RichFaces 4 provides a lightweight framework for building rich Ajax applications with JSF 2. It contains UI components like <a4j:ajax> that extend JSF 2's basic Ajax capabilities with additional features. The presentation covered key RichFaces 4 concepts like advanced Ajax behaviors, JavaScript integration, and techniques for optimizing Ajax requests.

1. Ajax Applications with JSF 2
and New RichFaces 4
Max Katz, Exadel
May 5, 2011

2. Exadel
Max Katz
● Senior Systems Engineer at Exadel
● JSF,RichFaces, Java EE consulting,
and training
● Manages exadel.org – Exadel's open
source projects and community
● Community manager for gotiggr.com
– tool for creating and sharing
interactive web and mobile HTML
prototypes

3. Exadel
4
Summer 2011
Author of Lead-author of
Practical RichFaces Practical RichFaces, 2/e
(Apress) (Apress, June 2011)

4. Exadel
Published
April 11, 2011

5. Exadel
Exadel is a global software
engineering company.
● Founded in 1998,
headquarters in San Francisco
Bay Area
● 7 development offices in
Europe
● 350+ employees

6. Exadel
Exadel Offices
Ekaterinburg
Moscow
Minsk
Homyel
5 Kharkov
Munich
Donetsk

7. Exadel
Open Source with JBoss

8. Exadel
Exadel Products
● exadel.org
◦ Flamingo
◦ Fiji
◦ jsf4birt
◦ JavaFX Plug-in for Eclipse
● gotiggr.com– build and share HTML
prototypes

9. Exadel
Exadel Services
● Professional services
● Rich enterprise application
development
● Eclipse development
● Custom rich component development
● Mobile development
● Training

10. Exadel
The Plan Is Simple
1) Ajax features in JSF 2
2) The new RichFaces 4

11. Exadel
JavaServer Faces™ (JSF) is
the standard component-
based user interface (UI)
framework for the
Java EE (5 & 6) platform
JSF 1.2 Java EE 5
JSF 2 Java EE 6

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JSF 2
● JSF 2 is a major upgrade over JSF 1.x
● Many features, ideas taken from
projects such as Seam, and RichFaces,
and others

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JSF 2 new features
● Facelets ● New scopes
● Composite ◦ Flash, View,
components custom
● Implicit ● Configuration
navigation via annotations
● GET ● Bean Validation
support
support
◦ h:link, h:button
● Basic Ajax
● Resource loading

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JSF 2 <f:ajax>
● Very basic Ajax functionality
● Greatly
inspired by RichFaces 3
<a4j:support> tag
● Ajax in JSF in 3 easy steps:
1. Sending an Ajax request
2.Partial view processing
3.Partial view rendering

15. Exadel
<h:form>
<h:input value="#{bean.word}"/>
<h:commandButton>
<f:ajax event="click" 1
execute="@form" 2
listener="#{bean.ajaxListener}"
render="out1 out2"/> 3
</h:commandButton>
<h:input value="#{bean.text}" id="out1"/>
<h:input value="#{bean.phrase}" id="out2"/>
</h:form>

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<h:form>
<h:input value="#{bean.word}"/>
<h:selectOneMenu value="#{bean.selected}">
<f:selectItems value="#{bean.items}"/>
<f:ajax event="change" 1
execute="@form" 2
listener="#{bean.ajaxListener}"
render="@form"/> 3
</h:commandButton>
<h:input value="#{bean.text}" id="out1"/>
<h:input value="#{bean.phrase}" id="out2"/>
</h:form>

17. Exadel
Attribute Value
Important
Event on which to fire the
<f:ajax> event
Ajax request
attributes @all
@this (default)
@form
execute
@none
id's
EL
@all
@this
@form
render
@none (default)
id's
EL

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That's good, but where do
you get rich components and
more?
A rich component framework
is still(?) needed to build
real-world
Ajax applications.

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RichFaces 4 is a lightweight,
open source framework for
JSF 2

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RichFaces 4 – rich JSF framework
● UI components
◦ a4j:* tag library (core)
◦ rich:* tag library (UI)
◦ Components' JavaScript API
● Skins
● Client-side validation (Bean Validation
based)
● CDK – Component Development Kit

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RichFaces 4
100% built on top of JSF2,
just extends functionality in
JSF 2

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RichFaces 4
JavaScript is now entirely
based on the popular jQuery
library

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RichFaces 4
● All components are reviewed for
consistency, usability
● Redesigned following semantic
HTML principles
● Server-side
and client-side
performance optimization
● Strict code clean-up and review

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RichFaces 4
Zero-configuration.
Just drop RichFaces into the
application.

