Magic Updates RIA Framework with .NET Client

Published: December 9, 2008

by Alex Woodie

Magic Software last week unveiled uniPaaS version 1.5, an updated version of its framework for developing next-generation Web applications. The release brings a new .NET client that should make it easier for developers to deliver advanced Web-based functionality on Windows devices, as well as a new connector for upgrading older Magic technologies, such as its 4GL eDeveloper platform, to the new uniPaaS framework.

Unveiled earlier this year as G5, uniPaaS is Magic's flagship offering for developing rich Internet applications (RIAs) utilizing Web 2.0 techniques and the software as a service (SaaS) delivery mechanism, such as mobile, field service, supply chain, and vertical business applications.

uniPaaS is the culmination of building development tools for decades, and is based on Magic's eDeveloper, the fourth-generation language (4GL) development environment used primarily by Windows and AS/400 shops. On top of this foundation, Magic added the capability to rapidly design and deploy Web applications for a host of different target devices, without getting bogged down in the intricacies and peculiarities of each particular target device and its underlying operating system.

The delivery of a new .NET client will go far in fulfilling this goal, and providing better device compatibility than the Java-based client that shipped with the first release of uniPaaS earlier this year, says Avigdor Luttinger, vice president of corporate strategy for Magic.

"The reason we re-wrote it and delivered now a .NET client were the limitations of the lack of compatibility between the Java engine on a full desktop and a mobile device," Luttinger says. "Initially, they were supposed to be compatible, but they are not, and therefore you cannot just run the same container on both virtual machines, and get the same behavior. So we re-wrote this engine for .NET, and that enables us to deliver today a generic client for all of Windows environments."

Applications developed with uniPaaS are device aware, meaning that they automatically adapt the interface for the different users and client devices that interact with it. So the same application can deliver a high resolution Windows Vista GUI for power users and a scaled down interface for Windows Mobile 6, without using different tools for each user. uniPaaS also supports non-Windows operating systems through a standard HTML or XML client.

Also delivered in version 1.5 is a tool for helping older Magic customers migrate to the new Web 2.0 view embodied in uniPaaS. The main goal of the tool will be helping eDeveloper users move from a data-driven paradigm to an event-driven paradigm, which is necessary for supporting the new style of RIA and service oriented architecture (SOA) applications, Luttinger says.

"Rather than modernize in terms of face lifting, they can really SOA-ize, if you want--making them and actually rendering them as services, and then building front-ends with uniPaaS that would be native RIA applications," he says. "This is where they will see a lot of value and competitive edge."

Thursday at 3 p.m. EST, Magic Software will be hosting a Webinar on uniPaaS and the experiences of one of its clients, Intelys. Interested parties can register for the Webinar at www.ebizq.net/webinars/10645.html?s_tact=MAGIC.

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