Features

Featureshttp://bill.welliver.org//space/pike/Fins/Features<h3 class="heading-1">Features</h3> Model <ul class="minus"> <li>Object relational mapping with support for mySQL, SQLite and Postgres (preliminary support) database engines</li> <li>Numerous mapping classes allow rich functionality while seamlessly mapping a SQL database onto Pike objects</li> <li>Write an entire web application without writing a single SQL statement</li> <li>Object instances can be created using either factory methods (which allows caching) or through direct creation of objects from datatype classes</li> <li>Built in Caching system enhances performance with sliding expirations</li> <li>Model can be automatically configured from database schema (see <a href="/space/pike/Fins/Developer/Model">Model</a>).</li> <li>Validation, with separate validation available for creation and updates.</li> <li>Model can be used in standalone applications without the full Fins framework (see <a href="/space/pike/Fins/Developer/StandaloneModel">StandaloneModel</a>.</li> </ul>View <ul class="minus"> <li>Modular template system is easily extended for custom functionality</li> <li>Two template systems are provided out of the box: Simple tempaltes, a Smarty-like markup syntax, and a Standards-compliant XSLT template engine.</li> <li>Simple templates are high-performance and provide rich functionality, such as runtime configurable Macros while promoting separation of application logic from interface display logic.</li> <li>Several macros (such as remote_form and remote_link) designed to make AJAX functionality quick and easy.</li> <li>Support for layouts that separate application (and controller level) formatting from event level content.</li> <li>Full set of <a href="/space/pike/Fins/i18n">i18n</a> tools.</li> </ul>Controller <ul class="minus"> <li>Maps Pike functions and objects onto a web URI namespace.</li> <li>Functions are provided for returning various types of data and web server responses and passing information between requests</li> <li>XMLRPCController makes public functions available via XML-RPC permitting simple integration</li> <li>DocController eases application development by automatically selecting the proper template based on a request's position in the controller tree. Additionally, DocController automatically sets the layout for the controller the event is located within.</li> <li>ScaffoldController eases <a href="CRUD" class="wiki_link_external" >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Create%2C_read%2C_update_and_delete</a> interface generation by providing automatic interface generation based on a data model's schema.</li> <li>Built-in support for <a href="JSON" class="wiki_link_external" >http://www.json.org</a> encoding and decoding (see the Tools.JSON module) to ease data transport as well as a JSON-RPC controller.</li> <li>Pre and post request filtering for purposes such as authorization, encoding, etc.</li> </ul>Integration <ul class="minus"> <li>XMLRPC and JSON-RPC Controllers for providing automatic bindings of Pike methods to standards based RPC technologies.</li> <li>StompController for messaging integration using <a href="Stomp" class="wiki_link_external" >http:// stomp.codehaus.org</a>.</li> <li>JMSController for <a href="JMS" class="wiki_link_external" >http://www.sun.com/products/jms/</a></li> </ul>messaging integration <ul class="minus"> <li>SMTPController for handling inbound email.</li> </ul>Development <ul class="minus"> <li>A template is available for the <a href="TextMate" class="wiki_link_external" >http:// www.macromates.com</a> text editor</li> <li>Runs on UNIX, Linux and MacOS X; Windows support is planned.</li> <li>Fins provides a built in web server, which means no additional web server is required for development.</li> <li>Provides Rendezvous bookmarks on Rendezvous enabled systems, such as MacOS X.</li> <li>All of the power of the Pike language is immediately available to Fins applications.</li> <li>Templates can be set to automatically reload on change, speeding development.</li> <li><a href="/space/pike/Fins/Developer/Breakpointing">Breakpointing</a> support, which allows you to specify breakpoints, and access an interactive hilfe session mid- request.</li> <li>pike -x fins tools provide easy access to the built in http server, as well as a new application creation tool.</li> </ul>Deployment <ul class="minus"> <li>Provides a HTTP container for development or simple production deployments</li> <li>A connector module is available for the Caudium web application server, allowing easy deployment of Fins applications</li> <li>FCGI and SCGI containers for use with any FastCGI or SCGI capable webserver</li> <li>Built in application packaging features make it easy to distribute your application.</li> </ul>New features are being added regularly, so it's often best to have a look at the CVS changelog: RSS: invalid RSS document Fins 0.9.7http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss