Earlier this October, Developer Utility - www.developerutility.com - have release a new package for corporation building their intranet/internet portal.
The
product is called MDI Browser and allows the developer team to
reproduce exactly what desktop application (.exe) have been using for a
long time, i.e. dropdown menu bar with moveable/resizable child
windows, in the browser.
For the administrator it is a great
timesaver. No plug-in or install process are required since all the
source code was developed with JavaScript, Xml, Xsl and Css. Meaning
also it work as good with Microsoft or Linux servers.
For the
user, it is very practical when it come time to compare information
side by side in two different windows - like customer profile, graphic
or monthly report. The menu bar also come with quick resizing options
like cascade, split vertical and can easily be display horizontally or
vertically. No more DOS style - drill down, drill back up - to consult
information like Web 1.0 offers.
For the developer, it is data
management friendly and comes with methods and properties accessible by
the JavaScript language. For example, an event is trigger when the
close window icon is click. You also have access to properties like
oWindow.save, oWindow.content, oWindow.id and change them using the
browser DOM.
Using the Xml/Xsl model to render the menu bar
output on the server side, the security per user/group is easy to
implement. Add your favorite method for transmitting information to the
server like Ajax or hidden frame, or both for legacy systems, and you
can be on your way to reproduce complete business office suite
available on the web.
Mostly aim for intranet web site it can
also serve in online text/data edition or software picture
modification/consultation. The end result is real Multiple Document
Interface (MDI) for browser.
For redistribution purpose in others
projects, it come with different suites of package, starting at $350
USD.
For evaluation purpose, you can download a trial version or try their demo online at this address: www.developerutility.com.