This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them.Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.
Build A Web App in 5 Minutes, With No Code (ReviewCam)
Building simple, rich web applications still takes some programming effort, but Alpha Software's Alpha Five promises to let non-programmers tackle the effort quickly and without writing a single line of code. "Codeless Ajax," Alpha calls it. We put this to the test, asking if one of Alpha's development partners could build us a quick application in five minutes.
Building simple, rich web applications still takes some programming effort, but Alpha Software's Alpha Five promises to let non-programmers tackle the effort quickly and without writing a single line of code. "Codeless Ajax," Alpha calls it. We put this to the test, asking if one of Alpha's development partners could build us a quick application in five minutes.You can watch a ReviewCam demonstration of this by selecting the "Play" button directly below.
;
Granted, it was a developer we were watching, and some of the reports were pre-built, but everything was done using drag and drop functionality. It's a bit too much for a typical business user, but a power user with enough technical knowledge to be able to point to database fields or records and think through forms-based designs can get an app running in no time.
In our session with Alpha, the developer built a grid by choosing from a click-list of fields, a row expander using Ajax Callback functions (all built in, so once again, there's no code to write), a cascading lookup (if a user picks "United States" it then presents a list of U.S. states, for example), and called up a Google Map using one of the handful of JavaScript templates that come with the software (there are UPS and Fedex tracking templates, for example).
On this latter point, developers can add to the Alpha functionality by creating their own "supercontrol" templates using XBASIC. In fact, developers can extend the functionality of Alpha using XBasic and Javascript.
Alpha connects to dozens of back end systems. It has been used to build quick applications for Haitian relief efforts, police station hiring and hotel management. The software costs around $500.
Fritz Nelson is the editorial director for InformationWeek and the Executive Producer of TechWebTV. Fritz writes about startups and established companies alike, but likes to exploit multiple forms of media into his writing.
Follow Fritz Nelson and InformationWeek on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn:
IT 2020: A Look AheadAre you ready for the critical changes that will occur in 2020? We've compiled editor insights from the best of our network (Dark Reading, Data Center Knowledge, InformationWeek, ITPro Today and Network Computing) to deliver to you a look at the trends, technologies, and threats that are emerging in the coming year. Download it today!
To save this item to your list of favorite InformationWeek content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
IT 2020: A Look AheadAre you ready for the critical changes that will occur in 2020? We've compiled editor insights from the best of our network (Dark Reading, Data Center Knowledge, InformationWeek, ITPro Today and Network Computing) to deliver to you a look at the trends, technologies, and threats that are emerging in the coming year. Download it today!
Tweet This