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RichFaces 4
New client-side validation
based on Bean Validation
(JSR 303)

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RichFaces 4
New, and easy to use CDK
(Component Development Kit),
allows quickly to build your
own custom rich components

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RichFaces 4
Run on: Tomcat 6/7, Resin,
JBoss AS 6/7, GlassFish 3.x,
WebLogic
(run on any server when JSF 2 application
can be deployed)

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RichFaces 4
Run on: Google App Engine
(GAE), Amazon EC2,
CloudBees

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RichFaces 4
JSF implementations:
Mojarra or Myfaces

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RichFaces 4
Any browser

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RichFaces 4
Tooling support through
JBoss Tools, IntelliJ,
NetBeans

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RichFaces versions
Version JSF 1.1 JSF 1.2 JSF 2
RichFaces 3.1.x •
RichFaces 3.3.3* • •
RichFaces 4 •
* Note: RichFaces 3.3.3 has basic JSF 2 support

33. Exadel
RichFaces history
2005: started by Alexander Smirnov
2005-2007: Developed by Exadel
Ajax4jsf - open source, free
RichFaces - commercial
2007: JBoss takes over
Exadel team continues to develop
the framework, project is known as
RichFaces

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RichFaces 4
Let's look at RichFaces
features in more detail...

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RichFaces 4 core – sending
an Ajax request
● a4j:ajax
● a4j:commandButton
● a4j:commandLink
● a4j:jsFunction
● a4j:poll
● a4j:push

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RichFaces 4
It's important to say it again,
RichFaces only extends and
upgrades JSF 2...

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RichFaces <a4j:ajax>
● 100% based on standard <f:ajax>
● Just replace f: with a4j: and get
exactly the same functionality
● But, you get extra features...
<h:commandButton>
<f:ajax execute="@form" render="output"/>
</h:commandButton>
<h:commandButton>
<a4j:ajax execute="@form" render="output"/>
</h:commandButton>

38. Exadel
<a4j:ajax> attributes
Feature/Attribute Description
JavaScript to execute before Ajax
onbegin
request
JavaScript to execute after response
onbeforedomupdate
comes back but before DOM update
oncomplete JavaScript to execute after DOM update
Allows to skip JSF phases when
bypassUpdates
validating
limitRender Turns off all auto-rendered panels
status Status to display during Ajax request
Ajax queue Advanced RichFaces client queue

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<a4j:commandButton/Link>
– Ajax button/link
/* standard button with f:ajax */
<h:commandButton value="Save" action="#{bean.action}">
<f:ajax execute="@form"
render="output"/>
</h:commandButton>
/* RichFaces button */
<a4j:commandButton value="Save"
render="output"
action="#{bean.action}" />

40. Exadel
When using standard JSF button:
<h:form>
<h:inputText>
<h:selectOneMenu>
Need to set
<h:commandButton> execute=”@form”
<f:ajax execute="@form"/> (or execute=”id1 id2”)
</h:commandButton>
<h:form>
When using RichFaces button:
<h:form> RichFaces default
<h:inputText>
<h:selectOneMenu>
value for
<a4j:commandButton/> button/link
<h:form> execute=”@form”

41. Exadel
<a4j:jsFunction> – send Ajax
request from any JavaScript
function, HTML event
<table>
...
<td onmouseover="update('yellow')"/>
...
</table>
<h:form>
<a4j:jsFunction name="update"
action="#{bean.change}" render="...">
<a4j:param value="param1" assignTo="#{bean.color}"/>
</a4j:jsFunction>
</h:form>

42. Exadel
<a4j:poll> – periodically
send an Ajax request
<a4j:poll interval="1000"
action="#{bean.count}"
render="output"
enabled="#{bean.pollEnabled}" />
<h:panelGrid id="output">
...
</h:panelGrid>

43. Exadel
<a4j:push>
● Server-side events are pushed to
client using Comet or WebSockets.
● Implemented using Atmosphere
● Providesexcellent integration with
EE containers, and advanced
messaging services
<a4j:push address="topic@chat"
ondataavailable="alert(event.rf.data)" />

44. Exadel
RichFace 4 core – advanced
rendering features
● <a4j:outputPanel>
● limitRender attribute
● render=”{bean.renderList}”

45. Exadel
<a4j:outputPanel> – auto
rendered panel
<h:selectOneMenu value="#{bean.fruit}">
<a4j:ajax listener="#{bean.change}"/>
</<h:selectOneMenu>
<a4j:outputPanel ajaxRendered="true">
<h:panelGrid>
...
</h:panelGrid> Rendered on every
</a4j:outputPanel> Ajax request

