A typical qooxdoo-based web application is created by leveraging the power of the integrated development tools and developing along the lines of the favored client-side programming model. Since no HTML or CSS knowledge is needed, developers can fully concentrate on creating application classes using qooxdoo’s object-oriented capabilities. Skeletons are a perfect start both for beginners and advanced programmers. The pre-configured skeleton structure offers an easy yet powerful start into application development with all the development tools nicely integrated into the framework.

Please read more about the framework concepts and tools.

There are several platforms for developing qooxdoo-based applications with a server-side focus. They support a wide range of languages and technologies, e.g. Java / Eclipse, ASP .NET / mono, PHP, Rails, ...

• Rich Ajax Platform (RAP) aims to enable developers to build rich, Ajax-enabled Web applications by using the Eclipse development model, plug-ins and a Java-only API. The RAP API will be aligned with the Eclipse platform API as much as possible.

The objectives of the RAP project are:

• Enable the development of Rich Internet Applications that are based on the Eclipse Plugin architecture. The Eclipse OSGi framework (Equinox) can run inside of a Web application. This has been demonstrated by several parties, and a subproject of the Equinox project has already been established.
• Enable Ajax UI development based on a Java component library with SWT api. For enabling UI development based on a Java component library the project has received an initial code contribution from Innoopract (W4Toolkit). NEW: Based on the infrastructure provided by this code contributions we have implemented a first version of a new widget toolkit with SWT api, called RWT. RWT is using the sophisiticated JavaScript framework qooxdoo for client side rendering.
• Provide a Web Workbench similar to the Eclipse platform workbench:
  • provides selection service (with session scope),
  • provides extension points for action sets, workbench parts, perspectives, preference pages, etc.,
  • enables plug-ins to contribute to workbench parts provided by other plug-ins (e.g. action contributions)
• Demos:
  • RWT widget demo
  • Workbench demo
• Online Presentation (”Webinar”)

Delphi for PHP is the first completely integrated visual Rapid Application Development (RAD) environment for PHP. Delphi for PHP brings RAD productivity benefits to PHP web developers that Delphi users have enjoyed for years. The powerful editor and debugger increase coding speed and efficiency, while the integrated VCL for PHP 5 component class library lets developers quickly and visually create PHP web applications and integrate PHP open source components.

Delphi for PHP has an integrated PHP 5 class library called VCL for PHP. A customizable palette of over 50 reusable components includes buttons, labels, check boxes, images, DHTML menus, flash objects, grids, tree views, list boxes and more. Database components are also available for accessing databases, tables, queries, and stored procedures, as well as data grids and navigation. You can also add to the VCL for PHP at any time with your own components or enhancements being offered through the open source PHP platform.

Delphi for PHP makes it easy to create your own components and install customized packages to use in the IDE. The VCL makes it simple for you to develop new classes, because every component is built in pure PHP. Simply place these components into forms and use them in your applications. VCL components have built-in properties, methods, and events that make web interface development a snap. Delphi for PHP is the fast and easy way to build powerful and reliable PHP web applications.

VCL for PHP are the open source PHP scripts and libraries, including qooxdoo, Adodb, DynAPI, Smarty, XAjax and JSCalendar. Inspired by VCL for Delphi, the component architecture is 100 percent written in PHP. Developers can create and integrate components into the IDE and extend the existing components to fit their needs. VCL for PHP is an open source library available on SourceForge.

qadram software had been working on a pre-beta project called “qstudio” that became the foundation of Delphi for PHP. The qstudio project is being closed.

Community-driven support websites:

• d4php.org
• delphi4php-forum.de (German)

• ASP.NET RIA AJAX Framework: A new framework to Rapid Application Development with AJAX using ASP.NET as back end technology and JavaScript/HTML/XML on the client side, the strong points are going to be:
  • Multi-platform (mono compatibility is a must for this)
  • State management.
  • Server side development exclusively (No JavaScript or HTML).
  • Event driven development.
  • Common browsers support (IE, FF, Safari, Opera, etc.).
  • Wide widget set (windows, buttons, combos, etc.) based on QooxDoo.
  • WebServices access.
  • Data Access and possibly Databinding.

Akorn is an advanced application framework that enables the ability to configure an application into existence rather than coding from scratch or using an external application. However, it is designed to be extremely flexible allowing for extending of the framework easily and the incorporation of custom code if necessary. Akorn is being developed by Tartan Solutions and will be available as an open source project soon.

Akorn is a PHP-based platform that integrates many of the best available open-source PHP tools for server-side application development and uses qooxdoo for all client-side rendering. Akorn relies on a templating system to communicate with the client. The templates used in Akorn are pure templates that render data generated by the components or other objects in the application. While it is possible to build logic into the templates, Akorn is designed to incorporate most, if not all, logic in objects outside of the presentation layer. This allows the rapid creation of templating systems without the need to replicate unique application logic.

SlotReceiver.com is a cool showcase of some of the functionality available in the Akorn Integration Framework. It is a simple tool that provides some help to the legions of fantasy football players while demonstrating the useability and power of Akorn. Be sure to check out the filtering capability, as well as the PDF and Excel reporting features.

• Ganesh Gunasegaran is currently working on a Ruby backend for qooxdoo, and subsequently will be creating a Rails plugin(Using RJS) to make qooxdoo integration easier. You can monitor the status here and here.

The Aptana IDE is a free, open-source, cross-platform, JavaScript-focused development environment for building Ajax applications. It features code assist on JavaScript, HTML, and CSS languages, FTP/SFTP support and a JavaScript debugger to troubleshoot your code. It is available for Windows, Mac OS, Linux and also as an Eclipse plugin.

There is some initial support for qooxdoo in the latest Aptana (nightly builds). The new class definition introduced in qooxdoo 0.7 is supported by an outline view that shows the typical sections like extend, statics, members, etc. For instance, you can easily navigate to any instance method just by selecting the corresponding entry in the outline view.

See also the article on How to use Aptana IDE with qooxdoo.

JSEclipse is a plugin for the Eclipse environment that helps developers code JavaScript faster and with no errors. With JSEclipse, you can complete a variety of tasks, from editing small sections of code to working with the next big AJAX library like qooxdoo or developing plug-ins for a product that embeds JavaScript snippets.

Download and install JSEclipse and improve your JavaScript coding experience with:

• Contextual code completion & shortcuts.
• Project outline and quick navigation through function declarations.
• Syntax highlighting.
• Error reporting.
• Customizable code templates to get you started.
• Support for popular JavaScript libraries (Dojo, Prototype, YUI, qooxdoo (currently for 0.5.x only)).
• Support for JavaDoc documentation and multi-line comments.

No qooxdoo-specific support, but another attempt for JavaScript support in Emacs that you might be interested in (planned with JS2 in mind): js2-mode

• PHP QxBuilder with PHP QxBuilder and the qooxdoo Data Manager Extensions: Build a qooxdoo application quicker, with form support, and with XML instead of javascript!

• QxTransformer is a flexible library for qooxdoo JavaScript-based GUI toolkit offerring xml transformation to javascript. Allows creating GUI of your web 2.0 application on XML. QxTransformer is based on XSLT and can be used for any web platform.