The Rich Server Platform - User Interface Framework (RSP-UI) effort within Eclipse is looking into providing a UI framework to compose integrated server-side applications based on Eclipse and OSGi (Open Services Gateway Initiative) styles. This move is indicative of a boost to server-side application deployment.

According to an Eclipse document on the proposal, the RSP-UI follows an integrated approach. “It allows developers to freely combine the most suitable rendering technologies for versatile web applications. It will lower the entry barrier to the respective advantages of the client- and the server-side world, thereby augmenting the Eclipse community. Furthermore, it addresses core needs in the area of “service-oriented clients”, where this architecture allows developers to build better applications that are more targeted to user needs, tasks, roles and workflows,” it said.

The project will be lead by Wolfgang Gehner of Infonoia, a Geneva-based software company. “It’s like taking the RCP (Eclipse Rich Client Platform), which runs on clients, and having it run on the server,” Gehner said. These applications will feature reusable business logic, he added.

A draft of the API for RSP-UI is expected in October and a final release is anticipated in May 2007. Advocates, however, are still awaiting the project’s endorsement as a formal Eclipse project, according to Gehner.