46. Exadel
Advanced rendering options:
limitRender
<a4j:commandButton render="output"/>
<a4j:commandButton render="output" limitRender="true"/>
<h:panelGrid id="output">
Turns off all auto rendered panels,
...
only renders what is set in current
</h:panelGrid> render
<a4j:outputPanel ajaxRendered="true">
...
</a4j:outputPanel>

47. Exadel
render=”#{bean.renderList}”
JSF RichFaces
1) Ajax request sent 1) Ajax request sent
2) Component id's to be 2) Component id's to
rendered resolved be rendered
3) Component id's are resolved
rendered into the page 3) Component id's
4) 2nd Ajax request is sent. are rendered
In this request the
components (resolved in
step 2 are sent with
request) will be rendered

48. Exadel
RichFace 4 core – advanced
execute features
● <a4j:region>
● bypassUpdates attribute

49. Exadel
<a4j:region> – declaratively
define execute region
<h:form> Execute
<a4j:region> options:
<h:inputText /> ● @all
<h:inputText />
● @this
<a4j:commandButton execute="@region"/>
● @form
<a4j:region>
</h:form> ● @none
● id's
<h:form> ● EL
<a4j:region>
● @region
<h:inputText />
<h:inputText />
<a4j:commandButton />
<a4j:region>
</h:form>

50. Exadel
Skipping
phases
when
validating
1.Restore View
2.Apply Request Values
3.Process Validation
4.Update Model
5.Invoke Application
6.Render Response
<h:inputText id="name" value="#{bean.name}"/>
<a4j:ajax event="blur" bypassUpdates="true"/>
</h:inputText>
<rich:message for="name"/>

51. Exadel
JavaScript interactions
<h:commandLink value="Link"
<f:ajax onevent="ajaxEvent();">
</h:commandLink>
Called three times:
1) begin
2) success
3) complete
<a4j:commandLink value="Link"
onbegin="ajaxOnBegin()"
onbeforedomupdate="ajaxOnBeforeDomUpdate()"
oncomplete="ajaxOnComplete()">
</a4j:commandLink>
Events are separated for easier development

52. Exadel
JSF 2 queue
● JSF2 has very basic queue
functionality
● Events are queued and fired one at a
time
● Only one request is processed on the
server at a time

53. Exadel
RichFaces queue upgrades
● Combine
requests from one or more
components
● Delay firing Ajax request
● Cancel DOM updates if “similar” request
was fired
● Define queue as:
◦ Global (all views have queue)
◦ View-based
◦ Form-based
◦ Named (used by particular components only)

54. Exadel
<a4j:queue> – “combining”
events from the same
component
<a4j:queue requestDelay="2000"/>
…
<a4j:commandButton value="Button A1"/>
<a4j:commandButton value="Button AB"/>
Events (clicks) from the same component
are “combined” which results in just one request
from a component being sent. Prevents sending multiple
request from the same component.

55. Exadel
<a4j:queue> – “combining”
events from different
components
<a4j:queue requestDelay="2000"/>
...
<a4j:commandButton>
<a4j:attachQueue requestGroupingId="ajaxGroup"/>
</a4j:commmandButton>
<a4j:commandButton>
<a4j:attachQueue requestGroupingId="ajaxGroup"/>
</a4j:commmandButton>

56. Exadel
<a4j:queue> delay
<a4j:queue requestDelay="2000"/>
... Delay request
by 2 seconds
<a4j:commandButton value="Button1"/>
<a4j:commandButton value="Button2"/>
<a4j:queue requestDelay="2000"/>
... Overwrite default
<a4j:commandButton> delay request
by 1 second
<a4j:attachQueue requestDelay="1000"/>
</a4j:commmandButton>
<a4j:commandButton />
Delay is a “wait” to combine similar events (events from the
same components) together.

57. Exadel
<a4j:queue> – ignoring
“stale” responses
<a4j:queue requestDelay="2000
ingoreDupResponses="true"/>
<h:inputText value="#{bean.state}">
<a4j:ajax event="keyup" listener="#{bean.load}"
render="states"/>
</h:inputText>

58. Exadel
RichFace 4 core – more
advanced features
● <a4j:status>
● <a4j:param>
● <a4j:log>
● JavaScript interactions

59. Exadel
<a4j:status> – Ajax request
status
<a4j:status name="ajaxStatus">
<f:facet name="start">
<h:graphicImage value="ajaxStatus.jpg"/>
</f:facet>
</a4j:status>
<h:form>
<a4j:commandButton status="ajaxStatus"/>
</h:form>

