IDE Highlights: Development environment highlights

Testing in the Designer
The components which are responsible for outputting HTML have a Test property. You can "test" their output by double-clicking the test property value, or by double-clicking on the component itself. The output will be shown in a TwhguiTekoMemo field (provided you have put one on the form). This lets you quickly see how pages will be generated, without using a web server or browser.

Debugging
You can run your web-application from inside Delphi, and WebHub will still be able to contact it when page requests come through. You can then use breakpoints, the Delphi Watch-Variables window, etc. as you would when debugging any other Delphi .exe. This is impossible with a traditional cgi architecture.

INI file usage
The specifications for each web-application are contained in INI files. This includes the definition of the pages in the application, the sections that comprise each page, the macros and the grid properties.

Two-way tools
If you make changes to the controlling INI files, WebHub will notice and adjust appropriately. Alternatively, you can use property editors inside the Delphi designer to modify page and macro definitions, and WebHub will update many of the properties in the INI files.

Right-click for more
You can right-click components such as TwhAppBase and have access to property editors, etc.

WebHub is fully object-oriented
According to Pitfalls of Object-Oriented Development by Bruce F. Webster, pp. 21-23, the real benefits of OOP are:

• faster development
• reuse of previous work
• modular architecture
• management of complexity
• better mapping to the problem domain
• client/server applications fit the metaphor

WebHub design philosophy
WebHub is a publishing framework which makes database-driven web site creation faster and more affordable.

1. Open-systems approach
   • Nearly everything is controlled by INI files
   • Software components can be inherited
   • Full source code to Delphi interface
2. Like Delphi, WebHub is object-oriented
   • This is more powerful than controlling instances.
   • The objects are totally reusable.
3. Component-orientation
   • Components are "actors on a stage", each with a clear identity and job. (Read about this in dlphdpth.)
   • Components can be tested and adjusted at design-time.
   • Components auto-link to each other for additional time-savings.