IBM developerWorks : Web development

Your first cup of CoffeeScript, Part 3: Using CoffeeScript on the client

14 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

This series explores the popular CoffeeScript programming language, which is built on top of JavaScript. CoffeeScript compiles into JavaScript that is efficient and consistent with many best practices. You can run this JavaScript in a web browser or use it with technologies such as Node.js for server applications. Part 1 of this series explained how to get started with CoffeeScript and explained the perks for developers. Part 2 described how to use CoffeeScript to solve several programming problems. This article explains how to create a complete application using CoffeeScript.

Sending push notifications to iOS devices

14 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Using push notification technology, server applications can send rich content to apps installed on iOS or Android devices, saving you the trouble and expense of implementing Short Message Service (SMS) or Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) in your mobile-messaging apps. Michael Yuan shows how to support this key feature in your iOS applications. You'll also see how to use an open source Java library that simplifies the notification process.

Using UI components in jQuery Mobile

08 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Many UI components are available in the jQuery Mobile framework. This article provides a high-level overview of each element and how you can use it in a mobile website. It touches on specific UI components, explains the reasons to use them, and provides code examples of their use in a mobile website.

Your first cup of CoffeeScript, Part 2: Learn the language with hands-on examples

07 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

This series explores the popular CoffeeScript programming language, which is built on top of JavaScript. In Part 1, you learned about the perks for developers, set up the CoffeeScript compiler, and used it to create code that was ready to run in a browser or server. In this article, wade deeper into the CoffeeScript language. Use CoffeeScript to solve several programming problems, with a mathematical flavor to them, from Project Euler. Example source code is provided.

Scalable Vector Graphics in HTML5

31 Jan 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) are part of the vector family of graphics. They have several benefits over their raster counterparts: JPEG, GIF, and PNG. In this article, explore the basic concepts and usage of SVG graphics in HTML5. Learn about drawing, filters, gradients, text, and adding SVG XML to web pages.

Comment lines: Choosing the right web content management delivery solution

25 Jan 2012 06:00:00 +0000

The IBM Web Content Manager software offers different solutions for delivering web content to your users . This article explains all the solutions available and why you would chose each.

WebSphere proxy server routing capabilities in a secured environment

25 Jan 2012 06:00:00 +0000

This article discusses the various routing capabilities of the WebSphere proxy server, which is a feature of IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment. Multiple configuration scenarios are presented, along with background information, setup instructions and tips to help you achieve success routing content using proxy server features in a secured environment.

Measure UI performance on IBM SmartCloud Enterprise

18 Jan 2012 06:00:00 +0000

The author debuts a framework for IBM SmartCloud Enterprise that lets you establish an automated, UI performance-measuring system that engages Fiddler, a web debugging proxy. This article explains the framework, Fiddler, the performance metrics that are captured by the system, and how they are important to UI performance measurement.

Use the jQuery Mobile API for fine-grained custom control

10 Jan 2012 06:00:00 +0000

The jQuery Mobile framework is a quick and easy way to create mobile websites. However, you might not know that the framework has a decent API that you can use to extend the basic functionality. This article provides an overview of some of the most useful features in the API and gives you working code examples throughout.

Publishing XML data in HTML and PDF using a single XSLT stylesheet

03 Jan 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Learn how to publish XML documents in HTML and PDF using the css2xslfo utility.

Getting started with Backbone

13 Dec 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Efficient management of the numerous lines of JavaScript code in web applications can be a challenge. Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax) interactions heavily populate pages to provide a better experience to the user. Single page interfaces, which are becoming more common, are driven by Ajax. Backbone is a JavaScript framework that can be used to create model-view-controller (MVC)-like applications and single page interfaces. In this article, learn how useful Backbone can be for creating Ajax applications or single page interfaces.

Develop lightweight mobile web applications with Dojo Mobile

13 Dec 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Dojo Mobile is a Dojo-based widget set for creating mobile web applications. With Dojo Mobile, you can develop lightweight, high-performance mobile web applications. In this article, learn how Dojo Mobile addresses the performance issues, and how you can optimize Dojo Mobile-based user applications to make them as small and efficient as possible. [Several clarifications have been made in the text to better reflect the author's original intent.]

Comment lines: Defeat image sprawl, once and for all

07 Dec 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Virtualization and cloud computing make it very easy to create new virtual images, but as image catalogs grow, finding and locating the right images gets harder. New images are created because it is easier to create a new image than it is to figure out what existing image might be reusable, creating "image sprawl." Unless you address how to more effectively build and manage your virtual images, you will not realize the full benefits of the cloud. Two new IBM capabilities, the Virtual Image Library and the Image Construction and Composition Tool, can help you quickly understand the content of your images and build reusable, parameterized images.

