About This Book

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About This Book

What Is in This Book

This book describes how to use Netscape Visual JavaScript to build cross-platform, standards-based, intranet applications from ready-to-use components with minimal programming effort. The applications are based on HTML, JavaScript, and Java.

This book has two parts:

Part 1 is a user's guide that describes the Visual JavaScript tool and how to use it. It includes a tour of the user interface, a tutorial example, and chapters on how to use the tool to create crossware applications. These chapters describe how to create and edit projects and their HTML pages, how to make components act and interact, how to connect your application to information in a database, and how to deploy and test an application. In addition, there is a chapter on how to customize your Visual JavaScript environment.

Part 2 is a reference section, with specific information on the built-in components provided with Visual JavaScript. Each component is described, along with its properties, methods, and events.

What You Should Already Know

This book assumes you have this basic background:

a general understanding of the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW)

good working knowledge of HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and experience with forms

experience using component-based visual application-development tools

if you are going to use the LiveWire Database Service, a working knowledge of relational databases and Structured Query Language (SQL)

for more advanced application development, a general understanding of client- and server-side JavaScript

Where to Find Related Information

Because Visual JavaScript provides a visual development environment, you do not need to know HTML, Java, and JavaScript to create applications. Instead, can use the provided components, specifying their behavior and interaction visually. However, depending on the type of application you are building, and your development background, you might find the following information resources helpful:

Introduction to Developing Applications for the Netscape ONE Platform defines what crossware applications are, how they operate at runtime, what the crossware programming model is, and describes how to approach crossware application development.

Netscape ONE Database Application Tutorial provides a tutorial example of creating a LiveWire database access application with Visual JavaScript.

Netscape Component Developer's Guide describes how to create, tailor, package, and import Netscape ONE components for use in Visual JavaScript.

JavaScript Guide provides information about the core JavaScript language and about its client-side objects.

Writing Server-Side JavaScript Applications describes creating server-side JavaScript applications and provides information about using the LiveWire Database Service features of Enterprise Server 3.0.

JavaScript Reference provides reference material for the entire JavaScript language, including both client-side and server-side JavaScript.

What's New in JavaScript for Navigator 4.0 describes what's changed in core and client-side JavaScript between JavaScript 1.1 and JavaScript 1.2.

Enterprise Server 3.0 Release Notes provides late-breaking information on Enterprise Server 3.0, including some information relevant to using the LiveWire Database Service features.

Getting Started with Netscape JavaScript Debugger describes the client-side JavaScript Debugger that is integrated with Visual JavaScript.

Refer to HTML documentation for general information about HTML and specific details of HTML components.

The Netscape web site contains much information that can be useful when you are creating Visual JavaScript applications. These URLs might be of particular interest:

http://help.netscape.com/products/tools/livewire

Netscape's technical support page for information on the LiveWire Database Service. It contains useful pointers to information on using LiveWire in your JavaScript applications.

http://developer.netscape.com/one/components/index.html

Netscape's Components Central where you'll find the latest on the creation of interoperable components for the Netscape ONE environment.

http://developer.netscape.com/library/one/sdk/livewire/

Netscape's support page for information on server-side JavaScript. You can reach this URL by clicking the Documentation link on the Netscape Enterprise Server Application Manager.

Document Conventions

Visual JavaScript applications run on many operating systems; the information here applies to all versions. File and directory paths are given in Windows format (with backslashes separating directory names). For Unix versions, the directory paths are the same, except that you use slashes instead of backslashes to separate directories.

This book uses uniform resource locators (URLs) of this form:

http://server.domain/path/file.html

In these URLs, server represents the name of the server on which you run your application, such as research1 or www; domain represents your Internet domain name, such as netscape.com or uiuc.edu; path represents the directory structure on the server; and file.html represents an individual filename. In general, items in italics in URLs are variables and items in normal monospace font are literals. If your server has Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) enabled, you would use https instead of http in the URL.

This book uses the following font conventions:

The monospace font is used for sample code and code listings, API and language elements (such as function names and class names), file names, pathnames, directory names, HTML tags, and any text that must be typed on the screen. (Monospace italic font is used for placeholders embedded in code.)

Italic type is used for book titles, emphasis, variables and placeholders, and words used in the literal sense.

Boldface type is used for glossary terms.

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Last Updated: 11/06/97 13:24:46

Copyright © 1997 Netscape Communications Corporation