Droplets' Rich User Interface Supports Java ServletsDroplets' Rich User Interface Supports Java Servlets

Droplets Inc. announced recently that its rich user interface for Java applications now supports Java servlets.

The Droplets client is a graphical user interface for networked applications, offering users such features as drag-and-drop and resizing windows. A user interface manager, known as the Droplets User Interface Server, runs on a networked server, controlling the view sent to a user's screen. The view the user sees resembles a screen with more of the capabilities of a Microsoft Windows application than a dumb-terminal screen or static HTML page, says Droplets CEO Philip Brittan.

In the past, the Droplets interface could only act as a front end for a Java application built on Enterprise Java Beans, leaving much of the existing base of Java applications beyond its reach.

Now the Droplets rich user interface can be used as a front end for companies "with tons of business logic implemented as Java servlets," Brittan says. Servlets are small Java programs running on a server. They supply specific sets of commands to a Java application server or Web server, such as how to execute a particular E-commerce transaction.

Droplets had to add connector classes to the Java class libraries--code sets that enable a particular feature of the user interface--that underlie its product. With them in place, the user interface may be used as a front end to applications written in standard Java and Java servlets as well as Enterprise Java Beans. Because of the built-in connector classes, most existing Java applications will require little or no change to implement a new user interface, Brittan says.

Most Java application interfaces "produce an inferior user experience," he says. By tying the Droplets interface system to servlets, Java developers "will have a more straightforward process" for developing the rich user interface.