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, columnist and blogger.