Overview >
Technical FAQ
1. What
is XUI?
2. What does XUI Framework
mean?
3. Is XUI J2EE friendly?
4. Does XUI use Java
Applets?
5. Does a user need to download
any plug-ins to make XUI work?
6. Why XUI if there is already
XUL from Netscape?
7. Why use XUI if there is already
WebControls from Microsoft?
8. What browsers are supported
in XUI?
9. Why are the latest versions
of these browsers needed?
10. Is XUI compatible with
all browsers?
11. Does XUI have an IDE?
12. Is XUI a new development
language?
13. Is XUI another proprietary
technology?
14. How easy is it to use XUI?
15. What interfaces are available?
16. What skills are required
to develop using XUI?
17. Is XUI scalable, reliable
and extendable?
18. What are the minimum hardware
requirements?
Business FAQ
19. What
business problems does XUI solve?
20. How is XUI positioned relative
to other products?
21. How does XUI deliver the
functionality an enterprise needs?
22. How was the return on investment
(ROI) arrived at?
23. Is XUI sold as a package?
24. What do you get when you
license XUI?
25. Describe XUI's licensing
model. Does the model reflect per seat or tiered pricing?
Is
enterprise licensing available?
26. Does JWAY provide training
on XUI?
27. How will XUI impact total
cost of ownership (TCO)?
XUI
(eXtensible User Interface) is a user interface (UI) framework
(software toolkit, techniques, processes, and best practices)
for developing and deploying rich graphical user interface
(GUI) for web applications. It provides web developers a standards-based
platform to rapidly and cost-effectively create world-ready
GUI that delivers richer user experience for the web.
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XUI Framework means a collection of software development technologies,
techniques, processes and best practices that when combined
altogether allows the delivery of standards-based environment
to create rich GUI for web applications. XUI is focused on
the delivery of highly interactive, multi-modal, multi-behavior,
multi-lingual UI. This is achieved by extending the traditional
Model View Controller (MVC) model found in an Object Oriented
(OO) framework, like J2EE. This is now called eXtensible Model
View Controller (XMVC). The XUI Framework provides a way to
create, manage and deploy views, listeners, localized data
and media within a cohesive development environment.
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Yes. XUI is built with XML family of technologies and works
with complementary technologies such as Java (JSP/Servlets),
HTML, JavaScript and CSS. The rich clients are built in DHTML.
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No. The rich client is built with HTML, JavaScript and CSS
making them extremely lightweight and highly portable.
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No.
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XUL only works with Netscape Navigator. Not only that, it
works differently with Netscape Navigator and Mozilla Firefox
which can be confusing as most people think they are one and
the same. XUI is a combination of a UI framework and XML-based
widgets and works with popular browsers.
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WebControls from Microsoft is Microsoft Internet Explorer-centric
and will not work for Netscape Navigator or Mozilla Firefox.
WebControls are a collection of ASP.NET controls that facilitates
UI authoring. XUI can work with this environment since XUI
is flexible enough to work with these controls.
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Supported browsers in XUI 2.0 are:
| Operating
System |
Supported Browsers
|
| Windows 98/2000/XP |
MS Internet Explorer
6.0+
Netscape Navigator 7.0+
Mozilla 1.0+
Firefox 0.8+ |
| Linux Redhat 9 |
Netscape Navigator
7.0+
Mozilla 1.0+
Firefox 0.8+ |
| Solaris 10 (XUI 2.2) |
Netscape Navigator
7.0+
Mozilla 1.0+
Firefox 0.8+ |
| Macintosh (XUI 3.0) |
Safari 1.2
Camino 0.8.1
Netscape Navigator 7.0+
Mozilla 1.0+
Firefox 0.8+
MS Internet Explorer 5.0+ |
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XUI is built to deliver highly interactive user interface and user
experience, having a look and feel of traditional desktop
applications. To achieve this, XUI uses the latest techniques
and specifications for HTML, JavaScript and CSS authoring,
which may only work for the latest browsers. Remember, users
are literally running full-blown web-enabled applications
traditionally found on desktops.
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Not exactly. XUI is “browser-sensitive”. XUI is
being optimized for W3C Web standards and for the predominant
browser on the predominant operating system (more than 80%
of web users are using Microsoft Internet Explorer on Windows
platform). Once this is achieved, XUI UI features are then
adjusted to a level where XUI is usable for the other browsers.
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XUI does not have a native IDE. Currently, development in
XUI is through manual coding of XML files. However, XUI
has tags available for Macromedia
Dream Weaver.
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No. Using XUI, Web Developers will be working with traditional
XML, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They will have to learn
what XML elements are used for the UI widgets but, there is
no new language involved. XUI hides as much complexity as
possible, even at the HTML, JavaScript and CSS level. However,
XUI is open for customization to conform to corporate development
standards.
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The XUI Framework is created using industry standard technologies
such as XML, Java, JavaScript, and HTML. These technologies
are commercially available. The current release of the framework
is intended to be used with standard J2EE platform.
XUI’s Schema design is proprietary in nature but is
implemented using W3C XML 1.0 specifications. All browser
(client) logic is implemented using standard Dynamic HTML
using JavaScript and CSS. No proprietary plug-ins are necessary
to use XUI.
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Relative to the traditional way of creating rich user interfaces
for web applications, XUI provides an easier way to create
screens with rich GUI components. Developers use the XUI tagging
language (SAXUI – Simple API for XUI) to create screens.