An update on RDF concepts and some ontologies

06 Dec 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Resource Description Framework (RDF) is the standard framework for the Semantic Web and a recommended framework for the Linked Data movement. This article details the most recent updates to and implications of the RDF concept specification. It also covers some new ontology specifications such as data cataloging vocabularies and RDF database mapping systems.

Your first cup of CoffeeScript, Part 1: Getting started

06 Dec 2011 06:00:00 +0000

There's a lot of hype and fuss about CoffeeScript, a new programming language built on top of JavaScript. CoffeeScript offers a clean syntax that should appeal to those who like Python or Ruby. It also provides many functional programming features inspired by languages such as Haskell and Lisp. CoffeeScript compiles into efficient JavaScript, and in addition to running the JavaScript in a web browser, you can use it with technologies such as Node.js for server applications. In this first article of a four-part series, get started with CoffeeScript and learn about the perks for developers. You will set up the CoffeeScript compiler and use it to create code that's ready to run in a browser or server.

Build an iOS slideshow application for the iPad

29 Nov 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Learn to build an iOS slideshow application as you walk through the process step-by-step in this article. The example application will communicate with a web server to retrieve an XML slideshow definition and display the images contained in the slideshow.

Node.js for Java developers

29 Nov 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Node.js presents an exciting alternative to traditional Java concurrency, and all you need to get started is an open mind and a little bit of JavaScript.

Build REST resources using Apache Wink and OpenJPA

29 Nov 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Apache Wink is a framework for building RESTful web services. In this article, see how to use Wink and OpenJPA (Java Persistence Architecture) to implement, store, retrieve, and update a resource. Also, learn to make resources persistent using OpenJPA. Article examples show how the CRUD (create, retrieve, update, and delete) operations can be completed end to end using Wink and OpenJPA.

Create custom jQuery mobile themes

15 Nov 2011 06:00:00 +0000

The high adoption rate of smartphones and tablet devices is ultimately increasing the demand for mobile web developers and designers. The jQuery Mobile framework lets you create mobile web experiences that rival the results of native application development by providing instant access to applications and websites via the web browser rather than making users download and install mobile applications. Learn how to use the jQuery Mobile theming framework to create custom-branded mobile websites and web applications.

Combine Drupal, HTML5, and microdata

08 Nov 2011 06:00:00 +0000

With Google, Yahoo, and Bing's announcement of schema.org, microdata is quickly gaining ground as a way to create applications that rely on data from many different websites. In this article, learn how to use Drupal to add microdata to your pages. Easily make your content available for use in applications such as Google's Rich Snippets.

Make HTML5 microdata useful, Part 1: Using jQuery on top of microdata

08 Nov 2011 06:00:00 +0000

The microdata specification lists two reasons why you might want to use microdata: To allow generic scripts to provide services that are customized to the page or to enable content from a variety of cooperating authors to be processed by a single script in a consistent manner. In this two-part series, learn to use microdata in both of these ways, starting with generic scripts on top of microdata. In this article, you will write one snippet of HTML to give you both an interactive event map and to enable Google, Bing, and Yahoo to display your page better in search results with Rich Snippets.

Comment lines: Your quick start guide to OSGi

02 Nov 2011 06:00:00 +0000

This article presents some notable OSGi framework concepts that are relevant when developing OSGi platform solutions for IBM WebSphere Application Server V8 using the IBM Rational Application Developer V8.0.3 workbench. An example application explains the concepts and lays a brief but concrete foundation for understanding these concepts so that you can apply them in your own environment.

Comment lines: The new generation of WebSphere DataPower

02 Nov 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Not only are the lastest IBM WebSphere DataPower SOA Appliances new on the inside and out, but they are evidence of IBM's leadership, innovation, and long term strategic plan for appliances. Here's a high level look at the new line of hardware appliance products, including those designed for caching, integration, and cloud computing.

Comment lines: Building a Smarter Planet, one operations center at a time

02 Nov 2011 06:00:00 +0000

The act of building a smarter city has parallels with the act of helping a company succeed and grow. A central view of operations and the analysis of operational data is one of those parallels. Here is a high level look at the issue of instrumenting operations from the perspective of IBM's Smarter Cities initiative, although many of the ideas and approaches could relate equally to any business environment as well.

