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Chiba Web 3.0.0b2

Chiba Web 3 is a new major release of the Chiba server-side XForms implementation, coming with a brand new JavaScript layer, improved XForms 1.1 support, localisation, XPath 2.0 and more.

- Chiba is now using Dojo Toolkit Version 1.2.3 (latest) which vastly improves the quality of the UI. The completely rewritten JavaScript layer already comes with compilation and CDN support allowing you to load many parts of the application libs from Google. Dojo components can be seemlessly integrated with XForms processing to add the last missing pieces that make up a full application.

- Large parts of the Core processor and the Web layer have been heavily refactored and now provide a cleaner API and simplified parts of the Code. Extensibility of the Java API has been greatly improved.

- The CSS system has been reworked for consistency and there's new documentation available.

We boldly call it a beta ;) Please handle with care.

You are strongly encouraged to use Chrome 4+, Safari 3+ or Firefox 2+ for viewing.

What is it ?

a ToolKit combining XForms, AJAX and the Dojo toolkit
combines an attractive and extensible set of cross-browser widgets with the rich MVC Model of XForms
Rapid web application building in a declarative way

Screenshoots

Key Components

XForms

Chiba is an Open Source Java Implementation of the W3C XForms standard 'that represents the next generation of forms for the Web'. [Abstract of the XForms PR]

AJAX

Chiba uses Direct Web Remoting DWR to connect Javascript widgets and containers such as repeat, switch and group to the XForms engine. For page authors absolutely no knowledge of AJAX techniques is required. All the wiring is automatic.

The Dojo Toolkit

The Dojo toolkit is one of the most well-known and highest-quality Javascript libraries around and receives a lot of attention and credits. It provided the ideal foundation for building a Javascript API to support the XForms capabilities of Chiba.

By bundling the Dojo Toolkit it's now possible to use the full set of Dojo controls to build application-like UIs with full AJAX and XForms support without needing to write a single line of script or Java code.

A complete, fine-grained system of CSS classes allows to control the layout and styling of the whole UI. A quick reference card shows all classes available on one sheet.

The Chiba architecture is minimal-intrusive. There's no coding needed to integrate XForms processing into your webapp while still giving you a lot of hooks when tied integration is wanted.

There are no plugins or other installations needed to use full XForms in your browser today. It will work for the major browsers (IE6.0+, Safari 3.0+, FF 2.0+ and others).

As HTTP handling and full XML support are built-in it's a matter of minutes to connect a Chiba page to a REST service. XForms is an ideal fit when working with such architectures.

Chiba nicely supports the XForms Rest XQuery (XRX) paradigm. XQueries can directly be used as data and parameterized through your XForms. Chiba nicely integrates with the popular Open Source XML database eXist.

In restricted environments often JavaScript is filtered or prohibited. Chiba forms will continue to work the best way a request/response interface can give you.

It's easy to integrate new components and enhance the set of available controls. Not only all Dojo controls might be used but additionally any JavaScript can be integrated and used under the package loading system of Dojo thereby getting the advantages of JavaScript compilation, compression and layering of scripts.

Data typing will come to your pages by simple declarations. The full set of XML Schema types plus your own extensions can be used. XForms constraints allow to apply further facets to any data node. Along with the capability to execute calculations in a similar declarative way you never have to worry about invalid data in your backend again.

Both XForms and Dojo follow a declarative approach to page building. This is a perfect match - both can co-exist with interference and interact in a controlled manner. No manual scripting will be needed unless you like to write your own components.

Usually some sort of persistence backend will make your apps powerful and you'll need to seemlessly integrate with arbritary datasources. Chiba already supports the most common protocols but can also be easily extended to dock to any datasource. These connectors can be plugged by configuration and can be combined with any other connector in a page.

Starting with Chiba Web 3.0.0b2 Chiba will be available under the liberal BSD and Apache 2 licenses. This allows unlimited commercial use. Professional support will be available from the admins of the project. Please contact us.