In comparison, traditional development requires developers
to write long and complex JavaScript codes to implement such
rich GUIs. XUI development is very similar to HTML development,
yet the resulting screens are far richer than the traditional
HTML screens. A typical HTML developer should be able to use
XUI after a 3-5 day training session.
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Interfaces are in the form of XUI tags and JavaScript APIs.
JWAY provides full documentation of such APIs including Schema
documentation.
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The minimum skills required are familiarity with using HTML
tags and CSS to start producing XUI screens. XML, JavaScript,
XSLT and Struts skills are required to extend the XUI components
to build new ones.
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XUI is framework-based with simple integration with industry
standard J2EE platform. XUI Framework is compatible with existing
Web infrastructures and protocols such as HTTP and HTTPS,
making it firewall friendly and Web Services ready. With XUI,
users can access applications from anywhere, over any connection
speed - without the need to download and install client-side
plug-ins to view the rich graphical user interface that XUI
delivers. To ensure the highest quality and reliability, every
release of XUI goes through an extensive testing, including:
Performance Testing, Scalability Testing and Functional Testing.
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Recommended minimum configuration for servers: Dual processor,
2.4 GHz Pentium class or similar, and 2GB Memory. XUI Server
footprint is less than 2MB. Future releases may increase this
size between 5-10MB.
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With the presence of multiple web applications in the enterprise
with varying user interface designs for look-and-feel, functional
navigation and technical architecture, both end-users and
web applications developers are challenged with adapting to
and maintaining, respectively, each of these applications.
Thus, enterprises are looking at ways to make the experience
to the end-users smoother from one application to another
while providing web applications developers the proper tools
to make maintenance less costly and more efficient.
The XUI Framework is JWAY’s response to
this enterprise dilemma. Taking advantage of the familiarity
of end-users with the desktop user interface paradigm and
web applications developers’ skills on open standards
technologies, XUI presents an environment for the enterprise
to:
- Provide an environment to promote policies
and guidelines for implementing rich GUI standards for web
applications across the enterprise ensuring consistency
in user interfaces for web applications, enhancing productivity
and efficiency, and eliminating extensive user training
for new web applications.
- Create user interfaces that mimic desktop
applications' user experience such as use of menu bars,
tool bars, dynamic grids and tables, drag and drop, directory
tree, tabbed panes; support for event handling like right-clicking,
double-clicking, column resizing; smart techniques for large
data set manipulation, and etc.
- Lay out the foundation for creating rich
GUI for robust applications deployed over the Web such as
an enterprise resource management system (ERP), a customer
relationship management system (CRM), a content management
system (CMS) and other such applications.
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XUI provides a platform to develop and deliver GUIs where
traditional web applications are transformed into rich applications,
like desktop software, while maintaining true server-side
business logic execution. XUI provides enterprise the ability
to rapidly and cost-effectively develop highly-effective GUIs
for web applications without using Java Applets, ActiveX,
proprietary plug-ins, and other heavy-weight technologies.
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For enterprises seeking rapid development and deployment of
rich GUI for web applications, the XUI framework provides
the platform to create cost-effective, user-friendly, highly-effective,
and world-ready GUI that delivers richer user experiences
for the web. XUI can drastically cut the cost in development,
by about 60%, while increasing end-user satisfaction and rate
of efficiency in using a web application implemented with
XUI screens.
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The ROI numbers were based on a study conducted by a strategic
marketing management company, Paradigms Consulting Group,
Inc. The study involved interviewing Fortune 500 companies
about their web applications development lifecycle and practices
and comparing their approach (either using the traditional
methods of developing UI or using Java Applet-based development)
with development using XUI. To download the research report,
please go to http://www.xuiframework.com/contents/roi/showROI.jsp?source=roi.
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JWAY grants license to developers to use XUI in providing rich clients
for web applications. XUI 2.3 Release includes a Developer Edition
which allows developers access to an off-the-shelf trial version of XUI
for a period of 60 days. For purchase options, please
click here.
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The XUI Framework package contains all the GUI Factory Managers
and UI Components and a set of tutorial documentation available
online. For more information, please contact us.
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XUI is licensed for the enterprise on a per application basis. The licensing scheme is as follows:
Enterprise Edition Bundle per Application
- All Base Modules: Layout, Look-and-Feel, Component, Script & Event Managers
- 10 developer licenses on a concurrent basis
- Enterprise Deployment Capabilities
Individual Components per Application (optional)
- Localized Content Manager (for Multilingual sites)
- Additional 10 Developer Licenses
For more information on licensing and pricing, please click here.
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Yes. There are two tracks of training: (1) XUI Programmer Track and (2) XUI Developer Track. The Programmer Track teaches Web Developers to use existing XUI components to build the user interface while the Developer Track teaches Web Applications Engineers to create new XUI components and extend existing ones.
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XUI definitely impacts TCO positively. A research conducted
by a strategic marketing management company, Paradigms Consulting
Group, Inc., compared using XUI against the traditional method
of developing rich graphical user interface as well as Java-applet
based development in an enterprise web application development
initiative. The study shows that using XUI saves time by an
average of 50% and costs by 60%. Average savings in maintenance
of applications is calculated to be at 80%. If the web application
requires internationalization, the savings becomes even much
greater. To download the research report, please go to http://www.xuiframework.com/contents/roi/showROI.jsp?source=roi.
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For XUI inquiries and demonstration, please contact us.
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