Build mobile text messaging into your web apps

02 Nov 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Mobile messaging, and Short Message Service (SMS) in particular, is a crucial communication channel for reaching out to your users. Messaging is also a central part of the consumer mobile experience. However, implementing mobile messaging applications is difficult and expensive due to barriers involved with interacting with closed telco services. This article reviews the background and challenges of mobile messaging, and discusses several technical approaches to address these challenges. After reading this article, you will be ready to incorporate interactive text messaging into your own applications.

Practice: JavaScript and the Document Object Model

01 Nov 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Take your knowledge of JavaScript a bit further--into the DOM. Through the exercises in this practice, learn how to use JavaScript properties to traverse the DOM, targeting nodes, changing node values, and manipulating attributes.

Creating objects with the JavaScript language

01 Nov 2011 06:00:00 +0000

See the different methods used to create objects using JavaScript. This demo uses each object-creation method to create a functional photo slideshow.

The foundation of the JavaScript language

01 Nov 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Get an overview of the foundational constructs of the JavaScript language. This demo briefly describes the basic constructs and provides examples that illustrate how they can be used.

Practice: Getting started with JavaScript

01 Nov 2011 06:00:00 +0000

The JavaScript language includes basic constructs that are commonly used in any script you write. Get the hands-on practice you need to store and retrieve values, create logic, iterate arrays, and write functions -- all of which give you a foundation for writing custom code in JavaScript.

Get started with JavaScript

01 Nov 2011 06:00:00 +0000

This knowledge path begins with a basic overview of the JavaScript language to provide a foundation for writing JavaScript code. It then covers more advanced topics such as object-oriented JavaScript and DOM modification for HTML page manipulation before covering introductory Asynchronous JavaScript + XML (Ajax) concepts and how to make Ajax requests.

Practice: Creating objects with JavaScript

01 Nov 2011 06:00:00 +0000

There are several methods for creating objects using JavaScript. These exercises teach you how to create objects using those methods as well as how to add properties and methods.

IBM Mashup Center Need-to-know tips and tricks, Part 2: Building mashups and leveraging widgets

13 Oct 2011 06:00:00 +0000

IBM Mashup Center is a powerful tool aimed at gaining insight and sharing information by rapidly assembling and visualizing data. This article shares some of the essential "need-to-know" tips we have collected in our experience with the product. In the first article in the series, we reviewed the components of IBM Mashup Center and some terminology, and then provided you with nine practical tips on working with feeds and building Data Mashups. Whereas the previous article focused on the "data site" of a mashup, in this this article we'll cover the presentation layer of a mashup - the "Mashup Builder". This article applies to Mashup Center version 2 and version 3.

Develop an Apache HttpClient client for Android to a JAX-RS web service

11 Oct 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Access a JAX-RS web service with the Apache HttpClient library. Jersey, a reference implementation for JAX-RS, simplifies development of RESTful web services in the Java environment. Android is a popular smartphone and this article shows you how to create a JAX-RS client for Android. You'll create an Apache HttpClient library client to a JAX-RS web service.

Get started with Dojo development

07 Oct 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Learn the basics of developing Web applications using the Dojo toolkit. This knowledge path is targeted at web developers and designers who are interested in learning how to leverage the Dojo JavaScript framework to assist them in the development of rich Internet applications (RIAs). You should be very familiar with building web pages using HTML and CSS and have, at the very least, a basic level of understanding of JavaScript. Experienced JavaScript developers who have no prior experience with Dojo will also find this knowledge path useful, although they may want to skim over some sections of the introductory content.

HTML5 fundamentals

07 Oct 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Since the World Wide Web emerged in the early 1990s, HTML has evolved to become a relatively powerful markup language, which, when backed up by its close partners JavaScript and CSS, can be used to create visually stunning and interactive websites and applications. HTML5 reflects the monumental changes in the way you now do business on the web and in the cloud. This knowledge path is for anyone wanting to get a foundation in HTML5.

Web application security fundamentals

07 Oct 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Web security is a discipline that is commonly overlooked. It has a reputation of being attended to in a reactive manner partially because of the lack of knowledge about common risks as well as lazy programming. Get introduced to common information security terminology as well as common attacks and vulnerabilities found on websites and applications. This knowledge path is for anyone interested in learning the basics of web application security and the risks involved in running a website from development to deployment.

Add charting on mobile browsers

03 Oct 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Develop online applications that are both thumb and user friendly for the mobile environment with PHP, XML, jQuery, jQuery mobile, and jQuery charting. In this article, build the back end and front end of a polling application that uses charting to show the results of each poll.

