Products
Protara
- Create robust Windows applications with the latest look and feel
- Add powerful database, synchronization, network communications, and
scripting
- Deploy your application to a variety of target environments
- Debug your applications on the desktop or remotely within an intuitive
Integrated Development Environment
- Revision your applications within a common component repository
Picture of the IDE:
Protara is…
Simple
Protara targets the "solution developer" rather than the traditional
software engineer. Protara Technology greatly simplifies the development
of applications for both the desktop and handheld environments. Even the
best development tools available (.NET, Java, etc..) still require considerable
programming experience to use on the desktop with some subset of functionality
available on the portable device. Protara provides 100% environment consistency
across both environments. This simplicity dramatically reduces the programming
experience required by the solution developer.
Powerful
Written from the ground up to include core technologies such as database,
user interface, and communications the "out of the box" value
of Protara can only be matched in competing environments by adding an
assortment of "plug-ins" and 3rd party add-ons. The result is
that Protara provides consistency across all core technologies. For example,
whether you're using the Protara proprietary SQL database engine or the
Microsoft ADO connectivity layer to an Oracle database the model is exactly
the same. Because Protara designers came from an "in-the-large"
application development space the Protara environment, while able to operate
well on portable devices, also does not limit application growth into
larger more robust environments, a significant step towards "future-proofing"
business applications.
Scalable
As described above, the Protara Technology development environment is
truly "platform agnostic" with no visible limitations across
each platform. Protara Technology had to be able to run well on both desktop
and handheld environments from its inception and so, throughout the creation
of Protara, performance and platform independence have been key design
considerations. The end result is that Protara Technology allows the solution
developer to choose from a wide array of Windows based handheld devices
and desktop computers with no compatibility "gotchas" in the
decision process.
Available
Most large monolithic development environments typically get developed
in an isolated "vacuum" away from end users and have a one to
three year development cycle per release with no guarantee of compatibility
between versions. On the contrary, Protara Technology has been "rubber
meets the road" from the beginning, servicing real customer needs
even in the earliest releases. Further, this means that Protara Technology
must maintain support of existing applications with each new release by
extending functionality instead of replacing it. The result is that Protara
Technology evolves very closely in sync with the needs of customers and,
above all, is available today!
Rapid
A key differentiator for Protara Technology has been extremely rapid
prototyping capability. Using existing development tools quick development
of a desktop application can be tricky with quick development of a handheld
application nearly impossible. Furthermore, once a prototype has been
developed, because of an initial lack of installation tools, the prototype
is often not "end user accessible" but must be driven by an
engineer. To combat this inherent problem Protara Technology provides
desktop "emulation" for all handheld devices. The Protara engine
will recognize that the application is not suited to run on the desktop
and automatically create a desktop application that emulates the handheld
environment complete with device "skin" images and scan button
simulation. The result is that the solution developer always has a working
prototype on the handheld and desktop platforms from the beginning, much
reducing the time of development and providing "look-and-feel"
end customer feedback all along the way.
Optimized
The typical approach to building PDA development tools has been to port
desktop development environments to the PDA then remove functionality
as lack of space/performance requires. In addition, there are some new
requirements of the PDA that do not fit easily into a desktop development
environment (e.g. on screen keyboards, scanning devices, etc..) so they
are "tacked on" to the development environment. Protara Technology
has integrated PDA "awareness" from the beginning. For example,
any form in Protara can be "scanner enabled" by simply ticking
a single checkbox and any entry field can be "on screen keyboard
enabled" just as easily. Once again, greatly shortening the development
cycle as well as reducing application maintenance cost.
Sexy
In an effort to squeeze desktop built functionality onto a less capable
handheld device the existing development tools will toss out user interface
"design themes" at a very high level. The result is that applications
written for handheld devices have typically had an appearance that is
one to two generations behind the desktop. With a realization that form
can sometimes improve the user experience just as much as function, and
in an effort to provide consistent look and feel to the solution developer,
the Protara Technology platform includes its own rendering and layout
engine such that designing attractive and powerful screens is similar
to designing a web page with a simple drag-and-drop interface. The result
is that Protara Technology provides a "well polished" experience
to the end user as well as the solution developer.
Protara as a development environment can operate with and use the services
of the Microsoft .Net environment. It can also operate outside of that
environment for those projects that are deployed on alternate platforms.
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