Web Relational Blocks Software, Personal Edition

1. How can I learn more?

The Installation and Administration Guide for WebRB, Personal Edition (a PDF file) explains how to install and customize the WebRB code base.

The WebRB Developers Manual discusses the capabilities provided by WebRB. The WebRB visual editor is explained in detail, showing how developers can administer their WebRB account and discussing the underlying WebRB framework and run-time environment.

Assembling WebRB Applications: An Example-Based Walkthrough discusses a set of WebRB examples that developers can import into their account as a "starter kit." The examples illustrate WebRB's features and are small enough to encourage experimentation by developers who want to get a quick look at WebRB.

WebRB: Evaluating a Visual Domain-Specific Language For Building Relational Web-Applications, to be published in OOPSLA 2007, examines WebRB in some detail.

Relational Blocks: Declarative Visual Assembly of Enterprise Applications describes an older, Java™-based version of WebRB-PE, but it provides a useful discussion of the context and motivation for the WebRB-PE approach to building applications.

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2. What is the difference between WebRB (Web Relational Blocks) and WebRB-PE (Web Relational Blocks Software, Personal Edition)?

WebRB is a software service using a multi-tenanted approach for software hosting. WebRB-PE is a download version of the WebRB software service.

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3. What are the advantages of WebRB-PE compared to WebRB?

WebRB-PE is intended for developers who want to modify or add function to WebRB and therefore need access to the source code. It's also intended for developers who want to better understand the algorithms and relational framework used in WebRB; there's no better way to do so than by looking at the code.

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4. What are the advantages of WebRB compared to WebRB-PE?

WebRB allows developers to get a quick look at relational blocks in action, without even the minimal installation required by WebRB-PE.

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5. What level of the WebRB service does the WebRB-PE download correspond to?

The WebRB-PE download is identical to the (concurrently released) WebRB Version 1.2.

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6. Why are certain features missing?

This version of WebRB-PE provides a bare-bones, end-to-end implementation to support the relational-block way of building applications. The set of model blocks support the basic "CRUD" operations. Most algebra blocks are missing; only a subset of the HTML elements are supported; and, for the supported HTML elements, only a limited number of properties and events are supported. We plan to enhance WebRB-PE in these areas as well as in error handling and data type support. We expect to prioritize the list of WebRB-PE enhancements based on the feedback we receive from WebRB-PE users.

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7. This technology is listed as a member of the ETTK. What does that mean?

The Emerging Technologies Toolkit (ETTK) is a collection of emerging technologies that are relevant to IBM®""s emerging software strategies. The ETTK team works with external users to incubate and further develop these technologies so they can be used to create innovative customer solutions. ETTK packages are focused on just a few select technology areas. In a way, you could associate "ETTK"-labeled technologies as being close to "alphaWorks Featured Technologies." ETTK technologies explore new types of applications or address emerging application-, Internet-, or standard-oriented domains. We value your input and want to hear how you would make use of this technology in your environment; please visit the ETTK Blog or ETTK Wiki for additional information.

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