Create an ILOG Dojo Diagrammer application for touch-enabled mobile devices

21 Sep 2011 06:00:00 +0000

This article introduces both Dojo Mobile and IBM ILOG Dojo Diagrammer, and explains how you can create a diagram application for mobile devices with the Dojo Toolkit and IBM ILOG Dojo Diagrammer. In addition, you'll see how the application can add custom actions invoked by a touch gesture.

Comment lines: Tools for modernizing enterprise applications and the way you develop them

21 Sep 2011 06:00:00 +0000

The newly announced IBM Rational Developer for System z Unit Test can dramatically enhance the way you develop, maintain, and test mainframe applications. This article explains how this solution, along with other Rational Enterprise Modernization products, can be used in a typical scenario to transform an existing mainframe "green screen" application into a smartphone interface using modern techniques.

Using a recommendation engine to personalize your web application

21 Sep 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Most businesses are interested in finding new ways to drive traffic and generate revenue from their online investments. One way to address this challenge is to use a recommendation engine, which can drive visitors to your web site to explore further offerings. These engines apply a variety of patterns and analyze user habits to offer recommendations to users, and can be helpful in presenting offerings that a user might not otherwise know about. This article explains how to integrate Apache Mahout, an open source recommendation engine, with IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.0 and IBM Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software V8.0.3.

Reverse Ajax, Part 5: Event-driven web development

20 Sep 2011 06:00:00 +0000

In this final part of this article series, learn about event-driven development. Build an example event-driven web application using the accompanying source code.

HTML5 Canvas

14 Sep 2011 06:00:00 +0000

This HTML5 demo focuses on the use of the Canvas API and shows you how to paint a very simple animation.

HTML5 fundamentals

14 Sep 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Get an overview of HTML5 and some of the new tags, and see how CSS3 enhances the look and feel of a web site.

HTML5 Forms

14 Sep 2011 06:00:00 +0000

This demo describes the ,

, , and tags. It shows you how to create very elegant forms using HTML5 and CSS3.

Selecting the optimal programming language

13 Sep 2011 06:00:00 +0000

There are many programming languages to choose from, and it's a personal choice for many--you might just pick your favorite, or you might choose the one with the best performance figures. Sometimes, however, other factors are just as important as performance. In this article, learn how to analyze the relevant factors when selecting a programming language. A few project scenarios are outlined to illustrate different variables in your myriad choices.

Mobile application development, Part 1: PhoneGap and Dojo Mobile on Android

13 Sep 2011 06:00:00 +0000

In this series, you'll start out by creating a simple, mobile application, and end by consuming web services from your Android device. Learn how to use Eclipse and PhoneGap to create a mobile hybrid application using only HTML and JavaScript. You'll also use Mobile Dojo to give the application that native feel. In this article, learn how to combine PhoneGap and Mobile Dojo to rapidly create a hybrid mobile application for Android that looks and behaves like a typical Android application.

Reverse Ajax, Part 4: Atmosphere and CometD

06 Sep 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Learn about Atmosphere and CometD--the best-known open source Reverse Ajax libraries for Java technology servers.

Generate dynamic mobile web interfaces with the Dojo Toolkit

30 Aug 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Using mobile devices to browse the web has become the rule. As users of mobile devices increase in number, there is a corresponding spike in the development rate of mobile applications and mobile-friendly websites. For the mobile app developer, the main concern becomes how to develop an app that can display on the majority of devices. In this article, see how the Dojo Toolkit can help you create widgets for your application that mimic the interfaces of the most popular mobile devices. The Dojo Toolkit provides a mechanism to create mobile web apps using Cascading Style Sheets, HTML, and JavaScript.

Reverse Ajax, Part 3: Web servers and Socket.IO

30 Aug 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Learn how to use Comet and WebSockets in your web application for various web containers and APIs. Also learn about Socket.IO, an abstraction library that can be used in a web application with Reverse Ajax. Abstraction libraries, which can be used transparently, hide all of the complexity behind Comet and WebSockets.

Create a networked tic-tac-toe game for Android

23 Aug 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Build the back end of a multiplayer, network-enabled tic-tac-toe game with a native Android front-end application in this article.

Get started with Dojo Mobile 1.7

23 Aug 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Learn about Dojo Mobile 1.7, the latest version of the mobile web development framework that's an extension of the Dojo toolkit. See how to download Dojo 1.7 from trunk and how to use Dojo Mobile in your applications. Explore the various widgets and components it offers, and learn how to wrap your web application up in a native application using PhoneGap.

