Eclipse RAP Project Release 2.0 Now Supports Native Client Platform

Ottawa, Canada – February 15, 2013 – The Eclipse Remote Application Platform (RAP) project has announced the RAP 2.0 release. This new release represents a significant engineering effort that transforms RAP from a platform for creating browser-based rich internet applications to a universal platform for creating applications that target many different types of devices, including native mobile platforms, point-of-sale devices, inventory control devices, etc.

Mobile development and M2M development have made support for multiple types of devices an important requirement for enterprise application development. RAP 2.0 introduces a new JSON-based communications protocol that allows Java applications to be written once, deployed on a server, and then support a native client look-and-feel supported on a range of different target devices and platforms, such as iOS, Android, web browsers, and others. The RAP protocol makes it significantly easier to support applications on new clients without re-writing the applications for each new device platform.

RAP 2.0 also includes the following new and improved features:

• A new Client-API for discovery of services that are provided by the respective client implementation. These services can, for example, open documents, execute script code, or determine the current geo-position. Each client application can provide its own services.
• Simplified creation of custom widgets and add-ons. Custom widgets can communicate directly with the client and server components via the RAP protocol.
• A faster table widget for displaying large amounts of data.

Eclipse RAP 2.0 is now available for download. More details about the 2.0 release can be found in the document.