Overview of Web 2.0 and Mobile Toolkit

The Web 2.0 and Mobile Toolkit is an optionally installable product for IBM® WebSphere® Application Server Version 8.5 that offers targeted, incremental features that can make your web applications running on WebSphere Application Server easier to use. With this toolkit, WebSphere Application Server applications that were originally developed for desktop browsers can now be adapted and deployed to mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets.

Deprecated feature: The Web 2.0 and Mobile Toolkit is a deprecated feature. For more information, see Deprecated features.

Web 2.0 and Mobile Toolkit extends Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) by connecting external web services, internal SOA services, and Java™ Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) objects into highly interactive web application interfaces. To reduce information technology (IT) costs and speed time to market, the Web 2.0 and Mobile Toolkit provides a supported, best-in-class Ajax development toolkit for WebSphere Application Server.

Ajax is an open technique for creating rich user experiences in web-based applications that does not require additional browser plug-ins. Ajax interfaces result in increased customer satisfaction and line of business productivity by streamlining user interaction with web-based applications.

Web 2.0 and Mobile Toolkit highlights:

The Web 2.0 and Mobile Feature Pack for WebSphere Application Server is now known as Web 2.0 and Mobile Toolkit. Note the following changes for Web 2.0 and Mobile Toolkit:
  • Find the Showcase samples in the WebSphere Application Server Version 8.5 Samples documentation. Some Feature Pack samples, such as RPC Adapter and Ajax Hello are no longer included in the Web 2.0 and Mobile Toolkit or the WebSphere Application Server Version 8.5 documentation.
  • Some WebSphere Application Server Version 8 Web 2.0 and Mobile Feature Pack content is now included with WebSphere Application Server. This content includes RPC Adapter, Ajax Proxy, Web Messaging, and JSON4J. Documentation for these features remains in the Web 2.0 and Mobile Toolkit documentation.
  • Installation of the Web 2.0 and Mobile Toolkit no longer requires you to select an existing installation of WebSphere Application Server to extend. You can now choose the installation directory for the Web 2.0 and Mobile Toolkit.
  • The Web 2.0 and Mobile Toolkit includes Dojo Toolkit 1.9.x, as well as Cometd Dojo Bindings 2.5 and an update of Gridx Dojo Foundation packages. For more information, see Ajax client Runtime Dojo Toolkit.
    Note: Dojo is supported through Dojo 1.10. Dojo 1.11 and later are not supported.
With Ajax, the interaction model for web applications is more robust, like desktop applications, with continuous interaction, and improved usability. Some of the benefits of adding Ajax capabilities to your applications include:
  • A more interactive, differentiated experience which can lead to longer sessions and increased customer loyalty.
  • Responsive, local actions which can result in fewer abandoned transactions, higher completion rates, and higher user productivity.

Unlike other rich web user interface approaches, Ajax applications use standard browser features and do not require browser plug-ins.

Functionality

  • Ajax client run time
    • Dojo Toolkit and IBM extensions to the Dojo Toolkit that include additional widgets and client libraries.
      Web 2.0 and Mobile Toolkit includes Dojo 1.9.x features, which provide:
      • iOS VoiceOver improvements for Dojo Mobile
      • dojo/request - a newly, redesigned Ajax request mechanism
      • dojo/router - a URL router component
      • dojo/promise - a newly, redesigned and flexible promise mechanism
      • dojox/calendar - a new, full featured calendar component
      • dojox/dgauges - a new gauges framework with predefined gauges
      • dojox/treemap - a new treemap data visualization component
      • several new dojox/mobile components and enhancements
      • dojo/parser enhancements
      • various dijit enhancements
      • dojox/gfx and dojox/charting enhancements
      • Support for Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) V17, Internet Explorer V10 and iOS 6
  • IBM ILOG® Dojo Diagrammer
    Web 2.0 and Mobile Toolkit V1.1.0 includes IBM ILOG Dojo Diagrammer, which is a Dojo widget with advanced diagramming and graph layout capabilities. Dojo Diagrammer provides a solution for Dojo-based applications to display and interact with graphs, such as networks of nodes connected by links. IBM ILOG Diagrammer includes the following features:
    • Create graph displays by code or from data in a Dojo data store
    • Lay out the nodes and links automatically with graph layout algorithms (Tree, Hierarchical, Force Directed, Circular, Grid Layout, and Link routing)
    • Graph Layout can be started on the client or on the server through a Graph Layout REST service
    • Ability to customize the appearance of nodes and links through styling and templating
    • Graph editing features
    • Support Web and Mobile deployment
  • Mobile Application Services guide.

    Web 2.0 and Mobile Toolkit includes Mobile Application Services. REST-based mobile and rich Internet application (RIA) building blocks are provided to simplify the creation of mobile-focused applications. The building blocks include the following features:

  • The following features are installed with WebSphere Application Server and are not included with the Web 2.0 and Mobile Toolkit:
Supported platforms:
  • AIX®
  • HP-UX
  • IBM i
  • Linux®
  • Solaris
  • Windows
  • z/OS®
Prerequisite Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) include one of the following products: