Important Note
IBM Web Relational Blocks will not be available after December 31, 2008.
We apologize for any inconvenience. Please check out
Web Relational Blocks Software, Personal Edition
at http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/webrbpe.
This service requires Firefox 1.5.x or 2.x. Internet Explorer does not work.
The following application may not be bug-free because it is an
emerging technology prototype or proof of concept currently under
development in IBM research and development labs.
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Update: September 13, 2007
New version includes annotation (comment) blocks for documenting page designs; a "where" block for filtering an input relation so that the output relation includes only tuples that match the specified boolean-valued "where" expression; function-block instances that now display their actual set of tuple expressions; and a "match" tuple expression, which takes two string arguments (a string and a regular-expression pattern against which the string is matched), and returns "true" if the string matches (the "pattern" is a POSIX extended regular expression as defined by POSIX 1003.2). A separate, downloadable version called Web Relational Blocks Software, Personal Edition is now available.
What is Web Relational Blocks?
Web Relational Blocks (WebRB) is a browser-based visual editor and run-time environment that enables developers to visually assemble Web applications without adding any imperative code. WebRB is made for developers of "enterprise" Web applications: multi-page applications, containing non-trivial GUI (graphical user interface) and business logic, whose data reside in relational databases.
WebRB increases Web developer productivity in the following ways:
- The application's GUI is developed visually (no imperative code) by dragging HTML widgets off a palette. The entire application is assembled in the visual editor.
- All the application's components ("blocks") use the same API and have the same visual representation. Because blocks have a common interface, they are easily combined to produce the desired effect. In contrast with languages such as HTML and PHP, developers use a single API for all parts of the application and assemble the application at a higher level of abstraction.
- The "code, test, and debug" development cycle is improved because applications are directly executed from the visual editor.
Incremental construction is encouraged because only a small set of blocks is required for starting a working application. Blocks can be added, removed, or rewired at any time, and the application can be immediately validated and re-executed.
How does it work?
WebRB requires no user installation. Instead, it runs as a service on a machine that hosts a user's WebRB applications and database tables. Using a standard Firefox 1.5 browser, a developer assembles each page of a WebRB application by laying out various HTML widgets. Then the developer adds Model (database) blocks and Algebra (business logic) blocks and connects them to the HTML widgets to form the full page. Finally, the developer assembles the application by specifying page-to-page navigation. The page designs are uploaded to the server using XML and are saved in the server database. The application may be executed using any client Web browser that connects to the server.
Please see the slides of this technology (PDF format).
A separate, downloadable version called Web Relational Blocks Software, Personal Edition is now available.
| About the technology authors |
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Date Posted: September 25, 2006
 View Screenshots
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Avraham Leff is a research staff member in the e-Business Frameworks department. He joined IBM in 1991. Dr. Leff's research interests include distributed components and distributed application development. He received a B.A. in computer science and mathematical statistics from Columbia University in 1984 and an M.S. and Ph.D. in computer science from Columbia University in 1985 and 1992, respectively. Dr. Leff has been issued six patents and has eight patents pending.
James Rayfield is a research staff member in the e-Business Frameworks department. He joined IBM in 1989. Dr. Rayfield's research interests include transaction-processing systems and database systems. He received an Sc.B. in 1983, an Sc.M. in 1985, and a Ph.D. in 1988, all in electrical engineering from Brown University. Dr. Rayfield has seven patents issued and eight patents pending.
