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by James Robertson.
Original Post: Smalltalk Solutions Plug of the Day, 6/26/03
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An Application Framework for Developing MVC web applications with the VisualWorks WebToolkit tutorial (extra cost applies) David C. Shaffer: Westminster College Tuesday 2:00:00 pm to 5:30:00 pm
Abstract: Keep your code off of my page. Developing server-side web applications using technologies like Smalltalk Server Pages and Java Server Pages can lead to applications which are difficult to extend or maintain. This is especially true when such pages need to be maintained by both web page designers and programmers. This tutorial will present a framework for developing MVC-style applications using Smalltalk Server Pages, Custom Tag Libraries and Servlets. Use of this framework can result in well-factored applications having clear boundaries between the presentation layer and the underlying business/persistence/transaction layers.
Separation of the presentation layer when developing server-side web applications is achieved by combining Servlets, Smalltalk Server Pages, form models, and Command objects, in a manner similar to that used in the Java-based Jakarta Struts project[1]. This model is similar in purpose to the framework discussed by Knight and Dai in "Objects and the Web"[2] and consists of three related components:
An extensive custom tag library for more self-describing page markup, to simplify input validation, to provide scripting capabilities to web page designers (without resorting to Smalltalk), to help communicate between the presentation and control layers.
A centralized Servlet which controls flow, provides final validation of data and invokes "Command" objects.
Command objects typically implementing use-cases in your application.
In this tutorial each of these components will be presented and utilized in the context of developing a web application. The resulting application demonstrates most of the common forms of web interaction. The full source of the supporting framework and sample application will be provided to attendees for their extension and/or incorporation in their own applications.
Attendee Background: This tutorial is geared toward Smalltalk developers with little or no web development experience. Some VisualWorks experience will be helpful but not required.
Bio: David Shaffer has worked designing Object-Oriented web applications for the Electro-Plating industry since 1997. He is also an assistant professor of Computer Science at Westminster College where he uses Smalltalk extensively in his courses.
I'll likely sign up to attend this one - lots of good ideas are likely to come out of this.
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