Practical Ext JS Projects with Gears

Discover Ext JS, one of today’s most powerful and highly regarded JavaScript frameworks, with perhaps the best set of GUI widgets around, and a whole host of components that make developing client–side applications a breeze. Using a pragmatic approach, you’ll dissect seven full–fledged applications, covering

• How Ext JS allows you to create these applications with a slick user interface with a minimum of effort
• How the other parts of Ext JS aside from the GUI widgets provide many of the capabilities modern applications need, such as Ajax and data mechanisms
• How other technologies such as Gears can be brought in to make the applications more powerful

• Get an understanding of one of today’s hottest JavaScript frameworks and libraries, Ext JS.
• Develop interesting Web 2.0 “front ends,” RIAs (rich Internet applications), and more.
• Create a number of applications from the projects or pragmatic case studies that the author gives you.
• Create an organizer, timekeeper, a code cabinet, and more.
• Get back to basics and back ends using a SQL workbench, Google Gears, and Ext BASIC.
• Pull it all together by designing a game using Ext JS.

Web application developers, senior project leads, and application architects.

Table of Contents

1. Introducing Web Development with Ext JS
2. Widgets and Advanced Ext JS
3. Ext JS for a Busy Lifestyle: OrganizerExt
4. Making Project Management Cool: TimekeeperExt
5. A Place for Your Stuff: Code Cabinet Ext
6. When the Yellow Pages Just Isn’t Cool Enough: Local Business Searc
7. Your Dad Had a Workbench, Now So Do You: SQL Workbench
8. All Work and No Play: Dueling Cards
9. Managing Your Finances: Finance Master

Ext JS is one of today’s hottest emerging Web 2.0 Rich Internet Application (RIA) technologies. It’s essentially a pragmatic framework and library (with widgets) that lets Web developers and designers easily use to build JavaScript-based Web application front-ends (Graphical User Interfaces or GUIs) and simple applications.

This book by esteemed industry expert and author Frank Zammetti will likely be one of the first, if not first, books on Ext JS framework.

Frank W. Zammetti is a web architect specialist for a leading worldwide financial company by day, and a PocketPC and open-source developer by night. He is the founder and chief software architect of Omnytex Technologies, a PocketPC development house.

He has over 12 years of "professional" experience in the IT field, and over 12 more of "amateur" experience. He began his nearly life-long love of computers at age 7 when he became one of four students chosen to take part in the school district's pilot computer program. A year later, he was the only participant left! The first computer Frank owned was a Timex Sinclair 1000 in 1982, on which he wrote a program to look up movie times for all of Long Island (and without the 16k expansion module!). After that, he moved on to a Commodore 64 and spent about 4 years doing nothing but assembly programming (games mostly). He finally got his first IBM-compatible PC in 1987, and began learning the finer points of programming (as they existed at that time!).

Frank has primarily developed web-based applications for about 8 years. Before that, he developed Windows-based client/server applications in a variety of languages. Frank holds numerous certifications including SCJP, MCSD, CNA, i-Net+, A+, CIW, MCP, and numerous BrainBench certifications. He is a contributor to a number of open source projects, including DataVision, Struts, PocketFrog, and Jakarta Commons. In addition, Frank has started two projects: Java Web Parts and The Struts Web Services Enablement Project. He also was one of the founding members of a project that created the first fully functioning Commodore 64 emulator for PocketPC devices (PocketHobbit).

Frank has authored various articles on topics that range from integrating DataVision into web apps, to using Ajax in Struts-based applications. He is currently working on a new application framework specifically geared to creating next-generation web applications.