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diff --git a/documentation/introduction/intro-overview.asciidoc b/documentation/introduction/intro-overview.asciidoc deleted file mode 100644 index fb46e6fac6..0000000000 --- a/documentation/introduction/intro-overview.asciidoc +++ /dev/null @@ -1,89 +0,0 @@ ---- -title: Overview -order: 1 -layout: page ---- - -[[intro.overview]] -= Overview - -Vaadin Framework is a Java web application development framework that is -designed to make creation and maintenance of high quality web-based user -interfaces easy. Vaadin supports two different programming models: server-side -and client-side. The server-driven programming model is the more powerful one. -It lets you forget the web and program user interfaces much like you would -program a desktop application with conventional Java toolkits such as AWT, -Swing, or SWT. But easier. - -While traditional web programming is a fun way to spend your time learning new -web technologies, you probably want to be productive and concentrate on the -application logic. The server-side Vaadin framework takes care of managing the -user interface in the browser and the __AJAX__ communications between the -browser and the server. With the Vaadin approach, you do not need to learn and -deal directly with browser technologies, such as HTML or JavaScript. - -[[figure.intro.architecture]] -.Vaadin Application Architecture -image::img/architecture-vaadin7-hi.png[] - -<<figure.intro.architecture>> illustrates the basic architectures of web -applications made with Vaadin. The server-side application architecture consists -of the __server-side framework__ and a __client-side engine__. The engine runs -in the browser as JavaScript code, rendering the user interface, and delivering -user interaction to the server. The UI logic of an application runs as a Java -Servlet in a Java application server. - -As the client-side engine is executed as JavaScript in the browser, no browser -plugins are needed for using applications made with Vaadin. This gives it an -edge over frameworks based on Flash, Java Applets, or other plugins. Vaadin -relies on the support of Google Web Toolkit for a wide range of browsers, so -that the developer does not need to worry about browser support. - -Because HTML, JavaScript, and other browser technologies are essentially -invisible to the application logic, you can think of the web browser as only a -thin client platform. A thin client displays the user interface and communicates -user events to the server at a low level. The control logic of the user -interface runs on a Java-based web server, together with your business logic. By -contrast, a normal client-server architecture with a dedicated client -application would include a lot of application specific communications between -the client and the server. Essentially removing the user interface tier from the -application architecture makes our approach a very effective one. - -Behind the server-driven development model, Vaadin makes the best use of AJAX ( -__Asynchronous JavaScript and XML__, see -<<dummy/../../../framework/architecture/architecture-technology#architecture.technology.ajax,"AJAX">> -for a description) techniques that make it possible to create Rich Internet -Applications (RIA) that are as responsive and interactive as desktop -applications. - -In addition to the server-side Java application development, you can develop on -the client-side by making new widgets in Java, and even pure client-side -applications that run solely in the browser. The Vaadin client-side framework -includes Google Web Toolkit (GWT), which provides a compiler from Java to the -JavaScript that runs in the browser, as well a full-featured user interface -framework. With this approach, Vaadin is pure Java on both sides. ((("Google Web -Toolkit"))) - -Vaadin uses a client-side engine for rendering the user interface of a -server-side application in the browser. All the client-server communications are -hidden well under the hood. -((("JavaScript"))) -Vaadin is designed to be extensible, and you can indeed use any 3rd-party -widgets easily, in addition to the component repertoire offered in Vaadin. In -fact, you can find hundreds of add-ons in the Vaadin Directory. - -Vaadin allows flexible separation between the appearance, structure, and -interaction logic of the user interface. You can design the layouts either -programmatically or declaratively, at the level of your choosing. The final -appearance is defined in __themes__ in CSS or Sass, as described in -<<dummy/../../../framework/themes/themes-overview.asciidoc#themes.overview,"Themes">>. - -We hope that this is enough about the basic architecture and features of Vaadin -for now. You can read more about it later in -<<dummy/../../../framework/architecture/architecture-overview.asciidoc#architecture.overview,"Architecture">>, -or jump straight to more practical things in -<<dummy/../../../framework/application/application-overview.asciidoc#application.overview,"Writing -a Server-Side Web Application">>. - - - |