Continuing our innovative product line such as ZK Spreadsheet and ZK Mobile, the ZK team is proud to introduce ZK 5, the first Ajax framework to combine the productiveness of server
centric architecture with the control of client side programming.
With the advent of ZK 5 come some very important changes.
LGPL License: ZK 5 is now moving over to the LGPL license offering more freedom and allowing
ZK to be integrated with other frameworks that use different licensing
models.
Freedom of use
Server+Client Fusion: With ZK 5's revolutionary
architecture, developers can not only leverage the productivity boost
of the server-centric architecture, but also the full controllability
and instant responsiveness of client-side programming.
Productivity boost
Full control
Simplicity
Freedom of implementation
jQuery:
ZK 5 now allows developers to maximize the user experience using enterprise-level
ZK widgets and the simplicity of jQuery.
Potix Corporation develops and supports ZK, the #1 Ajax solution on SourceForge.net, the world's largest open source host.
ZK is an open-source Ajax Web framework that enables rich user interfaces for Web applications with little programming.
With event-driven components and markup language, development is as simple as programming desktops and authoring HTML or XUL pages.
ZK supports versatile scripting languages including but not limited to Java, JavaScript, Ruby, Groovy and more.
ZK has more than 1,200,000 downloads since its first released in late 2005.
ZK is deployed by a large number of Fortune Global 500 companies, including Barclays, Sony and Toyota, providing them with the ability to rapidly create rich Ajax enterprise level applications.
I am expecting full compatibility over with my previous code.
I am expecting it be more FAST FAST FAST.
I am expecting it use LESS MEMORY.
How much memory ZK 5 uses in comparizon with previous version?
Regards,
huncent
2009-07-14
congrats
Madruga
2009-07-14
Congratulations!!!!
I mostly agree with Marcos, but I don't expect to be full compatible with version 3.6 because it's a major change. However, I expect to be able to develop for version 5 in the same way, i.e., don't need to handle JS at all, but if I want to, it's easier with zk 5 than 3.
Way to go!!
alpha128
2009-07-15
They did it?, ZK 5 LGPL WOW!!. Its awesome that and the features with JQuery its so great!. Congratulations ZK Team now is time for Rock more and the sky is the limit.
By the way do you have a roadmap when will be avaible the beta or the release? I want to try this on production :D
andy susanto
2009-07-15
hai,
i hope zk5.x can handle database too. so we are developer do not need to configure JDBC or database layer.
Congratulations, it looks very interesting. ZK has been taking some extraordinary strides recently - ZKStudio and Zeta Forms for example.
If I may add a word of caution: I have become disillusioned with open-source projects in the past when they charge ahead, adding new features without ensuring that the existing features are fully debugged and stable. Please don't make the mistake of forgetting about keeping the basic framework quick and reliable!
@Marcos - are you talking about browser memory, or server? I have been very happy with server-side memory usage on 3.6, whereas client-side memory usage is currently (unsurprisingly) highly variable between browsers.
@Andy I'm baffled by what you're asking for - if you want to write SQL queries in your web page. surely PHP is what you're after?!
As you are moving to LGPL does that mean that you will drop the dual license model. As far as I know LGPL would permit closed commercial ZK based applications, as ZK is more or less a "linked library".
@David: I can confirm that server side memory usage is fair as far as you support just a few 10 to 100 concurrent sessions (single server) and with IE the performance is sometimes pure but it become far better with 3.6.2! But client side memory usage is a nightmare if you have many ui components or if you have to deal with large amount of data.
Ged Johns
2009-07-15
Congratulations! I really love to see the integration of jQuery. Good move.
@Marcos: I guess the performance issue you referenced is the browser's capability to handle complex CSS introduced since 3.6. I had simplified the theme, and it works really fast.
@ZK: I suggested to have a theme that is less trendy but fast to render. ZK Calendar is a good move -- no background images but div.
Ged Johns
2009-07-15
@Horst: don't use live data if amount is huge, since listbox will create every listitem for them (even though the real content is not loaded). I solved this by use of an external paging.
Riccardo Casatta
2009-07-15
I personally really don't like programming in Javascript, that's one of the feature that bring me to use ZK, but i know that some client action are needed in modern web app. What about a GWT like solution that convert a subset of Java Code to Javascript?
@Madruga: Compatibility in same way you expect: "I expect to be able to develop for version 5 in the same way"
@David and Horst: Until today all my application has no problem related to performance! I would like to see how much memory ZK 5 uses less than previous ZK Version in both server and client side.
One last note, it is better if ZK can upgrade bean shell to version 2 and mvel also to version 2.
Regards
falso
2009-07-15
hi, @Ged jonhs: can i get ur theme, and how you optimize it, thanx.
James
2009-07-17
I second Riccardo Casatta's point.
All too often, its ZK vs. GWT. I would prefer ZK + GWT.
Iantsai
2009-07-18
I think after ZK 5, we will have a "neutral" AJAX framework that can help us leveraging the computation between Server-side and Client-side, and Server-centric now is more like a decision that we made to implement a web app, not a Framework natural "LIMITATION" anymore.
Think about that, zscripts now have two different places to execute: server -> Java Client -> JavaScript
If ZK could integrate GWT, then we have: server -> Java Client -> Java -> GWT ->JavaScript
And if one day, Tom(our respected Funder of ZK) got CRAZY and implement something like ZK Android Architecture, then we'll have: server -> Java Client -> Java -> Dalvik VM bytecode
I'll comment that ZK 5 lead ZK to a new stage.
@Marcos de Sousa: I won't be too worry about Server-centic part backward compatible. In theory, I don't think that part should has any changes. If there's any unespected consequence than before, it should be a BUG.
Tom Yeh
2009-07-19
One of the main purposes of the release of ZK5 is to provide a way to have 100% control upon the client side (the optimal goal will be the off-line support). As illustrated in the latest article, http://docs.zkoss.org/wiki/ZK_5.0_and_Client%2BServer_Fusion, the heart of ZK is always server-centric since it is the most productive way to construct the enterprise apps, whilst developers are not limited to the server side. You have the choice to control a portion of UI at the client in your favorite approach, JavaScript now and Java (GWT) in the near future.
I believe the so-called client+server fusion approach introduced by ZK 5 will be the architecture for enterprise apps in the upcoming years. With the server-centric architecture, developers can deliver the app with the minimal budget and time -- as you did for years with ZK. Meanwhile, with the client-server fusion, developers can improve the responsiveness and introduce some cool/user-friendly visual effects later on as the competition raises up.
GWT is definitely on our roadmap (and the internal experimental integration was successful). But, right now we focus more on the best way to integrate two worlds, client and server. It includes, but not limited to, much simpler way to develop a new component, more straightforward way to support Visual Studio, more smooth integration with jQuery, and so on. Take a deep breathe and give us a couple months, we are going to surprise you again with innovative solutions:)
Sincerely, Tom The ZK team
Ptod
2009-07-20
Congratulations for the release!
Is it possible to use ZK 5 together with Seam 2.1.2.GA?
I know that integration was possible before (http://www.zkoss.org/smalltalks/zkseam/zkseam.dsp) but still this info is relevant for very old versions of both products.
Have been trying to use the ZK Calendar with the version 5.0 of the framework and it does not seem to work. Is there a version of the Calendar that has been compiled with the new libraries for ZK? Getting a lot of errors of the system expecting earlier version of ZK..
