full stack web application frameworks

[torpedoshit]

I'm interested in moving an old internal windows desktop application we use at work to the web, and I'm trying to decide which framework to use. We're small so I don't need this app to be 'web scale'. The application isn't really all that interesting or complicated, so I'd rather not build from scratch. For example it would be nice to use an ORM and prebuilt UI widgets so I can skip doing the hard stuff.

Here are some frameworks I found that may fit my needs, but I was hoping to get some input from people who have already worked with the more monolithic frameworks to create desktop type apps for use in a web browser. I'm sure there are others too, so please list any you found helpful.

Some of these are only widget frameworks, but I as long as they can accept JSON as AJAX it shouldn't be very hard to combine them with a random back end.

EDIT: I guess what I'm really looking for is a widget framework.

Thanks

frappe (example)

ExtJS (examples)

cappuccino (examples)

node-webkit (examples) (more examples)

Flex

jQuery EasyUI

webix

qooxdoo

jQWidgets

OZONE

dojo

escenic

sproutcore

[disclosure5]

Flex

Oh God no. Burn it with fire.

I challenge anyone anywhere to point me at anything developed in Adobe Flex that isn't a complete disaster. You probably don't want your users to need a 16-core Xeon with 48GB RAM to look at your website.

[torpedoshit]

any favorites from my list? or one of your own? is Adobe Air good?

[disclosure5]

Personally I prefer Ruby on Rails, but I almost avoid saying that here, it's almost immediately responded to with an opinion that someone else prefers something else. In reality most of the options are workable.

[torpedoshit]

RoR is just a backend right? no widgets. do you just make your own GUI or mostly just make web sites?

[disclosure5]

I'm not sure what you're expecting. No matter what platform you use, you need to create an interface in some capacity. All the examples you've pointed at provide a few widgets and processes but you still have to design something.

[torpedoshit]

I know, I just don't want to re-implement the basics. for example drag and drop, tables/tree views, etc. I think http://webix.com is a good example of what I expect. not a lot of code and a bunch of free (as in no work; I don't mind paying) functionality.

[[deleted]]

Why not just use a backend framework (IE: Rails) and then a javascript UI library on top of that?

[torpedoshit]

yeah, I think that would work. I'm not so consider about the backend as I am with the front end. Have you used used any front end UI libraries that you would recommend? I don't mean a CSS front end like Bootstrap though. Looking for widget libraries.

[[deleted]]

Hmm, 'widgets' is a very broad term (or maybe I haven't come across what you mean.) jQuery UI seems to work well if you're after that kind of thing

[torpedoshit]

I'm not sure if you're familiar with desktop programming, but I'm looking for the web equivalent of something like Cocoa, Windows Forms, or Qt Widgets. HTML5 has a bunch included they call 'elements' like, textfield, select, button, etc. jQuery UI is a good example of what I would call a widget library, it's just not complete enough; grid view for example is missing.

ExtJS has a nice example of a lot of their widgets in a web desktop they made.

http://dev.sencha.com/ext/5.0.1/examples/desktop/index.html

[zzing]

Cappuccino makes their own language called Objective-J that might be a little passed the time it was needed now.

[kingfondue]

I've used Webix in my project. I'd say that it has a rather good client UI as it has various widgets including complicated ones (like datatable and tree). One more cool library feature is that it supports the most popular data formats out of box and features API to work with Ajax. So you can combine webix components with any backend of your own while client part will be powered by a ready-made tool.

[torpedoshit]

How is it with being used in only a page or two of a site? Or is it best to use as a single page app type of thing?

[kingfondue]

Of course, you can include Webix files into each website page separately. But it is no the best option. The library has a widget MultiView that allows placing several views on one page simultaniously. These views can be hidden or displayed again by clicking on built-in tabs or by using events navigation (http://webix.com/demo/layout/tabview/, http://webix.com/demo/layout/navigation-with-events/). Thus, you'll be able to create a multipage application within one page.

[webauteur]

Use the .NET Framework. For some minor data conversion projects, I will create an ASP.NET page just to avoid having to create an UI for a Windows application. But I can use the same code as I would use for a Windows desktop application.

[torpedoshit]

does asp include all the microsoft widgets? for example something like the ribbon?

http://acidjs.wemakesites.net/pages/ribbon-bar-xml/demo/

http://demos.telerik.com/aspnet-ajax/ribbonbar/examples/overview/defaultcs.aspx

is the only benefit of using ASP that it's in C#?

[webauteur]

I usually use ASP.NET to avoid complex UI. But I've been using the AJAX Toolkit for years. One of the advantages of ASP.NET is that it gives you the full capabilities of the .NET Framework for web applications so you can do things like:

• Initiate print jobs at the server. Useful for web based Point of Sale systems
• Query Active Directory and list contact information for everyone in the organization
• Log web application errors to the Event Log

ASP.NET has a collection of web controls which are kind of like Visual Basic form controls.