George Young
Developer Lead
Microsoft Corporation
June 8, 1998
The following article was originally published in MSDN Online
Voices.
Editor's note: We asked MSDN Online's lead developer to
summarize news of importance to Web developers at Microsoft's
Tech·Ed 98 conference, held June 1-5 in New Orleans.
NEW ORLEANS -- As a Web developer, I left Tech·Ed 98 with
one overriding impression: "Traditional" Windows development and
Web development are converging rapidly. In session after session --
specifically chosen for their relevance to Web development -- the
line between mainstream and Internet development was real fuzzy. It
wasn't the Louisiana heat or the hurricanes.
Consider:
- Java classes in Visual J++™ 6.0 make writing Dynamic HTML
(DHTML) a simple extension of writing any Windows forms-based user
interface. Java developers can now create rich, lightweight front
ends to their applications without having to learn HTML or
scripting.
- Visual J++ 6.0 and Visual InterDev™ 6.0 share the same
integrated development environment (IDE) in Visual Studio 6.0. You
can create COM-based business objects in Java, database calls using
Active Server Pages (ASP) technology, and client-side DHTML in a
single IDE.
- Visual InterDev 6.0 brings remote testing, debugging
capabilities, and enterprise-strength data tools to Web
development. Web developers now have access to the same powerful
development tools found in traditional environments, such as Visual
Basic®.
- Visual InterDev 6.0 gives the developer a common object model,
which abstracts both server- and client-side scripting into one set
of objects, properties, methods, and events. Whether the data is on
the user's hard drive or on a Web server halfway around the world,
the developer accesses the data through the same object model.
- Liquid Motion gives novice users a fast on ramp to multimedia
development while offering advanced users a great deal of control
and extensibility. With the Internet Explorer WebBrowser Control,
these multimedia presentations can be easily used in any Windows
application.
- The new Windows Media Player plays virtually all media files,
from local .wav and .mid sound files to streaming video over the
Internet. The file's physical location is of little importance. The
player can be embedded into any Web page or any Windows
application.
- Among design goals for Internet Explorer 5 are
"application-speed" and "application-stability."
The implications of this convergence? As Web developers, we are
seeing our work move rapidly into the realm of mainstream
applications. At the same time, these mainstream applications will
integrate more and more Internet technology. It should be an
exciting year.
Tech·Ed 98: Web Sessions in Brief
Introduction to Programming with Collaborative
Data Objects (CDO)
In a nutshell: A scripting object
library for both client and server applications. CDO for Windows NT
Server, which ships with the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack and
Exchange Server 5.5, is a lightweight library for Web-based
communication, such as target mailing and feedback forms.
Quotable: "With CDO you can write a
sendmail function in four lines of VBScript." -- Michael Patten,
Program Manager, Exchange Product Unit
Introducing Liquid Motion
In a nutshell: An interesting
combination of power and simplicity. Drop "actors" (anything
renderable, such as images) on the screen, then add "behaviors,"
such as looping, motion, and filters. Set some timing properties,
and you're off. Generates output in both DirectAnimation (for
Windows) and Java, so your animations run cross-browser and
cross-platform.
Quotable: "Liquid Motion is going to
change people's idea about multimedia. If you've worked in
PowerPoint, if you've worked in Word, you can create multimedia
with Liquid Motion." -- Terry Hanold, Production Manager, Liquid
Motion
All You Ever Wanted to Know About Script But
Were Afraid to Ask
In a nutshell: Scripting is a
simple, lightweight means for getting things done. The Microsoft
ActiveX scripting engine ships with two languages, Visual Basic
Scripting Edition (VBScript), a subset of Visual Basic, and
JScript, a standards-based language. Other scripting languages are
available from third parties.
Quotable: "Scripting is ubiquitous.
It's in the browser (Internet Explorer), it's in the Web server
(Internet Information Server), it's in COM objects (scriptlets),
it's in the operating system (Windows Scripting Host)." --
Andrew Clinick, Program Manager, Script Technologies
Advanced Authoring in Liquid Motion
In a nutshell: Liquid Motion has
such advanced features as the ability to run as a windowless
control, to link to internal and external triggers, such as script
on a Web page, and to be extended with custom behaviors.
Quotable: "Beneath the surface lies
one of the most powerful and flexible animations engines
available." -- Patrick Schmitz, Development Lead, Liquid
Motion
What's New in Internet Explorer
In a nutshell: Internet Explorer 5's
development was driven by three key objectives: Make the browser
fast and stable, make it a rich platform for applications, and make
it extensible. Among the new and enhanced features in Internet
Explorer 5 are dynamic properties, cross-application drag-and-drop,
user data persistence, and DHTML behaviors.
Quotable: "We wanted to make the
browser not just fast, but 'application fast'." -- Sara
Williams, Program Manager, Internet Explorer
Testing And Debugging Web Applications with
Visual InterDev
In a nutshell: Visual InterDev 6.0
supports local mode, allowing you to check a Web project out to
your local machine and develop and test the application there,
without interfering with the production server. The debugging
facilities include client-side script (both JScript™ and
VBScript), remote server-side script, stored procedures, and Java.
You can set break points in both client and server script, and step
through the code back and forth. In conjunction with Visual Basic,
you can debug components called from the Web page as well.
Quotable: "Moving your business logic
from script to a Visual Basic component makes your code more
reusable, more secure, and centralizes your logic in one place." --
Garth Fort, Product Manager, Developer Tools Marketing
Tips and Tricks: Simplifying Web Application
Development Using Visual InterDev 6.0
In a nutshell: The Visual InterDev
Scripting Library provides a common model for writing script to
access data on the client or the server. It abstracts the DHTML,
ASP, and ADO object models to give the developer a unified means to
access data and develop Web applications. A great deal of data
access is handled by Design Time Controls, whose property sheets
make writing SQL code a matter of a few mouse clicks.
Internet Explorer Extensibility
In a nutshell: Internet Explorer 5
can be extended using DHTML Behaviors. DHTML Behaviors are
encapsulated bits of code (such as DHTML animation effects or text
validation filters) which are attached to HTML elements. They are
attached using a new CSS property, "behavior", which is applied to
the element like any other CSS property. Developers can create
libraries of DHTML Behaviors which designers can add to a Web page
with just the addition of a CSS property. DHTML Behaviors are
lighter than DHTML Scriptlets in Internet Explorer 4.0.
Quotable: "With DHTML Behaviors,
Authors and Designers don't have to script, and Engineers don't
have to mark up HTML pages." -- Dave Massy, Program Manager,
Internet Explorer
How to Integrate HTML and Java in your
Aplication
In a nutshell: Visual J++ adds HTML
libraries in Java, allowing HTML generation from the perspective of
the developer and addressing some of the limitations of scripting
as a project model. There is a close marriage of the Windows and
HTML API's, allowing the developer to talk to them in Java in the
same way. To attach Java code to HTML elements, you set the ID for
the element you want to program, and then bind to that ID in
Java.
Quotable: "Why should developers have
to learn the latest user interface, be it HTML, CSS, script?
Programmers should not be concerned with typography." -- Victor
Stone, Development Manager, RAD Tools
Reusing Internet Explorer Components in Your
Applications (WebBrowser Control)
In a nutshell: The WebBrowser
Control, which is part of Internet Explorer, allows application
developers to easily incorporate internet functionality and DHTML
user interfaces into their applications, or to control a separate
instance of Internet Explorer. To add Web browser functionality to
your Visual Basic application, just drag and drop the control from
the toolbox. Add a textbox and a command button, and you're ready
to surf.
George Young is the development lead on the MSDN
Online Web site -- when we can pry him away from New
Orleans.
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