This document discusses various options for building professional web applications and identifies Joomla with the SEBLOD extension as the most advanced web application builder (WAB). It outlines the limitations of building applications manually or with content management systems like WordPress, Typo3, Concrete5, and Drupal. Joomla with SEBLOD allows creating custom content types and applications through a web interface and exporting/importing them with a single click, making it the most flexible WAB discussed.

1. Solutions for creating Professional
Web Application
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2. The scope
In main cases, Web Applications are built manually by using :
 Direct programming language: PHP, ASP, JSP…
 Framework/Platform/API:
 Symfony2,
 Joomla platform,
 Drupal API…
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3. Disadvantages
 Time consuming
 Learning curves
 Reinvent the wheel each time!!
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4. WAB or Web Application builders
 Reduces time to product application
 Allows the re-use of Apps on any project
Dream or Reality?
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5. Offline WAB
 Developed in C, C++, C#, Java
 AwareIM, NuBuilder, Zoho
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6. Offline WAB
AwareIM
 Java
 Creation of Content Centric Web Applications
 Create « Business Object » defined by Attributes
 Attributes are not exactly a type of input in a form but
more special cases
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7. Offline WAB
 Always cost money (licenses per computer)
 Don’t allow real time modification (use submit)
 This tools relate often to the generation of specific applications to
manipulate internal data of companies (Application Databases).
Publication and content display topics are not managed by these
tools.
 It’s old school, it’s the past
 Very limited
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8. Online WAB
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9. Wordpress
 No content types, only one type of content: « Blog ».
 Define custom fields, which you have to select again on
any content…
 Very basic
 Definitively not a WAB…
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10. Typo3
 Between CMS & Portal (less pages but with a lot of content)
 Content elements are inserted in a page
 Content elements are not fields, but more like little applications included in
the core
 A very light form builder
 Typo3 doesn’t manage the concept of content types
 Any extensions must be coded
 Just generic search
 Not a WAB
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11. Concrete5
 Manages page types and allows the addition of attributes (few &
basic). Attributes are not fields but more like little modules.
 A page type is the selection of HTML structure of the page
 Like WP, all turns around a unique « Blog » content type
 Includes a basic form extension
 Basic search features with one text field
 Not a WAB
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12. Joomla + K2
 Creates « extra » fields and assigns them to a « Group »
 Assign a group of fields to a category
 Any content created in this category will have fields of the group assigned
to the category
 Lots of « require » fields defined by K2 that you cannot hide
 Basic form features (no require, no validation rules…)
 For each contents, all « extra » fields values saved in JSON in one table
field
 Basic search features
 Not a WAB
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13. eZ Publish
 Manages « Class » (content types) defined by attributes (fields)
 Lot of attributes but always basic
 Basic generic search features, but EzFinder exists
 All attribute values are saved in a unique table…
 In 2011, extends its notion of packages to « Content Class Export »
> export content types
 Not a WAB, but in the right track…
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14. Drupal
 In Drupal 7, only CCK part in the core
 Content types (by default page & story)
 Import / Export Content types
 Drupal 6 had a separate table linked to one content type, no more in Drupal 7, all field values are saved in one table
 View module (Search & List features)
 Some advanced form features but not complete
 No interface to design contents & lists
 No “Application” concept
 Not a WAB, but in the right track…
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15. Joomla + SEBLOD 2
 Form & Content Types
 List & Search Types
 Control of the storage for each fields (tables, JSON… multi format of
storage)
 Multi-objects (Articles, Categories, Users, VM Products, Hikashop
Product), can be extended
 Just 3 examples : a simulator, a form & a search
 The first real WAB
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16. So…
What can be considered as Web Application Builder?
Joomla + SEBLOD is the most advanced solution for making
applications through a web interface and it allows to export and
import it in 1 click!
Joomla + SEBLOD is the union between the best CMS architecture
(OOP & MVC) and the best flexible tool to build Web Applications
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17. Conclusion
JOOMLA IS A PROFESSIONAL TOOL
TO ANSWER
THE MOST COMPLEX NEEDS
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