Ajax Shows Up In Tibco's User InterfaceAjax Shows Up In Tibco's User Interface

Look who's on board the Ajax train: Tibco Software Inc., the stolid middleware integration vendor.

Ajax bundles several Web technologies, including asynchronous communication, JavaScript, and XML, that developers are increasingly using to build Web sites that are more interactive and responsive to user commands. Ajax code running in a browser pulls information from a server and stores it locally, then draws on it the moment it's needed. Google Maps, for example, relies on Ajax to quickly load data around the edges of a map as a user scrolls the map up or down and from side to side.

The problem is that there are few visual development tools for building Web applications with Ajax. Tibco this week launched General Interface 3.0, which includes General Interface Builder for constructing rich user interfaces, and General Interface Framework, which eliminates the need for client-side software, end-user plug-ins, Java applets, or ActiveX controls.

A user interface built with General Interface 3.0 can quickly execute drag-and-drop maneuvers in a browser window, such as moving a user's focal point across a Google map or, in Tibco's case, an enterprise application where the user can perform a business process using simple drag-and-drop means. Other active elements of a desktop interface, such as pull-down menus or dialogue boxes, are also possible. Adding such elements to the typical static HTML page is difficult.

General Interface 3.0 allows data caching on the client--downloading data in anticipation of what the user needs--from an Internet server so users feel as though they're working with data on their desktop instead of clicking on a request for more data and then waiting for it to download.

An enterprise Web application builder can use General Interface Builder to produce a charting program that can access cached data "to build hundreds of charts" quickly, while a user might be reluctant to download hundreds of charts built on a server, says Kevin Hakman, director of product marketing for General Interface 3.0.

Both Microsoft's ActiveX and Sun Microsystems' Java applets will still be called upon to manage more sophisticated tasks between client and server systems on the Internet. But Tibco's adoption of Ajax shows how fast a simpler technology can get established in the hands of those who want to speed business-process building and user interactions over the Web.

Pricing for General Interface 3.0 starts at $25,000. The user interface is based on Tibco's acquisition of General Interface Corp. in October.