60. Exadel
<a4j:param>
● Similar to <f:param> but simpler as it
also assigns the value to a bean
property automatically
<a4j:commandButton value="Save">
<a4j:param name="#{bean.product}" value="1009"/>
</a4j:commandButton>
@ManagedBean
public class Bean {
private String product; // getter and setter
}

61. Exadel
<a4j:log> – Ajax request
information
● Levels:
◦ debug, info, warn, error

62. Exadel
RichFaces UI components
● Output, panels
● Input
● Menu
● Data iteration
● Tree
● Drag and drop
● Client side validation
● Miscellaneous

63. Exadel
rich:tab
rich:accordion
rich:progressBar

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More rich output, panels
● rich:panel
● rich:togglePanel
● rich:popupPanel
● rich:collapsiblePanel
● rich:toolTip

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rich:calendar
rich:inplaceInput
rich:inputNumberSlider
rich:autocomplete

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More rich input
● rich:inputNumberSpinner
● rich:inplaceSelect
● rich:select
● rich:fileUpload

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rich:panelMenu
rich:toolBar
rich:dropDownMenu

68. Exadel
rich:dataTable
rich:dataTable with
rich:collapsibleSubTable
rich:dataScroller

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Partial table update
render="@column"
render="@header"
render="@row"
render="@body"
render="@footer"
render="cellId"
To render from outside the table:
render="tableId@header"
render="tableId@body"
render="tableId@footer"

70. Exadel
Partial table update
render="tableId:rows(bean.rowsSet)"
render="tableId:rows(bean.rowsSet):cellId"

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More rich data iteration
● a4j:repeat
● rich:extendedDataTable
● rich:collapsibleSubTable
● rich:list
◦ list | ordered | definition
● rich:dataGrid
● rich:column
◦ Column and row spanning
◦ Filtering, sorting

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rich:tree

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Drag and drop

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Client-side validation based
on Bean Validation
(JSR 303)
New in RichFaces 4

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Bean Validation (JSR 303)
● JSF 2 has support for Bean Validation
(server-side)
public class Bean {
@Pattern(regexp="...")
private String email;
}
<h:inputText id="email" value="#{bean.email}">
<a4j:ajax event="blur"/>
</h:inputText>
<rich:message for="email"/>

76. Exadel
RichFaces client validation
<rich:validator>
public class Bean {
@Pattern(regexp="...")
private String email;
}
<h:inputText id="email" value="#{bean.email}">
<rich:validator/>
</h:inputText>
<rich:message for="email"/>

77. Exadel
RichFaces <rich:graphValidator>
<rich:graphValidator value="#{bean}" id="gv">
...
<h:inputText value="#{bean.password1}"/>
<h:inputText value="#{bean.password2}"/>
<rich:message for="email" for="gv"/>
</rich:graphValidator>
@Size(min=5,max=15,message="...")
private String password1;
@Size(min=5,max=15,message="...")
private String password2;
@AssertTrue(message="Passwords don't match")
public boolean isPasswordsEquals() {
return password1.equals(password1);
}

78. Exadel
RichFaces client functions
Function Description
rich:client(id) Returns component client id
rich:element(id) Returns DOM element
Returns RichFaces client component
rich:component(id)
instance to call JS API method
rich:isUserInRole(role) Returns if the user has specified role
Returns component instance for given
rich:findComponent(id)
short id

79. Exadel
Many RichFaces components
provide client-side JavaScript API
<rich:popupPanel> JavaScript API
Method name Description
Return the top co-ordinate for the position of
getTop()
the pop-up panel.
Return the left co-ordinate for the position of
getLeft()
the pop-up panel.
Move the pop-up panel to the co-ordinates
moveTo(top,left)
specified with the top and left parameters.
Resize the pop-up panel to the size specified
resize(width,height)
with the width and height parameters.
show() Show the pop-up panel.
hide() Hide the pop-up panel.

