Aptana
Aptana, Inc. is a company that makes web application development tools for use with a variety of programming languages. Aptana's main products include Aptana Studio, Aptana Cloud, and Aptana Jaxer.
Aptana Studio
Aptana Studio is a free and open-source software integrated development environment for building web applications. Based on Eclipse, it supports JavaScript, HTML, Document Object Model, and Cascading Style Sheets with code-autocomplete, outlining, JavaScript debugging, error and warning notifications and integrated documentation. Additional plugins allow Aptana Studio to support Ruby on Rails, PHP, Python, Perl, Adobe AIR, Apple iPhone and Nokia WRT. Aptana Studio is available as a standalone on Windows, macOS, and Linux, or as a plug-in for Eclipse.Language & platform support
PHP
Aptana Studio 3 provides the following support for PHP application development:- Syntax Coloring according to the selected theme in the preferences;
- Code Assist;
- Syntax error annotations;
- Auto indentation and Code Formatting;
- Hyper-linking to classes, functions and variables by hovering over elements and pressing the Ctrl key;
- PHPDoc popups when hovering over items that have attached documentation;
- Read and write Occurrences Markers when clicking on specific PHP elements.
Aptana version 1.5 provided support for developing PHP applications via the add-on PHP plugin. This included:
- Built-in PHP server for previewing within Aptana Studio,
- Full code assist, code outlining and code formatting,
- Integrated PHP debugger,
- Built in Smarty,
- Type hierarchy view,
- Go to declaration,
- Integrated PHP manual.
Ruby on Rails
- Integrated Ruby on Rails shell console,
- Default-install and configuration of the Ruby interpreter, database and debugger,
- code completion with type inferencing,
- Code Assist for Ruby, CSS, JavaScript and HTML inside RHTML files,
- Type hierarchy view,
- Go to declaration,
- Call hierarchy,
- Full implementation of RDT.
Python
- Color syntax highlighting;
- Code completion;
- Code outlining;
- Debugging
- Refactoring tools
- Interactive console
- Unittest integration
- Integrated support for the CPython, Jython and IronPython interpreters.
Adobe AIR
Aptana IDE provides considerable support for Adobe AIR.Nokia Web Runtime
The Nokia Web Runtime provides support for developing rich mobile apps for Nokia S60 series phones. This includes over 30 models and tens of millions of units in use around the world. The Nokia WRT Plug-in for Aptana Studio provides features that enable the creation, editing, testing and deployment of WRT widgets from within Aptana Studio.WRT widgets are small, task-focused web applications that are installed and run in the same way as other S60 applications. WRT widgets allow websites or web services to be optimised for use on S60 devices. Because they are easy to develop and use, WRT widgets are ideal for driving traffic to a website from S60 devices.
Features
JavaScript Library Support
Aptana Studio comes with the following JavaScript libraries, but more can be added or updated if desired.- Adobe Spry
- Ext JS
- Aflax
- Rico
- Prototype
- Mochikit
- YUI Library
- Mootools
- Dojo toolkit
- jQuery
- Script.aculo.us
Code Assist
- the supported arguments for the function call being coded;
- the supported properties and methods on the desired object.
Browser support
The Code Assist feature includes information on browser support for JavaScript methods/properties, HTML elements and CSS properties.FTP/SFTP
Support for uploading, downloading and synchronization using FTP and SFTP.Debugger
Both Pro and Community editions support integrated JavaScript debugging for Firefox. Internet Explorer is supported only in the Pro Edition.System requirements
- Windows – 512 MB RAM, Pentium 4-level processor
- Mac OS X – 512 MB RAM, PowerPC G4/G5, Intel or Mac OS X 10.4+
- Linux – 512 MB RAM, Pentium 4-level processor
Editions
License
Aptana uses a "dual licensing" model. Under this model, users may choose to use the Aptana IDE under the free software/open source GNU General Public License or under the .With the GPL license, the Aptana IDE is available free of charge, as long as the redistribution of the Aptana IDE adheres to the terms of the GPL license. Users may download the software for free and modify, integrate and distribute it.
Aptana also offers the simplified APL license for organizations that don't need to redistribute Aptana Studio or its derivatives outside of the company.
License history
- When launched in 2006, Aptana was released under the Eclipse Public License 1.0. They were using the EPL until milestone 8. The first few builds of milestone 9 were licensed under the Eclipse Public License 1.0 until nightly build 16120.
- One nightly build of milestone 9 was licensed under the GNU General Public License 3.0
- Builds after 16204 have been licensed as Freeware with redistribution restrictions licensed under the .
- On September 21, 2007, Aptana announced they would be using a dual license: GPL V3 and the freeware APL.
Company
Aptana was acquired by Appcelerator, Inc. on January 7, 2011. Employees of Aptana were absorbed to the Mountain View campus of Appcelerator and work is scheduled to continue on the release of Aptana 3.0. Appcelerator in their webcast made users aware of their intention to integrate their mobile application framework with Aptana Studio, with a planned beta within Q1 2011. Emphasis on visual workflow was indicated for both of the products and continued support will continue for existing Aptana products. Appcelerator put Jaxer on GitHub.
Other products
Aptana Jaxer
Aptana Jaxer, made obsolete by Node.js, is an open-source Ajax web server for building rich web pages and applications using a unified Ajax model wherein both client-side and server-side code can be written in JavaScript. Jaxer's server-side engine is based on Mozilla Gecko, the same browser engine that is used in Firefox. The Mozilla engine allows Jaxer to provide a server-side DOM in which a page may be manipulated during server-side processing using the techniques familiar to client-side programmers. Jaxer's server-side JavaScript application programming interfaces enable database access, file system access, network communications, user sessions and other functions typical of web application servers. Jaxer also provides for access to Java objects via the open source Direct Web Remoting project. Jaxer is now on GitHub.Aptana Jaxer provides a page-processing environment based on the Mozilla engine. This provides a Gecko-based DOM and SpiderMonkey JavaScript engine to allow pages to be rendered and manipulated on the server before being sent to the browser. Jaxer also provides an Ajax model for performing asynchronous requests to the server. Its client and server APIs allow such requests to be made by simply calling server-side JavaScript functions from the client. Behind the scenes, Jaxer provides the logic required to manage the request and retrieve the response from the server. It is useful for web scraping.
Jaxer is not a standalone web server, but works with another server such as Apache, Jetty or Tomcat. Jaxer provides server-side DOM and API processing for pages served by the web server before delivering the results to the browser.
Jaxer may be integrated into Aptana Studio via an optional plugin. It is open source and available for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Solaris.
As of November 2009 Aptana has significantly scaled back development and support of Jaxer. An Aptana representative noted that "there hasn't been sufficient adoption to make it a money earning proposition."