Vaadin’s Layered Architecture

The image depicts a simplified overview of Vaadin’s architecture, showcasing the key components and their interactions. Here’s a breakdown:

1. Client-side

• Vaadin Client-side engine: This JavaScript engine running in the user’s browser renders the UI components and handles user interactions.
• UI components: These are the building blocks of your application’s interface, such as buttons, text fields, grids, and more. Vaadin provides a rich set of pre-built components, and you can also create custom ones.
• Themes: Themes control the look and feel of your application’s UI using CSS or Sass. You can use Vaadin’s built-in themes or create your own custom themes.

2. Server-side

• Server-side UI component: This Java class represents the server-side counterpart of a UI component. It defines the component’s behavior and properties.
• Terminal adapter: This component acts as a bridge between the server-side UI components and the client-side engine. It translates UI updates from the server side into instructions for the client-side engine.
• UI Event: This represents a user interaction with a UI component, such as clicking a button or entering text into a field.
• UI Changes: These are the updates to the UI components that are sent from the server to the client in response to user interactions or other events.

3. Data Binding

• Data sources: These are the sources of data for your application, such as databases, services, or in-memory collections.
• Data binding: This is the mechanism that connects UI components to data sources. When the data changes, the UI components are automatically updated, and vice versa.

4. Communication

• HTTP JSON UIDL: This is the format used to send UI updates from the server to the client. It’s a lightweight and efficient format that only sends the necessary information.
• AJAX: Asynchronous JavaScript and XML is used for communication between the server and the client. This allows for a more responsive user experience by avoiding full-page reloads.

5. Additional components

• GWT: If you’re using older versions of Vaadin (prior to Vaadin 10), GWT (Google Web Toolkit) is used to compile server-side Java code into JavaScript for the client-side engine. In Vaadin 10 and later, this is handled by Vaadin itself.

In the dynamic landscape of web development, where innovation and efficiency are key, choosing the right framework can be pivotal. Vaadin, a Java framework, has quickly gained popularity for its ability to streamline the development process and deliver feature-rich web applications. This article provides a comprehensive overview of Vaadin, highlighting its robust feature set, advantages, and suitability for modern web development.

Regardless if you have been working with Java for ages or still discovering new technologies, knowing what Vaadin can do might give your web projects a whole new meaning. Integrate rich component library, smooth data binding, and server-side rendering from Vaadin into your website development techniques.