80. Exadel
Using <rich:component('id')>
<input type="button"
onclick="#{rich:component('popup')}.show();"
value="Open" />
<rich:popupPanel id="popup">
<h:outputLink value="#"
onclick="#{rich:component('popup')}.hide();
return false;">
<h:outputText value="Close"/>
</h:outputLink>
</rich:popupPanel>

81. Exadel
Rich miscellaneous
● <rich:componentControl>
● <rich:hashParam>
● <rich:jQuery>

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<rich:componentControl>
● Allows to call JS API on a component
in declarative fashion
<h:outputLink id="openLink" value="#">
<h:outputText value="Open" />
<rich:componentControl event="click"
operation="show"
target="popup" />
</h:outputLink>
<rich:popupPanel id="popup">
...
</rich:popupPanel>

83. Exadel
<rich:hashParam>
● Group client side parameters into a
hash map to be passed to component
client API
<h:commandButton value="Show popup">
<rich:componentControl target="pp" operation="show">
<rich:hashParam>
<f:param name="width" value="500" />
<f:param name="height" value="300" />
<f:param name="minWidth" value="300" />
<f:param name="minHeight" value="150" />
</rich:hashParam>
</rich:componentControl>
</h:commandButton

84. Exadel
<rich:jQuery>
<input type="button" id="changeButton"
value="Change title" />
<rich:jQuery selector="#changeButton"
query="click(function(){
$('#panel #panel_header').text('Capital of Russia');
})"/>
<rich:panel header="Moscow" id="panel">
Moscow is the capital, the most populous ...
</rich:panel>

85. Exadel
Skins

86. Exadel
Skins
● Lightweight extension on top of CSS
● Change
look and feel of all rich
component with a few minor changes
● Can
be applied to standard JSF and
HTML tags as well

87. Exadel
Ready-to-use skins
● classic <context-param>
<param-name>org.richfaces.skin</param-name>
● wine <param-value>ruby</param-value>
</context-param>
● blueSky
● ruby
● emeraldTown
● deepMarine
● plain
● japanCherry

88. Exadel
Skin file (just a property file)
#Colors
headerBackgroundColor=#900000
headerGradientColor=#DF5858
headerTextColor=#FFFFFF
headerWeightFont=bold
generalBackgroundColor=#f1f1f1
generalTextColor=#000000
generalSizeFont=11px
generalFamilyFont=Arial, Verdana, sans-serif
controlTextColor=#000000
controlBackgroundColor=#ffffff
additionalBackgroundColor=#F9E4E4

89. Exadel
Skins
● Modify existing or create your own
<context-param>
<param-name>org.richfaces.skin</param-name>
<param-value>myCoolSkin</param-value>
</context-param>
● Change skins in runtime
<context-param>
<param-name>org.richfaces.skin</param-name>
<param-value>#{bean.skin}</param-value>
</context-param>

90. Exadel
Overwriting skins
<style>
1
.rf-p-hr {
// your custom style, applied to all panels on
// on page
}
.panelHeader { 2
// custom header style
}
</style>
<rich:panel id="panel1">
...
</rich:panel id="panel2">
<rich:panel headerClass="panelHeader">
...
</rich:panel>

91. Exadel
Skinning standard JSF tags
and HTML tags
Apply to each control:
<h:button style="background-color:
'#{richSkin.tableBackgroundColor}'"/>
Apply to all standard controls (JSF and HTML):
<context-param>
<param-name>
org.richfaces.enableControlSkinning
</param-name>
<param-value>true</param-value>
</context-param>

92. Exadel
Skinning standard JSF tags
and HTML tags
<context-param>
<param-name>
org.richfaces.enableControlSkinningClasses
</param-name>
<param-value>true</param-value>
</context-param>
<div class="rfs-ctn">
<h:panelGrid columns="1">
Can be applied to
<h:outputText /> <h:panelGrid>, <rich:panel>, <div>
<h:inputText /> Any standard controls inside the
<h:commandButton /> container will be skinned using
</h:panelGrid> standard controls skinning classes.
</div>

93. Exadel
Where can I try the new
RichFaces 4?
http://richfaces.org/showcase

94. Exadel
How can we help with RichFaces
● Web development
with RichFaces
Training Days
● Version 3 to 4 migration JSF 1.2, 2 1-2
● Performance tune-up RichFaces 3, 4 1-2
JSF and RichFaces 2-3
● Custom component RichFaces 3 to 4 1-2
development
● On-site training

95. Exadel
RichFaces
Rich, flexible, robust, and
proven enterprise-level
extension to JSF 2

96. Exadel
That's it for RichFaces, there
is one more thing I want to
show you.

97. Exadel
http://gotiggr.com

98. Exadel
Tiggr Mobile Demo*
http://gotiggr.com
*Preview version

99. Exadel
Tiggr Prototypes Tiggr Mobile
● Build and share ● First of a
kind, Web-
interactive HTML based IDE for building
prototypes and deploying hybrid
● Highly-interactive,
mobile apps
define events/actions ● Connect and invoke
● View,
remote services
test in any
browser, get feedback

100. Exadel
max@exadel.com
Thank @maxkatz
you!
mkblog.exadel.com
gotiggr.com