Apache Pivot is an open-source

Open-source software

Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...

 platform for building rich web applications in Java

Java (programming language)

Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

 or any JVM

Java Virtual Machine

A Java virtual machine is a virtual machine capable of executing Java bytecode. It is the code execution component of the Java software platform. Sun Microsystems stated that there are over 4.5 billion JVM-enabled devices.-Overview:...

-compatible language. It is released under the Apache License

Apache License

The Apache License is a copyfree free software license authored by the Apache Software Foundation . The Apache License requires preservation of the copyright notice and disclaimer....

 version 2.0.

Architecture

Its classes are divided in the following categories:

• Core classes that enable the classes in the other categories to function
• WTK classes that provide user interface elements such as buttons and lists. These are built according to the model-view-controller
  Model-view-controller
  Model–view–controller is a software architecture, currently considered an architectural pattern used in software engineering. The pattern isolates "domain logic" from the user interface , permitting independent development, testing and maintenance of each .Model View Controller...
  
   architecture. Most of Pivot's classes are included in the WTK category.
• Web classes that enable communication with remote computers
• Charts that allow the software engineer to build interactive chart
  Chart
  A chart is a graphical representation of data, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart"...
  
  s
• Tools that provide utility functionality

WTK

WTK or widgets toolkit are the graphical components of Apache Pivot. There are more widgets than in other Java GUI libraries like JFC

Java Foundation Classes

The Java Foundation Classes are a graphical framework for building portable Java-based graphical user interfaces . JFC consists of the Abstract Window Toolkit , Swing and Java 2D. Together, they provide a consistent user interface for Java programs, regardless whether the underlying user interface...

/Swing

Swing (Java)

Swing is the primary Java GUI widget toolkit. It is part of Oracle's Java Foundation Classes — an API for providing a graphical user interface for Java programs....

, SWT

Standard Widget Toolkit

The Standard Widget Toolkit is a graphical widget toolkit for use with the Java platform. It was originally developed by IBM and is now maintained by the Eclipse Foundation in tandem with the Eclipse IDE...

 or JavaFX

JavaFX

JavaFX is a software platform for creating and delivering rich Internet applications that can run across a wide variety of connected devices....

. The components are based on Java2D and are completely skinnable and support color schemes. The demos "Kitchen Sink" and "Component Explorer" give a complete overview and show the possibilities of interaction. Additionally, it is easy to add and use self-made components because of the open structure. Also part of WTK are the so-called decorators which add graphical effects and even animations to the components.

BXML

In Apache Pivot, the GUI usually is designed using BXML files. BXML is an XML-based markup language for simplifying the construction of Java object hierarchies. While it is most often used to define the user interface of an Apache Pivot application, it is not limited to user interface construction, and can actually be used to create hierarchies of any object type. In the case of Apache Pivot the designer can place the WTK-components and set their properties without writing a single line of Java code.
In more complex project there usually is one class file for each BXML file to hold the logic, though there are other possibilities.

Scripting

Apache Pivot supports all JSR

JSR

JSR may refer to:*Java Specification Request, in computing*Joint spectral radius, in mathematics*Jet Set Radio, a video game*The Journal of Sex Research*Java Specification Request, a proposal made in the Java Community Process...

223 scripting languages to script the BXML files. It is even possible to create an entire Pivot application without any compiled code at all. The script fragments can either be placed inside certain tags directly inside a BXML file, or in external files which get included during runtime.

Non-GUI features

The WTK is just one part of Pivot, but it is a complete RIA framework. Pivot has its own Collection API (to ease synchronizing the contents to the GUI) and APIs for accessing REST web services and parsing RSS, JSON and XML.

External links

• Introducing Pivot, Greg Brown
• Interview: Greg Brown & Todd Volkert from the Pivot Framework, Geertjan Wielenga
• Table Row Editing in Apache Pivot, Todd Volkert
• Creating an Executable Apache Pivot App using Maven
• Griffon: Beyond Swing
• The Apache Software Foundation Announces Apache Pivot as Top-Level Project
• Apache Pivot Hatches from Incubator