Web Relational Blocks Software, Personal Edition (WebRB-PE) is a downloadable version of Web Relational Blocks, an alphaWorks® service. This technology is a browser-based visual editor and run-time environment that enables developers to visually assemble Web applications without adding any imperative code. WebRB-PE is made for developers of "enterprise" Web applications: multi-page applications, containing non-trivial GUI (graphical user interface) and business logic, whose data reside in relational databases. WebRB-PE page designs are executed in a standard Web browser, running as standard Web applications.

WebRB increases Web developer productivity in the following ways:

• The application's GUI is developed visually (no imperative code) by dragging HTML widgets off a palette. The entire application is assembled in the visual editor.

• All the application's components ("blocks") use the same API and have the same visual representation. Because blocks have a common interface, they are easily combined to produce the desired effect. In contrast with languages such as HTML and PHP, developers use a single API for all parts of the application and assemble the application at a higher level of abstraction.

• The "code, test, and debug" development cycle is improved because applications are directly executed from the visual editor. Incremental construction is encouraged because only a small set of blocks is required in order to "bootstrap" a working application. Blocks may be added, removed, or rewired at any time, and the application can be immediately validated and re-executed.

How does it work?

The WebRB-PE code is installed on a Web server: It stores page designs and application data in a relational database and serves the PHP and JavaScript comprising the WebRB-PE visual editor to standard Firefox 1.5 or 2.0 Web browsers. The Web server also hosts the PHP run-time environment that assembles page designs into Web applications that are executed in JavaScript™-enabled browsers.

Please see the slides of this technology (PDF format).

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