Supporting the User Interface

Application servers include features that speed the development of the (UI-the portion of an application that interacts with end users, allowing them to input information and see results. In particular, application servers include components that provide commonly used UI elements (such as windows, buttons, and menus) and the ability to connect the application code to HTML pages.

In general, UI features must help applications meet three sometimes contradictory goals:

Easy deployment. Any application that will be used by hundreds, even thousands, of users must be easy to deploy to each client and must not cause any previously installed client applications to fail.

Offline support. Not all users are permanently connected to the corporate network. Mobile sales professionals, for example, might want to see current sales figures on a laptop computer while on an airplane. Ideally, they want to input new data even while disconnected and have that data automatically be propagated back to the application when they reconnect.