Morfik Blog

MDA Release: Four new Packages and five additional Sample Projects

Slava Kostinsky — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 12:17:28 +0000

It's been a busy week for the MDA team. We’ve produced four new Packages to help you build high-quality web applications in record time, and we have prepared another five Sample Projects to highlight some of the best features of Morfik. All sample projects are free to download and come with full source code.

First, let's take a look at the new packages we have for you.

JavaScript for laughs!

Siamack Yousofi — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:49:04 +0000

What do you do when you get bored and like to have a good laugh? My plan B is to go on discussion forums and ask religious questions like “Do I really need to learn JavaScript?” or “Which one is better, PHP or JavaScript?” then sit back and watch the religious wars I have just started with amusement! If I see the flames are dying down, I fire another loaded question to poke the antagonists “once more to the breach!” You may think I am evil. Well, so did my mom!

Previewing Morfik’s support for internationalization – Part 2

Sergey Kostinsky — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:45:40 +0000

This is the second part of the preview of Internationalization Support, and today we are going to take a look at database localization.

Localizing database-driven content is not an easy task, and there is not much choice when it comes to approaches that can be taken. Consider the simple Blog application which uses a very basic table with only two fields: PostDate and Content.

Let’s quickly go through the existing methods of localizing that table:

What lies ahead!

Aram Mirkazemi — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 12:15:44 +0000

When driving a software product, it is tempting to create a road map studded with desired features, and bullet points that respond to every request from users and prospective customers. But experience has shown that a customer should ultimately make their decision based on whether the current state of the product is a good fit for them or not. We do realise the importance of a roadmap for project planning and certain kinds of decision making. However, we are also wary of the risk that goes with selling tomorrow over today, through promises which could lead to potential disappointment and possible disillusionment.

So starting in 2010, as a new way of providing information on development progress, we have chosen to use technology previews and product announcements, rather than continuing with the road map and timeline methods.

Automated Deployment is a must for Rapid Application Development on the Web

Siamack Yousofi — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:19:44 +0000

Have you ever bought a big fancy refrigerator with the latest and greatest wiz bang features and when the delivery truck arrived, realized it would not get through the door? I did, and soon learned the valuable lesson of planning the deployment of my applications even before I start coding.

Developers of my vintage remember the early days when we deployed programs by the use of a single XCOPY command. As computing environments became more complex, deployment of applications became a daunting task and things got so bad that a whole new industry specialising in installation tools emerged. At its peak there were tools with several thousand dollar price tags on offer.

Access class definition with one click!

Tips & Tricks — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:24:57 +0000

Ctrl+click on the class in your code editor and Morfik will open the framework module where the class is declared and point you to its implementation. To go back to your code, either press Alt+Left or use the Back arrow in the Home Ribbon.

An easy way to track project document dependencies.

Tips & Tricks — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:16:07 +0000

Did you know that you can view dependencies between different project documents by simply right-mouse clicking on a document when in project view and opening the properties dialog.

The "dependency" tab in this dialog displays all project documents that are used by this document. But more importantly, it also lists all project items that use this document.

Will Flex go down with Flash?

Siamack Yousofi — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:38:40 +0000

Adobe Flash has featured prominently in recent blogs and press, and it is not all good news for this ubiquitous technology. With the native support for video content in HTML5, Google’s initiative to offer video content through the YouTube HTML5 Video Player and Apple’s open criticism of Flash, to the extent of refusing to support it (so far) on iPhone and iPad, dark clouds are gathering over Adobe.

It is still too early to write-off Flash and there are many arguments for and against its future. In a recent blog John Gruber makes the interesting observation that “Flash is the only web standard based on a proprietary technology” and points out the advantages of adopting an open standard for video content on the Web. Steve Jobs did not mince words either and had this to say about Flash and Adobe.

Morfik Sharing and Bookmarking Package

Slava Kostinsky — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:39:51 +0000

We are pleased to announce the release of our Sharing and Bookmarking Package which is designed to make using social Sharing and Bookmarking in Morfik applications easy.

The Morfik Sharing and Bookmarking Package allows visitors to your website to select the social service of their choice in order to save, share or bookmark your content online. Instead of crowding the screen with dozens of buttons, coding API for each of them and maintaining them individually, you now can simply use all-in-one widgets with working connections to most of the social networks, blogs and messengers. The package consists of three popular social bookmarking and sharing widgets: Add This, Add to Any and Tell a Friend.

The seven ordeals of the web application developer – Part 7

Siamack Yousofi — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:29:13 +0000

Developers who seek their fortune in the web business applications market must face and survive seven ordeals and success will only favour those who come prepared.

1. The First Ordeal: User experience 2. The Second Ordeal: Compatibility 3. The Third Ordeal: Time to market 4. The Fourth Ordeal: Finding the right tool 5. The Fifth Ordeal: Integration 6. The Sixth Ordeal: JavaScript 7. The Seventh Ordeal: Deployment

After surviving many ordeals and completing the web application, the developer must then face the ordeal of deployment. If you thought it was as easy as uploading the elements of the application onto a web server and configuring the IP address, think again.