Performance up front
While Wakanda Server does much of the “heavy lifting” in order to provide a fast back end for your applications, it requires an advanced framework on the client side to keep things running smoothly. The Wakanda Framework is comprised of a data provider to communicate with the server, interface widgets for the browser-based front end, and a datasource layer that comes in between.
Communicating with the Server
Wakanda’s data provider communicates directly with the datastore on the server, typically via JSON and REST, assisted by JavaScript. The data provider handles the local cache and parsing of the data on the client, and by way of its lightweight nature, loads only the necessary data into memory.
To launch pure server-side processes, you can use either Datastore methods or the native JSON-RPC client.
Communicating with the User Interface
Data is then passed on to the datasource. Using the inherent datastore class, the datasource sends and receives data to and from the appropriate interface widget. A datasource can also handle local JavaScript variables that aren't necessarily bound to data on Wakanda Server – and can display them alongside your server-based data.
GUI Elements
Widgets are the actual interface elements – based on HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript – that end-users manipulate to send, receive, view or modify data. While a variety of widgets are available by default in Wakanda Studio, you can modify widgets as much as you please, or create your own. The widgets run on top of a version of jQuery included with Wakanda, and by adding additional libraries, more GUI elements can be created and bound to Wakanda’s logic.
Because the widgets are entirely standards-based and constructed of pure DOM elements, the final HTML page can be further customized and even animated using any other existing frameworks with which you are familiar. In those instances you don't want to use a Wakanda widget, you can also directly access the dataprovider with JavaScript code, giving you a faceless way to interact with server data.
Automatic Inter-Widget Communication
Another big advantage of Wakanda's architecture is that all interface widgets sharing the same datasource will have their data natively synchronized. You can realize the full potential of this functionality when you bind widgets to a shared or related datasource. Change the current element in one widget, and you'll see it automatically load and display the new related data in another.
Performance
The key to Wakanda’s high-performance front end is non-verbose data transfer, resulting in fast, responsive clients that meet and sometimes surpass the performance of native applications. Therefore, using Wakanda solutions can be as easy and fun as developing them!
Video Workshop
Watch the following videos of live workshops covering basic techniques for using Wakanda on the client side.
Communicating with the Server
Wakanda’s data provider communicates directly with the datastore on the server, typically via JSON and REST, assisted by JavaScript. The data provider handles the local cache and parsing of the data on the client, and by way of its lightweight nature, loads only the necessary data into memory.
To launch pure server-side processes, you can use either Datastore methods or the native JSON-RPC client.
Communicating with the User Interface
Data is then passed on to the datasource. Using the inherent datastore class, the datasource sends and receives data to and from the appropriate interface widget. A datasource can also handle local JavaScript variables that aren't necessarily bound to data on Wakanda Server – and can display them alongside your server-based data.
GUI Elements
Widgets are the actual interface elements – based on HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript – that end-users manipulate to send, receive, view or modify data. While a variety of widgets are available by default in Wakanda Studio, you can modify widgets as much as you please, or create your own. The widgets run on top of a version of jQuery included with Wakanda, and by adding additional libraries, more GUI elements can be created and bound to Wakanda’s logic.Because the widgets are entirely standards-based and constructed of pure DOM elements, the final HTML page can be further customized and even animated using any other existing frameworks with which you are familiar. In those instances you don't want to use a Wakanda widget, you can also directly access the dataprovider with JavaScript code, giving you a faceless way to interact with server data.
Automatic Inter-Widget Communication
Another big advantage of Wakanda's architecture is that all interface widgets sharing the same datasource will have their data natively synchronized. You can realize the full potential of this functionality when you bind widgets to a shared or related datasource. Change the current element in one widget, and you'll see it automatically load and display the new related data in another.
Performance
The key to Wakanda’s high-performance front end is non-verbose data transfer, resulting in fast, responsive clients that meet and sometimes surpass the performance of native applications. Therefore, using Wakanda solutions can be as easy and fun as developing them!
Video Workshop
Watch the following videos of live workshops covering basic techniques for using Wakanda on the client side.
