Apple WebObjects 5 - Manual (Page 62)

62 Advantages of the Direct to Web Approach
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Apple Computer, Inc. January 2002
C H A P T E R 5
Direct to Web Applications
you instruct the Direct to Web Assistant to generate a Direct to Web template,
modify the template, and tell the assistant to use your customized template
instead of the standard one. As mentioned earlier, a Direct to Web template is an
ordinary WebObjects component and can be edited using WebObjects Builder.
Unlike frozen pages, Direct to Web pages based your custom template can be
customized with the assistant.
■ Modify the page wrapper and menu header. The page wrapper component is
included in your project and determines the text and elements that are common
to every page in your application except the login page. It contains the menu
header appropriate for the look.
Figure 5-8 (page 54) shows the menu header for
the Basic look. The menu header is another component in your project.
■ Mix WebObjects and Direct to Web pages . You can navigate to a Direct to Web
page from a WebObjects page and vice versa. You can also embed certain Direct
to Web functions within a WebObjects page. These capabilities extend the
flexibility of Direct to Web considerably.
■ Perform other customizations . You can change almost anything in a Direct to
Web application because it is just a WebObjects application with some extra
functionality. However, you need to know the details of the Direct to Web
architecture.
Advantages of the Direct to Web Approach
Direct to Web applications are just specialized HTML-based WebObjects
applications and so they have the same advantages: portability and reduced system
administration. What Direct to Web adds to the HTML-based WebObjects approach
is the ability to dynamically generate all of the Web pages, relieving you of
designing and coding them yourself. As a consequence, Direct to Web has the
following advantages over the HTML-based WebObjects approach:
■ It flattens the learning curve for developing applications.
■ It reduces the time required to develop applications.
■ It reduces the likelihood of errors.
■ It increases the maintainability and adaptability of applications.
■ It increases prototyping capabilities.