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diff --git a/documentation/clientside/clientside-overview.asciidoc b/documentation/clientside/clientside-overview.asciidoc new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..8b475d812e --- /dev/null +++ b/documentation/clientside/clientside-overview.asciidoc @@ -0,0 +1,49 @@ +--- +title: Overview +order: 1 +layout: page +--- + +[[clientside.overview]] += Overview + +As noted in the introduction, Vaadin supports two development models: +server-side and client-side. Client-side Vaadin code is executed in the web +browser as JavaScript code. The code is written in Java, like all Vaadin code, +and then compiled to JavaScript with the __Vaadin Client Compiler__. You can +develop client-side widgets and integrate them with server-side counterpart +components to allow using them in server-side Vaadin applications. That is how +the components in the server-side framework and in most add-ons are done. +Alternatively, you can create pure client-side GWT applications, which you can +simply load in the browser from an HTML page and use even without server-side +connectivity. + +The client-side framework is based on the Google Web Toolkit (GWT), with added +features and bug fixes. Vaadin is compatible with GWT to the extent of the basic +GWT feature set. Vaadin Ltd is a member of the GWT Steering Committee, working +on the future direction of GWT together with Google and other supporters of GWT. + + +[NOTE] +.Widgets and Components +==== +((("widget, +definition"))) +Google Web Toolkit uses the term __widget__ for user interface components. In +this book, we use the term widget to refer to client-side components, while +using the term __component__ in a general sense and also in the special sense +for server-side components. + +==== + + + +The main idea in server-side Vaadin development is to render the server-side +components in the browser with the Client-Side Engine. The engine is essentially +a set of widgets paired with __connectors__ that serialize their state and +events with the server-side counterpart components. The client-side engine is +technically called a __widget set__, to describe the fact that it mostly +consists of widgets and that widget sets can be combined, as described later. + + + |