Backbase LiveGrid and DataGrid
Backbase have released version 3.1.1 of their rich internet application framework. It contains a large number of 'web 2.0' goodies. The two big ones are live grid and data grid components.
The live grid is a paging component that lets the user just use a scroll bar to lazily load data frmo the server. Only the items displayed in the grid are actually retrieved from the server (plus some for caching purposes). Scrolling with the scrollbar will automatically pull the requested data from the server. This is very similar to the Open Rico live search example and is something that has been requested in the Backbase forums.
The data grid is a table that can contain rich data, including other backbase controls, which can be presented and edited by the user. It is cell based and has many features, including (from the Backbase whats new document):
There are many other great enhancements in this backbase release. Use the explorer and read the whats new document for more details.
Categories: backbase, web
The live grid is a paging component that lets the user just use a scroll bar to lazily load data frmo the server. Only the items displayed in the grid are actually retrieved from the server (plus some for caching purposes). Scrolling with the scrollbar will automatically pull the requested data from the server. This is very similar to the Open Rico live search example and is something that has been requested in the Backbase forums.
The data grid is a table that can contain rich data, including other backbase controls, which can be presented and edited by the user. It is cell based and has many features, including (from the Backbase whats new document):
- Editable fields
- Embedded form controls (text, drop-down, calendar, etc)
- Context menu
- Insert and delete rows and columns
- Row and column headers
- Column sorting
- Column resizing
- Grid resizing
- Multiple selections
- Keyboard navigation
There are many other great enhancements in this backbase release. Use the explorer and read the whats new document for more details.
Categories: backbase, web
posted by Chris Double at 3:53 AM
5 Comments:
Hello Chris,
I have a question on Backbase. Did you compare Backbase to other frameworks ?
I am interested in knowing why you choose Backbase. Is it really the most advanced Ajax framework ? How good are the helper tools ? How much time is needed to be up and running with Backbase ?
Thank you !
Hi Mickaël,
I didn't do a comprehensive comparison but I have used scriptaculous, prototype and dojo in other projects.
The main reason I like backbase is that it is very comprehensive, works across multiple browsers and versions and provides a lot of functionality. 'It just works' would make a good tagline for them.
For example, backbase has an events and tasks system that works the same across all components. You can trigger tasks to run asynchronously or synchronously, have the server send commands to the client all with a fairly easy to learn system. Once you've learnt that all the controls, widgets, etc use this system so you've gone a long way to understanding things.
I don't know if it is the most advanced Ajax framework, but it is certainly advanced enough for my uses.
Regarding helper tools, they do have debugging components which are very useful. They show everything that is going on in the page, the events being fired, etc. I only use their 'community edition' at this stage but they have other commercial versions that integrate with .NET, J2EE, etc. They may come with more or better tools.
There's a fairly solid learning curve. If you start with their 'skeleton' applications and build on those you can be up and running quickly. It didn't take me long to pick things up. The developer community is very good and the backbase people have replies to questions very quickly. But if you're not used to declarative XML systems it may take a bit more ramp up time to get familiar with.
Personally I would tend to use Backbase for 'web applications' rather than 'web sites'. It seems to suit more the 'single page interface' where Ajax is used to modify things on the page rather than complete page transitions. While it can be used for the latter, the page loads are a bit slower due to loading the backbase libraries and transforming the backbase XML.
Their documentation is excellent. And it's easy to use with different server technologies (Yaws for example).
The community edition is free for non-commercial use and given that it can use any server component it's easy to play with it to try it out.
Thank you Chris,
I will give Backbase a try. I just downloaded the Community edition and will try to play with it with a Yaws backend :-)
Before anyone gets too enthusiastic about the Backbase grids, note that since their first appearance, Backbase grids don't support specification of column widths (go figure). That pretty much renders them useless. This issue is consistently ignored on the forums and reappears with every new release so it's pretty safe to assume that it will not be fixed any time soon.
Chris... Hi.. it looks like you're an advanced backbase user.. .I however am more of a newby... I have posted a question on the forums and have not erecieved an answer in over a year now... perhaps, If you feel up to it, you can answer my question.. I am trying to dynamicly load data into a backbase datagrid with the click of a button - ie from an alpha listing in a toolbar A-Z that will load clients into a datagrid based on the letter their name starts with... b:url is the only way I can get data in..
Anyhow.. if you have any info I would be much obliged.. . I have given up on the backbase forums...
- David
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