Dhtmlx - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

DHTMLX is a JavaScript

JavaScript

JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....

GUI widget library for building dynamic web applications with desktop-like user experience and Ajax

Ajax (programming)

Ajax is a group of interrelated web development methods used on the client-side to create asynchronous web applications...

data loading. The library is released under both open-source GNU General Public License

GNU General Public License

The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....

and commercial licenses. Modular architecture of the library allows using the components as separate blocks or combining them into a common Ajax-based interface.

The first components, dhtmlxTree and dhtmlxGrid , were released in 2005-2006. Later, DHTMLX has been extended with other user interface

User interface

The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...

components to become a complete toolkit that covers the most required aspects of modern application interface. Being a standalone library written in pure JavaScript

JavaScript

and CSS

CSS

-Computing:*Cascading Style Sheets, a language used to describe the style of document presentations in web development*Central Structure Store in the PHIGS 3D API*Closed source software, software that is not distributed with source code...

, DHTMLX does not conflict with other well-known Ajax framework

Ajax framework

In web application development, an Ajax framework is a framework which leverages Ajax, a collection of technologies for building dynamic web pages on the client side...

s, including jQuery

JQuery

jQuery is a cross-browser JavaScript library designed to simplify the client-side scripting of HTML. It was released in January 2006 at BarCamp NYC by John Resig...

, YUI, Prototype

Prototype

A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...

, etc.

Features

Module structure: the philosophy that lies under DHTMLX library implies that each components is a separate and self-sufficient entity which can be used individually to ensure some specific part of application, e.g. navigation menu, treeview, datagrid, or date picker. Although, the components API allows organizing them in a common interface layout.

Desktop-like functionality: drag-and-drop
Drag-and-drop
In computer graphical user interfaces, drag-and-drop is the action of selecting a virtual object by "grabbing" it and dragging it to a different location or onto another virtual object...

, in-line editing, clipboard operations, data validation, interactivity via Ajax. Starting from version 2.5 UI components can have skin and behavior similar to standard Window's UI elements.

Client-to-server communication: library is fully client side and can be used with any back-end languages or databases. Additionally, ready to use communication layer (dhtmlxConnector) can be used to manage this client-server communication with PHP
PHP
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...

, .Net
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...

, ColdFusion
ColdFusion
In computing, ColdFusion is the name of a commercial rapid application development platform invented by Jeremy and JJ Allaire in 1995. ColdFusion was originally designed to make it easier to connect simple HTML pages to a database, by version 2 it had...

, or 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...

.

Visual Designer: DHTMLX 3.0 comes with a Visual Designer tool that allows developers to build web application interface in a visual, codeless environment. Built-in form builder provides a simplified way to create web forms based on the dhtmlxForm component.

Theming: the coloring of the components interface can be customized via online SkinBuilder, which generates necessary CSS
CSS
-Computing:*Cascading Style Sheets, a language used to describe the style of document presentations in web development*Central Structure Store in the PHIGS 3D API*Closed source software, software that is not distributed with source code...

files and images to provide the coloring theme chosen by developers. Starting from version 2.6, there are multiple skin presets available.

Touch UI support: DHTMLX released an HTML5 JavaScript framework optimized for touchscreen
Touchscreen
A touchscreen is an electronic visual display that can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. The term generally refers to touching the display of the device with a finger or hand. Touchscreens can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus...

and mobile devices. DHTMLX Touch 1.0 final release is available since November 14, 2011.

Cross-browser: the library works in all modern browsers: Safari
Safari (web browser)
Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Inc. and included with the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems. First released as a public beta on January 7, 2003 on the company's Mac OS X operating system, it became Apple's default browser beginning with Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther". Safari is also the...

, Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...

, Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...

, Opera
Opera (web browser)
Opera is a web browser and Internet suite developed by Opera Software with over 200 million users worldwide. The browser handles common Internet-related tasks such as displaying web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, chatting on IRC, downloading files via BitTorrent,...

, and Chrome
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and the public stable release was on December 11, 2008. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or...

.

UI Components

DHTMLX JavaScript library

JavaScript library

A JavaScript library is a library of pre-written JavaScript which allows for easier development of JavaScript-based applications, especially for AJAX and other web-centric technologies....

includes the list of reusable widgets:

DataGrid: the most mature and developed DHTMLX component with solid features , can be extended to hierarchical grid.
Navigation: treemenu, menu, tabs, and accordion.
Layout: dataview, layout, and popup windows.
Form: form validation, form data is retrieved and saved back to database automatically.
Charts: dynamic charts written in JavaScript: line, bar, and pie charts.
Scheduler: events calendar, or scheduler, also available as Joomla!
Joomla!
Joomla is a free and open source content management system for publishing content on the World Wide Web and intranets and a model–view–controller Web application framework that can also be used independently....

and WordPress
WordPress
WordPress is a free and open source blogging tool and publishing platform powered by PHP and MySQL. It is often customized into a content management system . It has many features including a plug-in architecture and a template system. WordPress is used by over 14.7% of Alexa Internet's "top 1...

plugins.
Gantt: interactive Gantt chart
Gantt chart
A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule. Gantt charts illustrate the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements of a project. Terminal elements and summary elements comprise the work breakdown structure of the project. Some Gantt charts...

component.

Features

UI Components

External links

See also