Extend TMS WEB Core with JS Libraries with Andrew: introduction
Welcome to the first post in a new series for the TMS Blog, “Extend TMS WEB Core with JS Libraries with Andrew “. In this ongoing series we’ll look at how to quickly and easily incorporate third-party JavaScript libraries into TMS WEB Core projects. Each week will typically focus on a particular JS library and the problem it is trying to solve. A sample project will be included to showcase some of its key features and how they can be integrated into TMS WEB Core. And some additional commentary will offer insight as to what it is like to work with the particular JS library as most of those to be featured in this series are used regularly in my own projects. For those new to TMS WEB Core or new to JavaScript, we’ll spend the rest of this first post covering a lot of the basics of what this is all about. So. Many. JS Libraries. It is quite possible to develop fantastic 100% pure JavaScript/HTML/CSS web applications using just TMS WEB Core and the included components, just as you would expect with any other popular web frameworks. When it comes to extending a project with additional functionality beyond the included components, you’ve got options. You can of course write code yourself. You can use components from vendors like TMS Software and others that are specifically designed for TMS WEB Core. Or you can tap into the huge reservoir of both open source and commercial JavaScript libraries. On GitHub for example there at least several thousand such JS libraries covering everything from the simplest little CSS tweaks to hugely complex and involved APIs for machine learning. If you’ve run into a problem developing your web application and need a bit of functionality that just isn’t there, there’s a pretty good chance someone has come along and made a JS library to address it. Here’s a bit of an idea about the categories of JS Libraries that are available. Helpers. Provide developers with shortcuts for common tasks. JQuery and Bootstrap fall in this category. Assets. Icons, fonts, themes and so on that are likely to make a big impact on the look and feel of your web application. FontAwesome is an example. Bootstrap comes with icons as well. Controls. Interactive UI elements that provide functionality roughly equivalent to what a Delphi component might offer. There are countless date/time pickers, for example FlatPickr. Tools. Similar to Helpers, these are used to extend or otherwise enhance the components core controls that you are already using. Interact.js adds drag+resize functionality to any control, for example. Services. These include libraries for connecting to external services or communications, and libraries that help with sending e-mail and SMS messages, that sort of thing. Devices. Typically these are APIs that allow for interacting with local devices or other hardware. Anything to do with Raspberry Pi, for example, would fall into this category. In this series we’re going to start out by focusing on those JS libraries that can help us craft better looking and easier to use web applications, so typically the first four categories. While the last two categories, Services and Devices, are hugely popular and important, they’re also very specific in nature. Coverage of these would likely be far less about JS and TMS […]
