JDNC and Rich Internet Applications

It seems impossible to find out whether JDNC (JDesktop Network Components) are really designed to contribute to the development of RIA or not. When used in a web-page, JNDC are essentially applets but they can be configured with the same XML configuration files as their desktop equivalents. Futhermore the components, because they are 'network' aware, can fetch their data from the originating web-site. Thus they have precisely the characteristics to make them a valuable component on a web-page.

But the documentation seems only too keen to point out the problems with using them on web-pages (variable Java support, longer load times, the need to reload after a page refresh). JDNC demos are all WebStart based and nobody is saying anything about scripting JDNC or allowing them to interact with other page content, be it HTML content accessible through the DOM or a Flash component. While it might be possible to drive JDNC components with Javascript (just because it can already speak to applets) the real question is whether they are designed to be scripted. For example can Javascript be used to scroll a JDNC 'table' component to a selected row or, more revealingly, can a row selection in a JDNC 'table' component trigger some Javascript?

With JDNC and JDIC Sun is obviously making a renewed effort on the desktop. But from the 'vision thing' point of view the most significant thing would seem to be Java WebStart. This brings many, if not virtually all, of the deployment advantages of pure web applications to the desktop. Whereas initiatives like JDNC and JDIC are [just] new tools for building conventional desktop applications in Java, albeit far more productively. But web deployable, desktop applications are not RIA. Where is the 'vision thing' for Java and RIA? It would have to be something that acknowledges the existence and importance of the web-browser as a primary tool of user interaction. With the web-browser comes a set of expectations related to choices and technology and the ability to combine them. If JDNC is part of a Java/RIA vision then it has to acknowledge that Java-based components, no matter how functional and how rich they are, are just that; components to be mixed and matched with any other Internet capable component.

[UPDATE] a reply to this post from Mark Davidson has prompted me to try an articulate things better in another post.

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