Bubbling away inside the Progressive Labs is our brand new development which is current entering its Alpha stages. BaseKit, built on PHP and javscript, is being built to encompass asynchronous concepts and server side / client side communication within its core. Ultimately, BaseKit will help Web Developers build highly interactive applications with minimal effort.

Our main focus was to create a platform that offers:

• Reusability: As programming web applications becomes easier, there is a need to start constructing libraries of reusable code. This saves time and effort.
• Advanced Technologies: Seamless javascript and PHP communication unrivaled speed and power!
• Extendibility: BaseKit allows you to create your own widgets, model database tables and build flexible queries around data.

The Asynchronous PHP Framework

In BaseKit, we have managed to link PHP functionality with the HTML elements that you see on screen. You can directly manipulate the HTML via PHP server side scripts using exposed functions. This encompasses 2 features of BaseKit. Let’s go into more detail.

The Asynchronous Concept

In the BaseKit framework, we have constructed ways to talk to PHP functions asynchronously. The Asynchronous Concept differs entirely from the original Call and Request functionality of HTML (the client sends a request for functionality, the server sends constructs the feedback and refreshes the page to display the results). The Asynchronous Concept uses a more interactive way of achieving the same results. With the asynchronous functionality with BaseKit, you can define ‘exposed’ functions within your PHP code.

//PHP
$this->export('email');


You can also define a call within you HTML (or .tpl file) to call this function at any given action. The example below shows how this is done:

//HTML
<widget:core.button name="submit" text="Submit" onclick="$page->email()">

In the example above, a button is clicked on the screen, which then will call the email() function asynchronously. This will send the email behind the scenes without a page refresh! This is just the tip of the iceberg of what can be achieves with the Asynchronous Concepts used within BaseKit.

Seamless PHP / javascript Communication

Each object on a BaseKit page exists on both the server and the client side. Within BaseKit, PHP and javascript are seamlessly intersected allowing for transparent way of communicating between the two. A BaseKit object therefore has a PHP Object and javascript object so an export method from within PHP can talk directly to (call, manipulate, etc) a javascript method or variable. Similarly, if an event occurs in javascript, this can trigger a response in PHP. Within transparency, BaseKit’s true power lies!

Okay… so you want to build a web app? Or want to manage an on-line company or development. If we were to give you one piece of advice, it would be to read this manual from 37Signals. It is the ‘no faff’ guide that contains gems of information of the various aspects of creating a successful porject. Read it first, read it whilst and read it after. There is a Cornucopia of information within this guide that is guaranteed to help you in one way or another. Check it out here: Getting Real Guide by 37Signals.

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