Google Web Toolkit leaves beta, gets new features
With over a million downloads, Google decided to release their first non-beta version of GWT -- Google's "web toolkit" that makes it super easy to create websites that utilize AJAX technologies.
Writing an application in Java using the toolkit is easy for people who are proficient with the language. "Compiling" actually produces HTML and Javascript that are cross browser compatible -- anybody who has tried making a website function exactly the same on every browser know exactly why that is a huge time saver. Here is the "Kitchen Sink" demo that showcases many of the tools available to developers in the toolkit.
Version 1.4 adds some new features as described in the Google Code blog:
New widgets and libraries
- RichTextArea, HorizontalSplitPanel and VerticalSplitPanel, SuggestBox, DisclosurePanel, PushButton, ToggleButton, and an enhanced Image widget make advanced applications easier than ever.
- ImageBundle automatically consolidates multiple images into a single HTTP request.
- NumberFormat and DateTimeFormat make easy work of complex internationalization and localization.
- You can finally use java.lang.Serializable with GWT RPC, and the GWT RPC server-side subsystem is no longer intimately tied to servlets. You can easily wire it into any Java back-end infrastructure. Spring fans, rejoice.
- A new JUnit-based benchmarking subsystem makes measuring and comparing the speed of code snippets as easy as writing unit tests.
New deployment options and optimizations
- Adding GWT modules to an HTML page is now simple: just add a <script> tag.
- You can now include GWT modules across domains. Note that including scripts from other sites that you don't fully trust is a big security risk.
- External JavaScript files referenced from your GWT module load synchronously now, so script ready-functions are no longer needed.
- Auto-generated RPC whitelist files are now produced during compilation to help catch accidentally responding with objects that compiled GWT client code wouldn't be able to deserialize.
- The GWT distribution now includes a DTD for the GWT module XML format, making it easier to configure modules in an DTD-aware XML editor.