Sencha, has announced the availability of Sencha Architect 2, a major upgrade of Ext Designer. Sencha Architect 2 is a visual application builder that leverages Sencha Touch 2 for mobile apps and Ext JS 4 for the desktop.
Sencha Architect 2 builds on the company’s HTML5 layout tool, Ext Designer, expanding its capabilities to offer a comprehensive application design environment for building desktop and mobile Web applications. Used in conjunction with Sencha Touch 2 and Ext JS 4, Sencha Architect 2 aims to increase developer productivity and drive best practices in application design patterns.
Senchca Architect 2 provides both a visual canvas and a code editing platform, and using a drag-and-drop metaphor, it aims to make mobile and desktop applications rapidly assembled. Once an application is finished, Sencha Architect 2 allows developers to package applications for deployment to the Web or for native app stores.
Key features include:
- Drag-and-drop components to create rich user interfaces and connect to back-end data sources.
- Support for building mobile Web applications with Sencha Touch 2 and desktop Web applications with Ext JS 4.
- Code editing capabilities enable the creation of entire applications within Sencha Architect
- Model-View-Controller pattern support.
- Built-in one-click native packaging for iOS and Android.
InfoQ had a short Q&A with Aditya Bansod, senior director of product management at Sencha abut their new product:
InfoQ: Sencha Architect seems like an HTML5 GUI wrapped in a native browser component. Would you like to tell us a little about how it was built?
Aditya: Sencha Architect 2.0 is built with Ext JS, while the runtime is based on Sencha's own internal Web-wrapping technology that leverages WebKit.
InfoQ: What technology are you using for the code editor?
Aditya: The technology for code editing is based on CodeMirror 2.
InfoQ: How do you see HTML5 tooling evolving, compared to the tooling that some of the more established platforms already have?
Aditya: HTML5 tooling is in its infancy, but the evolution is proceeding very quickly as there's a huge demand for excellent tooling in the space. Some of the unique challenges of developing for the web stack (HTML5 + CSS3 + JS) are not solved yet and we see that as an exciting challenge and a big opportunity. The quick pace of HTML5 development allows us to iterate and evolve much quicker than was ever possible with traditional software development technologies.