Is SmartGWt library free to use

[chandrajeet]

Is SmartGWt library free to use. I dont have clear understanding of the licensing details.
Can I use it in a commercial project?

Regards,

[Isomorphic]

SmartGWT is LGPL licensed and is based on SmartClient LGPL (also LGPL licensed), so SmartGWT is free to use inside commercial, closed-source applications.

There are also Enterprise versions of both SmartClient and SmartGWT which are licensed per-developer and include a server. The Enterprise version of SmartGWT is not out yet and is expected to be released early next week.

[hucmuc]

Is there more technical information about this right now for the enterprise version? I don't want to invest time realizing we need the enterprise version. We can't affort 1K per developer right now. However, we can afford to donate 1-2K.

I've been following the launch of the SmartGWT and here are some of my observations.

The samples provided are not very clear on what is the best way to use RPC services. None of them use the GWT RPC and all use direct xml files.

I suppose what I need is a simple end-to-end example application that demonstrates:
1. Localization. I know there is the GWT aspect but quite frankly their approach like the java approach is limiting. We have a notion of cobranding and need to have the ability to generate visual labels at runtime.
2. One client page integrated with GWT RPC (recommended approach) for CRUD operations including input validation and server side validation
3. One client page integrated with the XML Datasource (recommended approach) for CRUD operations including input validation and server side validation
4. Customize XML responses that includes other data besides data. For example, I would like to include validation rules within the xml payload for input validation or visual labels as well as actual data.
5. Security. Use http session security? What is the recommended approach.

This example application should give us developers a good idea on how to develop enterprise level applications.

[Isomorphic]

1) you can use the SmartClient APIs for localization if you need to do it more dynamically than the GWT approach

2) we're adding the APIs to make this easier, and we'll probably see people posting examples shortly thereafter

3) there's already an XML RestDataSource example

4) there's already an example of dynamic DataSource construction from XML Schema

5) yes, generally cookie or cert-based authentication approaches are appropriate. SmartGWT is not different from other web applications in this respect.

[hucmuc]

I'll rephrase 3/4. I would like to see the java code on the server side. It can be a stupid servlet etc.

All the examples from the showcase are just fetching xml. Examples of actual server side java code would be nice.

The showcase is great for client only code but doesn't give the guidance on what to implement on the server side.

Thanks

1) you can use the SmartClient APIs for localization if you need to do it more dynamically than the GWT approach

2) we're adding the APIs to make this easier, and we'll probably see people posting examples shortly thereafter

3) there's already an XML RestDataSource example

4) there's already an example of [url=http://www.smartclient.com/smartgwt/showcase/#featured_xsd_ds]dynamic DataSource construction from XML Schema[url]

5) yes, generally cookie or cert-based authentication approaches are appropriate. SmartGWT is not different from other web applications in this respect.

[keisari]

I must agree with hucmuc. Some server side Java code would be extremely helpful.

Thanks

[ibmsoft]

I must agree with hucmuc. Some server side Java code would be extremely helpful.

Thanks

[Isomorphic]

Guys, while we will create some samples at some point just for completeness, what's involved is really ordinary Java coding for which examples exist all over the web.

As as an example, look at XStream's two minute tutorial for outputting XML from beans.

[hucmuc]

Guys, while we will create some samples at some point just for completeness, what's involved is really ordinary Java coding for which examples exist all over the web.

As as an example, look at XStream's two minute tutorial for outputting XML from beans.

I'm not concerned about the transformation etc on the server side. Most developers will already have this type of framework.

What is not really clear is how we can integrate our framework within SmartGWT framework.

For example, for all RPC calls made to the server I want to verify if my session is valid, to auto relogin if necessary (especially during development), give a visual cue that the call is being made, extract special messages from the server (e.g. server not available) and return this information within the response if necessary. This is what I have coded and works well. As part of the payload of the response from the server is the expected xml payload that the SmartGWT widgets expects. I see SmartGWT as a client. Not as the engine for my UI.

I suppose I need a special datasource? Maybe I have to transform the payload into an array of records and explicitly set this myself? Not sure. Hence, this is why showing decent integration examples would be great without me delving deep into the code.

[Isomorphic]

Hi Hucmuc,

It sounds like you haven't discovered RestDataSource - it provides complete docs of message formats for all 4 CRUD operations, including validation errors, and general (fatal) errors.

On relogin, be sure you've read this chapter.

[hucmuc]

Hi Hucmuc,

It sounds like you haven't discovered RestDataSource - it provides complete docs of message formats for all 4 CRUD operations, including validation errors, and general (fatal) errors.

On relogin, be sure you've read this chapter.

I suppose I want the best of both worlds. Ability to use the GWT-RPC mechanism which is powerful and the xml payload utilized by the widgets.

Ideally, I want to call the framework I have developed which uses the GWT-RPC (since it already has automatic dispatching to the server, transactions, etc) and just inject the necessary xml payload required by the widget. I was hoping for some guidance in this area.

[Isomorphic]

OK, so this is actually yet another request for GWT-RPC examples not server samples in general. As we've said elsewhere APIs are being added to support this integration approach and you'll see those in upcoming nightlies.

Just two notes:

1) if you were using GWT-RPC you wouldn't start with RestDataSource. There's no reason to pass an XML payload through GWT-RPC, it would simpler to just use RestDataSource directly if the payload is in XML.

2) GWT-RPC is quite labor-intensive relative to SmartClient DMI (coming in SmartGWT EE) so be sure you understand that approach as well.

[hucmuc]

OK, so this is actually yet another request for GWT-RPC examples not server samples in general. As we've said elsewhere APIs are being added to support this integration approach and you'll see those in upcoming nightlies.

Just two notes:

1) if you were using GWT-RPC you wouldn't start with RestDataSource. There's no reason to pass an XML payload through GWT-RPC, it would simpler to just use RestDataSource directly if the payload is in XML.

2) GWT-RPC is quite labor-intensive relative to SmartClient DMI (coming in SmartGWT EE) so be sure you understand that approach as well.

SmartGWT EE sounds interesting.

Looking forward to seeing GWT-RPC specific examples.

[glmichelin]

SmartGWT is LGPL licensed and is based on SmartClient LGPL (also LGPL licensed), so SmartGWT is free to use inside commercial, closed-source applications.

There are also Enterprise versions of both SmartClient and SmartGWT which are licensed per-developer and include a server. The Enterprise version of SmartGWT is not out yet and is expected to be released early next week.

smartGWT is good