Visual Application Framework – getting it right first time
Developing visual applications that meet the needs of today’s discerning end-user is a real challenge. Knowledge workers expect applications to look and behave like Microsoft Office and visitors to your Web site are only one-click away from your competitor.
Programmers with classic System i (iSeries and AS/400) skills – like writing procedural RPG code or arranging a 5250 terminal screen – can struggle with key GUI design concepts and often miss the mark with their first Windows or Web application. The LANSA visual application development framework has been used by developers of many different kinds of applications to ensure a ‘right first time’ result. These resulting applications are already in use today by millions of users around the world.
Why use LANSA's application development framework?
LANSA's visual application development framework architecture provides a proven development standard for creating robust Windows and Web applications or a combination of both.
The LANSA application framework makes developers as productive as possible by providing templates for common commercial applications. The framework assists in the prototyping, design, deployment and maintenance stages of the application development lifecycle.
The benefits of prototyping
Developers can be uncertain of what a commercial-grade application should
look like and how they should structure the underlying code. And end-users are
notoriously bad at defining what they want, but they know what they like when
they see it! Frameworks remove the guesswork by applying proven standards.
Prototypes can be defined in minutes and if the application is browser-based,
designers can email a Web link to the application that users can review and provide immediate
feedback.
The prototype is not thrown away but gradually converted into the final application by using a snap-in architecture. You complete your application by replacing the prototype parts with real programs that reflect your actual business logic.
Code Assistants generate much of the code required and an expanding library of reusable Fast Parts allows developers to rapidly assemble powerful and rich user interfaces.
Flexible deployment options
Your framework-based application can be deployed as a Windows executable on the desktop for expert users, or as a Web application using advanced DHTML with Windows-like functionality for zero-client deployment. You can also use AJAX techniques to achieve optimal Web performance with functionality close to that of a Windows client. No other framework provides such parity between a Windows and Web user interface from the same code base.
Boost developer and user productivity
The LANSA visual framework was designed to boost developer productivity by providing an easy-to-use and intuitive application framework that hides and abstracts low-level functionality to achieve higher levels of productivity and a shorter learning curve. Maintenance, too, is easier, because applications follow a consistent design, making it easier to understand code that is likely to change.
The framework enforces a graphical user interface (GUI) design concepts that follow the standard Microsoft conventions that almost all users are familiar with it, whether at work or at home. This model provides a cockpit or dashboard style design where everything that an user might need to do is just a few clicks away.