Accessing HTTP and RESTful services from DB2: Introducing the REST user-defined functions for DB2

23 Aug 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Increasingly, Representational State Transfer (REST) has become the preferred way of communicating in today's service-oriented architecture environments. There are many services and information sources that can be addressed via a URL and accessed using HTTP. On the other hand, there is still a significant amount of information stored in relational database management systems (RDBMS) -- like DB2. Modern RDMSes provide powerful processing features for relational data (through SQL) and XML data (through SQL/XML or XQuery).

Integrate the rich Internet application framework ZK with Informix to build real-world applications

18 Aug 2011 06:00:00 +0000

This tutorial presents a real-world example that integrates IBM Informix and ZK, a rich Internet application (RIA) framework. Informix is a flagship IBM RDBMS product, while ZK is a Java-based web application framework supporting Ajax applications. This event-driven framework enables creation of rich user interfaces with minimal knowledge and use of JavaScript. ZK's unique server-centric approach enables synchronization of components and events across the client and server via the core engine.

Understanding built-in objects in JavaScript

16 Aug 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Gain a foundational understanding of the intrinsic objects available in the JavaScript language.

Charting for mobile with the Dojo Toolkit

16 Aug 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Explore the capabilities of the dojox.mobile and dojox.charting packages. In this article, use the step-by-step examples to create a mobile charting application with the Dojo Toolkit, then enhance the application to support touch interactions. Advanced topics, such as improving rendering performance, are also covered.

Java development 2.0: Ultra-lightweight Java web services with Gretty

16 Aug 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Gretty is one of a new school of ultra-lightweight frameworks made for building web services. Built on top of the blazingly fast Java NIO APIs, Gretty leverages Groovy as a domain-specific language for web endpoints and Grape's Maven-style dependency management. In this article, get started with using Gretty to build and deploy Java web service applications.

Develop a Spring client for Android to a JAX-RS web service

12 Aug 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Spring, a platform used to run Java enterprise applications, provides several benefits including increased productivity and runtime performance. Spring Android, an extension of the Spring framework, simplifies the development of Android apps. The main features of Spring Android are a REST client for Android and Auth support for accessing secure APIs. Learn to access a RESTful web service with the Spring Android REST Client.

Comment lines: Successful BPM takes a true team-oriented approach

03 Aug 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Over the last two years there's been a significant change in approaches to business process management (BPM). We are witnessing an evolution from a techno-centric approach to building business processes to an approach that is aligned with business stakeholders. When compared to traditional Information Technology (IT) BPM approaches, a team-oriented approach to BPM design, development, and optimization results in higher success with business process solutions. This article discusses collaborative BPM approaches and recommended practices to support common goals and outcomes for business and IT stakeholders..

Comment lines: You can influence WebSphere products through the Client Experience Program

03 Aug 2011 06:00:00 +0000

The Client Experience Program for IBM WebSphere Products brings clients and IBM product development teams together to share information about products, usage experience, requirements, and best practices. Through no-charge activities and events, you can improve your understanding of WebSphere products and contribute feedback so that the products you use can continue to meet your future needs.

Comment lines: The eventful (and stateful) challenge of service integration

03 Aug 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Most IT projects that involve a service-oriented architecture (SOA) – and the majority of projects do – also deal with aspects of integration and connectivity between services and their consumers. This article describes a relatively recent trend of adding additional aspects to the integration layer, namely state handling, decision making, and event handling, driven by the desire of the business to become more customer-centric.

Create GPS-enabling web applications

02 Aug 2011 06:00:00 +0000

This article walks you through building the back end and front end of a GPS-enabled web application using PHP.

Get started with the JavaScript language, Part 2: Events, cookies, timing, and more

02 Aug 2011 06:00:00 +0000

JavaScript has become increasingly popular and is arguably one of the most widely used languages on the Internet. It can be used cross-platform and cross-browser, and it does not discriminate against back-end languages. Many great libraries are available to help with development, but sometimes, these libraries are so removed from the original language that beginning developers lack an understanding of the language fundamentals. This article, part 2 in a series, continues the fundamentals of JavaScript with events, try...catch statements, cookie use, and timing functions.

Reverse Ajax, Part 2: WebSockets

26 Jul 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Learn a new way to implement Reverse Ajax, using WebSockets, a new HTML5 API. WebSockets can be implemented natively by browser vendors or by using a bridge that delegates calls to a hidden Flash component called FlashSockets. This article also discusses some constraints on the server side with Reverse Ajax techniques.

