In this chapter, we will develop a simple spreadsheet application. The spreadsheet functionality will be entirely implemented in JavaScript plus jQuery UI, but we will configure CherryPy to deliver the page that contains the spreadsheet application dynamically.
On the presentation side, we will encounter our first jQuery UI widgets (buttons) and will see how we can design other elements to adhere to jQuery UI standards to fit seamlessly in jQuery UI's theme framework. We will also see how to find and use publically available jQuery plugins and integrate the jEditable plugin into our application.
That is a lot to grasp in one go, but don't worry if every detail is not clear the first time. We will encounter many variants of the issues first encountered here in the other chapters and will explain all relevant details again in their context.
In this chapter, we will be:
- Creating an environment to develop and deliver our applications
- Designing a simple spreadsheet application
- Learning how to configure CherryPy to deliver this application
- Encountering our first jQuery UI widgets
- And designing our own jQuery plugins
There is a lot of ground to cover so let's go...
Python 3 is the language we will use to develop the server-side parts of our applications. At the time of writing, the current stable version is 3.2. Installers and source archives are available for various platforms (including Windows, Mac OS, and Linux distributions) and may be downloaded from http://www.python.org/download/.