vEclipse Releases First Ajax Platform Based on OSGi

October 15, 2007; 05:11 AM
The Eclipse Foundation today announced the availability of Eclipse Rich Ajax Platform (RAP) 1.0, a freely downloadable Ajax platform for creating and deploying Rich Internet Applications.

RAP 1.0 is the first Ajax platform that allows developers to create Rich Internet Applications (RIA) using the Eclipse component model, based on the OSGi standard. OSGi is a service-oriented, component-based environment that promotes the interoperability of applications and services. Organizations using RAP are now able to create Ajax and RIA applications that are component-based and integrate into existing enterprise systems.

"Using the OSGi component architecture for our Browser-based applications allows us to quickly create and deploy customizable applications," explains Ludwig Neer, CTO of CAS Software. "The Eclipse Rich Ajax Platform enables us to create components that can be reused and extended by our partner companies. In addition, since Eclipse is open source and a de facto standard, we are avoiding proprietary frameworks, which is a very important thing for our partners."

RAP 1.0 includes features well-suited for enterprises that are building a large number of new applications based on Ajax and RIA technologies. These features include:
-- The ability to create and deploy RIA or RCP applications from the same Java code base, allowing organizations the flexibility to create browser-based RIA application or desktop-based rich client applications.
-- Support for creating Ajax applications based on the OSGi component model.
-- Java development tools that tightly integrate with the Eclipse platform and allow developers to quickly develop, test, debug and deploy RIA applications.
-- A complete set of frameworks for creating Ajax applications that support scalable user interfaces, complex widgets, databinding and loose coupling for UI elements.

"We are supporting the RAP project because it provides a great way for Java developers to create RIA applications," explains Jens Lautenbacher, VP of Core Development at 1and1, the world's largest web host by known servers. "The ability to create RIA and RCP applications from the same code base allows for very interesting new deployment scenarios. We will continue to contribute to RAP by providing our qooxdoo JavaScript framework."

"The response we are getting to RAP has been wonderful," said Jochen Krause, project leader of Eclipse RAP and CEO of Innoopract. "We see a lot of interest from organizations that want to create Ajax applications but can't sacrifice developer productivity. They like making use of a component model that integrates RIA applications with existing web services and JEE systems. Eclipse and OSGi provide the technology that makes Ajax ready for these organizations."

Eclipse RAP 1.0 is now available at http://www.eclipse.org/rap/downloads.php. More information about the project is available at http://www.eclipse.org/rap/