User interface design for the mobile web

26 Jul 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Web application technology reduces the cost of creating multiplatform applications. Developers can create applications that run on mobile platforms that differ in development technology, user interface style, input mechanisms, display form factor, size, and resolution. To design applications that are easy to use, and that integrate well across diverse platforms and devices, you need to consider several factors beyond conventional web applications and native mobile applications. This article explores the usability challenges of the mobile web, and provides several best practices for designing mobile web applications.

Reverse Ajax, Part 1: Introduction to Comet

19 Jul 2011 06:00:00 +0000

In this series, learn how to develop event-driven web applications using Reverse Ajax techniques to achieve a better user experience. The examples on the client side will use the jQuery JavaScript library. In this first article, explore different Reverse Ajax techniques. With downloadable examples, learn about Comet with streaming and long polling methods.

Audience, Relevance and Search

15 Jul 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Real solutions to the Internet search challenges that Web marketers and content professionals struggle with every day!

Search Engine Marketing Inc., 2nd edition

15 Jul 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Whether you’re a marketing, Web, or IT professional, product manager, or content specialist, Search Engine Marketing, Inc., Second Edition will help you define your SEO/SEM goals, craft a best-practices program for achieving them, and implement it flawlessly.

Multisite Commerce: Proven Principles for Overcoming the Business, Organizational, and Technical Challenges

15 Jul 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Mirlas begins by reviewing why multisite commerce is necessary and yet so challenging to execute. Next, he addresses multisite commerce from three perspectives: business, implementation, and technical. You’ll learn how to plan and implement a shared platform and use it to create and operate new sites that will remarkably lower incremental cost.

The Social Factor

15 Jul 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Whatever your industry, you’ll learn how to choose and implement the right social networking solutions for your unique challenges...how to avoid false starts and wasted time...and how to evaluate and make the most of today’s most promising social technologies–from wikis and blogs to knowledge clouds.

Web 2.0 and Social Networking for the Enterprise

15 Jul 2011 06:00:00 +0000

This book provides hands-on, start-to-finish guidance for business and IT decision-makers who want to drive value from Web 2.0 and social networking technologies. IBM expert Joey Bernal systematically identifies business functions and innovations these technologies can enhance and presents best-practice patterns for using them in both internal- and external-facing applications.

Traverse the Document Object Model with JavaScript

12 Jul 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Web developers are, of course, familiar with JavaScript and the Document Object Model (DOM). While DOM provides a neutral interface for abstracting XML/HTML documents, JavaScript provides an implementation of this interface that lets you interact with web pages. In this article, explore the JavaScript bindings of DOM and learn how to manipulate a web document for peak performance. An example application illustrates DOM methods and properties, and how to attach handlers to DOM events.

HTML5 fundamentals, Part 4: The final touch

05 Jul 2011 06:00:00 +0000

HTML5 reflects the monumental changes in the way we now do business on the web and in the cloud. This article, the fourth in a four-part series designed to spotlight changes in HTML5, introduces the HTML5 Canvas element, using several examples to demonstrate functions.

Improve cross-domain communication with client-side solutions

28 Jun 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Ajax plays an important role in this Web 2.0 era, yet sometimes its power is limited due to the same origin policy (SOP). In this article, learn how to overcome the collaboration restrictions. Explore several client-side solutions for integrating with other servers and providers. Examples show you how to improve your cross-domain communication and data transfer.

Using the WebSphere Application Server Feature Pack for Web 2.0 and Mobile to view web application usage patterns and other analytics data

22 Jun 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Knowing how users navigate and browse through your website can be valuable in guiding and justifying efforts to improve the site. For example, knowledge about page statistics might guide you to move the most frequently accessed pages to higher levels in the site, statistics on mouse clicks can identify rarely-used buttons, and long idle times could point to pages needing simplification. This article explains how to make use of new features in the Dojo Toolkit and IBM WebSphere Application Server Feature Pack for Web 2.0 and Mobile to generate analytics data, and offers advice on presenting the data in your own application.

Integrating WebSphere CloudBurst capabilities in an iPhone solution, Part 4: Extending classes to manage HTTPS syndication

22 Jun 2011 06:00:00 +0000

This series of articles walks you through the process of creating a full client application for an Apple iPhone device that collaborates with an IBM WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance using a REST API. Using the vast REST-based APIs provided, WebSphere CloudBurst offers many integration opportunities for a Web 2.0 environment, such as with a smartphone. Building on the previous articles, Part 4 concludes this series showing how you can extend a class to manage the HTTPS protocol, including security management.

