Last week the NetKernel repository got a new module (html5-frameworks) containing a couple of often used Javascript frameworks. This is not by accident. While HTML5 does contain the seeds to push back on Javascript in the browser, things are not yet at that stage (and won't be for some time to come).
NetKernel on the other hand is often positioned as a backend engine. And this is strange. A lot of great websites run on top of the Jetty webserver and NetKernel's Fulcrums do too. So there is absolutely no reason for the frontend-crowd not to use NetKernel as a serving platform. I myself have already done this in the past using the Qooxdoo framework. However, I am not a graphical designer. Making sexy interfaces is not my thing. This is however not NetKernel's fault !
A couple of weeks back somebody asked me to redo this presentation using NetKernel as the backend and serving the AngularJS framework on NetKernel as well. Challenging me is a great way to distract me from my - other - work ... I'm always up for challenges. Next week I'll show you the general backend solution for all such demo-applications (and the internet is full of them, every new framework has such showcases). Let it be known that I can now create similar applications in under 15 minutes. Applications that benefit from all the NetKernel optimizing too. Try beating that !
This week I'll show you a frontend solution for a new tool that is released today in Layer1. This tool (a list accessor for the golden threads in a system) is going to be used in one of my current projects to allow manual control over the expiry of some resources. This is a very common use case.
Akamai for example does not only charge mint for their caching solution they also charge for every request to clear a certain cached object before the normal expiry moment. Obtaining the access from them to do it yourself is only in the range of very large businesses. Kerching !
My free solution to control golden threads (and thus expiry) manually can be found here. Update to the latest (today) Layer1, make sure you get the html5-frameworks module installed (AngularJS is served from there), install the module, browse to http://localhost:8080/goldenthread/interface/index and watch the combined power of NetKernel and AngularJS in action.
In the source you'll find a simple RestOverlay and less than 100 lines of Groovy code to provide the backend, less than 50 lines of Javascript code that drives the magic in the AngularJS enhanced HTML for the frontend. The bootstrap css makes it look ... maybe not sexy, but definitely not ugly either.
Enjoy !
P.S. This tool (adapted of course) will soon be added to the Backend Fulcrum tools of NetKernel itself. I'm offering it here as a showcase of quick to-market development.
P.P.S. If you want the equivalent of the Akamai solution inside your software and at a fraction of the cost, check out NetKernel !