ExtJS Tutorial

Introduction to ExtJS

Javascript is one of the commonly used script language. To add value to it, an open source library is provided in Javascript. This open source library contains many APIs using which you can build web applications containing many user interface components like buttons, grids, and much more. This open source framework is known as ExtJS.

This ExtJS tutorial will help you in understanding the basic concepts of ExtJS.

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Features of ExtJS

As mentioned above, ExtJS is an open source framework or library in Javascript. Few of its highlighting features are mentioned below:

• ExtJS is faster than other open source frameworks.
• It provides high performance.
• The component model of ExtJS is expandable.
• Its UI widgets can be customized based on your need.
• Since it is an open source, you can download and use it without paying any cost.
• Using ExtJS, you can create web applications that are DHTML or AJAX based.
• ExtJS can run on all famous browsers including Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.
• API’s of ExtJS is easy to use.
• It has jQuery interoperability.
• It supports prototype interoperability.

Version History

There are three major releases of ExtJS framework, skipping away the intermediate releases. Information about the version history is given below:

• ExtJS 1.1 – This is the first stable release of ExtJS.
• ExtJS 2.0 – This version got released on 04-12-2007. This version provides many features that work similar to the desktop applications.  ExtJS 2.0 doesn’t have any backward compatibility with that of ExtJS 1.1.
• ExtJS 3.0 – This version got released on 06-07-2009. New UI components called ListView and Flash Charting are added in this release. ExtJS 3.0 code has backward compatibility with that of ExtJS 2.0.
• Sencha – ExtJs got merged with Raphael and JQTouch thereby forming a platform that is named as Sencha. This change happened on 15-06-2010.

Installation of ExtJS

To download ExtJS, go to the URL: www.sencha.com. In this URL, you can find a download option for ExtJS. Click on that and you will be taken to http://www.sencha.com/products/js/ URL and the download of ExtJS version 3.2.1 will happen automatically. Optionally, you can also use the URL www.extjs.com which will in turn redirect you to www.sencha.com.

Components Provided by ExtJS

ExtJS provides many components; most important among them are ExtJs Grid, Grid Panels, Tab Panels, Toolbar, Button, Menu, Tree, Modal Windows, Slider, List Box, Combo Box, Radio Button, Check Box, Text Field, Text Area Input and Chart.