Comment lines: What makes for good modularity and why OSGi is awesome

22 Jun 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Modularity is one of those things that is considered good -- but not always realized -- in software engineering; hard to describe and harder to achieve. This article explores the key considerations for modularity and then applies them to Java, Maven, and OSGi to see how well they fit these capabilities. This will reveal the value that OSGi brings as a modularity system for Java, and provide the context for explaining the value of applying OSGi to enterprise applications.

Get started with Dojo Mobile 1.6

17 Jun 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Learn about Dojo Mobile, the mobile web development framework that's an extension of the Dojo toolkit. Using a practical example, learn how to include and use Dojo Mobile widgets and components in your applications. You'll see how to wrap your web application in a native application using PhoneGap. This article also offers a preview of some of the new features in the next version of the framework.

Automate web application testing with Sahi

14 Jun 2011 06:00:00 +0000

There are many commercial tools and open source frameworks for automated testing of web applications. Sahi, a tool for automating web application testing, is gaining popularity. Sahi is an open source tool that allows recording and replaying across browsers. It provides different language drivers for writing test scripts, and supports Ajax and highly dynamic web applications. In this article, learn about Sahi by using a sample application and test case. Learn to format scripts for Junit and to test with Apache Ant.

An introduction to Ajax

14 Jun 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Get a technical introduction to Ajax programming, and discover the core JavaScript code and popular library implementations. This article presents a brief history of the technology, then outlines the technical basics of Ajax interactions using core JavaScript coding as well as three popular JavaScript libraries.

HTML5 fundamentals, Part 3: The power of HTML5 APIs

07 Jun 2011 06:00:00 +0000

HTML5 reflects the monumental changes in the way you now do business on the web and in the cloud. This article is the third in a four-part series designed to spotlight changes in HTML5, beginning with the new tags and page organization and providing high-level information on web page design, the creation of forms, the use and value of the APIs, and, finally, the creative possibilities that Canvas provides. This installment introduces HTML5 APIs, using an example page to demonstrate functions.

Use Selenium Grid to enhance testing of web applications

07 Jun 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Selenium is a suite of tools designed to automate web application testing across many platforms. With Selenium Grid, which is part of the suite, you can transparently distribute your tests on multiple machines. In this article, learn how to run your tests in parallel, cutting down the time needed for running in-browser test suites. With real test projects and code samples, learn to run tests in multiple environments in parallel and speed up the testing of your web applications.

HTML5 fundamentals, Part 2: Organizing inputs

31 May 2011 06:00:00 +0000

HTML5 reflects the monumental changes in the way you now do business on the Web and in the cloud. This article is the second in a four-part series designed to spotlight changes in HTML5, beginning with the new tags and page organization and providing high-level information on web page design; the creation of forms; the use and value of the APIs; and, finally, the creative possibilities that Canvas provides. This second part introduces the concept of HTML5 form controls and touches on the role of JavaScript and CSS3.

New HTML5 structural tags

31 May 2011 06:00:00 +0000

HTML5 introduces many new tags, including several devoted to better describing a document's structure. In this article, learn about the new HTML5 structural tags. Explore how to use them to divide a document into content blocks. Example code helps illustrate the concepts.

HTML5 fundamentals, Part 1: Getting your feet wet

24 May 2011 06:00:00 +0000

HTML5 reflects the monumental changes in the way you now do business on the web and in the cloud. This article is the first in a four-part series designed to spotlight changes in HTML5, beginning with the new tags and page organization and providing high-level information on web page design, the creation of forms, the use and value of the APIs, and the creative possibilities that Canvas provides.

Comment lines: Building a Smarter Planet, one city at a time

18 May 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Building a smarter city is a challenge in ways that are both similar and different from companies whose mission it is to succeed and grow. While there is no real question that technology would be able to help cities innovate and grow, strained resources often make such investments impractical. But innovation starts with intelligence -- getting data and using it -- and that kind of innovation is what IBM's Smarter Cities initiative is all about.

Building converged Web services with WebSphere Application Server

18 May 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Convergence of telecommunications with the World Wide Web is a major driving force behind the development of many new and interesting applications. The lines between these two traditionally isolated worlds is blurring due to IETF-developed protocols like SIP and new programming models like JSR 289, which enable applications to simultaneously control the signaling between these two worlds. Through a sample application, this article illustrates how to develop a converged Web service using IBM WebSphere Application Server.

Integrating WebSphere CloudBurst capabilities in an iPhone solution, Part 3: Creating the controller to manage the view and flow of a Web 2.0 iPhone application

18 May 2011 06:00:00 +0000

This series of articles walks you through the process of creating a full client application for an Apple iPhone device that collaborates with an IBM WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance using a REST API. Using the vast REST-based APIs provided, WebSphere CloudBurst offers many integration opportunities for a Web 2.0 environment, such as with a smartphone. Building on the previous articles, Part 3 describes how to create a controller class to manage the view and flow of the sample application.

Comment lines: Know your key performance indicators for WebSphere eXtreme Scale

18 May 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Like any enterprise system, you should monitor IBM WebSphere eXtreme Scale to maintain optimum health and performance of your data grid. This article helps you identify what performance indicators to monitor, how to monitor them, and what you can learn from the data.

Hook into Wikipedia information using PHP and the MediaWiki API

17 May 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Wikipedia is the ultimate online encyclopedia, containing millions of entries on different aspects of human knowledge. Web application developers are able to access and search these entries through the Wikipedia API. This article introduces the Wikipedia API and demonstrates it in the context of a PHP application, explaining how to search and retrieve different elements of Wikipedia content with PHP.

Build better web applications with jQuery UI and jQuery plug-ins

17 May 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Cross-device website accessibility

17 May 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Users are increasingly reading complex websites on computers with both large and small screens. Different devices offer various strengths and weaknesses when it comes to communicating with customers. In a context of sales and marketing, this article offers concrete observations on helpful practices to leverage this new reality.

Get started with CSS

10 May 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Get to know standardized CSS styling techniques, including CSS 2.1 and the cross-browser CSS3. In particular, learn how to enhance search engine optimization using unobtrusive techniques; provide different CSS styles for print, mobile, and web views; and hint toward enhanced accessibility.

Back to basics with HTML

10 May 2011 06:00:00 +0000

If you've never created an HTML page before, or you have but you're not sure why it works the way it does, this article explains and demystifies the process. It covers the basics of HTML and its construction, the different components and how they work, and navigating a directory with links. This article also covers stylesheets, scripts, and what new things HTML5 includes.

Improve web application security with jQuery Mobile

03 May 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Many web developers consider security a low priority. Security is frequently relegated to the end of the software development life cycle, as little more than an afterthought. Sometimes, software security is neglected entirely, resulting in applications rife with common vulnerabilities. Because such bugs might manifest only under conditions present during an attack, they can be hard to detect prior to such events without knowledge of how the exploitation process works. Using a web application built with jQuery Mobile, PHP, and MySQL, this tutorial shows how many types of vulnerabilities occur along with common methods of exploitation and, most importantly, their respective countermeasures.

The Semantic Web, Linked Data and Drupal, Part 2: Combine linked datasets with Drupal 7 and SPARQL Views

03 May 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Part 1 of this series explored some of the new concepts recently incorporated into the Drupal content management system, such as how sharing and reusing data is now easier because the technologies discourage proprietary APIs in favor of a machine-readable format -- Resource Description Framework (RDF). In this article, learn how to take advantage of the existing Linked Data available today on the web of data, and how to enrich a Drupal 7 site with data coming from different endpoints. A real-world use case with data from independent publishers provides examples.

Building CouchApps

03 May 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Apache CouchDB is an open source document-oriented database management system that allows you to create full database-driven applications using nothing but HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. In this tutorial, you will learn how to create your own CouchApp that will perform database operations using Ajax powered by the jQuery framework. It will act as a contact manager and allow you to view, create, edit, and delete your contacts.

HTML5, CSS3, and related technologies

26 Apr 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Many technologies are informally lumped under the "HTML5" banner. This article helps clear up any confusion about what's in and what's out of the HTML specification, while shining light on the technologies themselves, such as the many CSS3 modules.

Transform RCP applications to web applications using RAP

19 Apr 2011 06:00:00 +0000

The Rich Client Platform (RCP) enables you to build rich desktop applications. The Rich Ajax Platform (RAP) lets you build Ajax-enabled web applications using the Eclipse development model. With the assistance of RAP, existing RCP applications can be run as web applications with only minor changes. In this article, explore the key features of RAP, and follow example code for a simple HTML viewer to learn how to migrate RCP applications to the web using RAP.

Get started with object-oriented JavaScript code

19 Apr 2011 06:00:00 +0000

With the popularity of today's highly interactive websites, the JavaScript language is in high demand. Developers who truly want to write complex JavaScript code need to have a basic understanding of the different ways custom objects are built and how to use them. This article explains all the ways you can create a custom object using the JavaScript language and uses code examples throughout to show how you can use those objects in a real-world situation.

ECMA-262, 5th Edition

12 Apr 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Take a look at the history of the ECMAScript specification while also learning about many of its important new features and concepts.