Weld AE is a platform for building database driven applications. Weld AE uses PHP and MySQL on the server to deliver XML to the client. The client is a small program that is only responsible for rendering the interface from the XML data. Weld is the XML syntax and client used to render the user interface while the entire platform, including the PHP classes and forms database, is called Weld AE. Weld can be used without using the entire Weld AE platform to quickly build simple applications. Weld AE is an acronym for:

• Web
• Enabled
• Light weight
• Development
•  
• Application
• Engine

The main goals of Weld AE is to provide a development framework that is:

• Easy to Maintain and Deploy
• Weld AE is a completely server side technology similar to a dynamic web application. All code/data is stored on the server. Although there is a client side piece, it is very light weight and does not run code but simply renders XML into the user interface and sends events and data back to the server for processing.
• Fast and Easy Development
• All code is written using PHP which is widely used scripting language. Forms can be created a runtime with code or created and saved in the MySQL database.
• Rich User Interface
• GTK is used to provide a rich set of widgets that are rock solid and easy to use.
• Cross Platform
• GTK has very good cross platform compatibillity. Currently, the client only works on Linux, but it should compile on Win32 without too much trouble. Because the client is so small, writing a native client for Win32 is also a possibility.

Weld AE is designed specifically to make the task of building database applications fast and easy. All programming is done on the server, so there is no need to distribute updates to all your clients. The client is very thin, currently only 67K, which makes it easy to deploy.

If you are planning to build a web application, take a look at Weld AE. It has a lot of features to offer you over a traditional Web app. If you are designing a graphics editor or an IRC client, Weld AE is not the right tool for you.

To run a Weld application from your computer, you just need the Weld client, which is about 67K. Currently only Linux is supported, but Win32 support is planned for the future.

The server technically only requires a web server, but for anything more than a simple application, you will also need PHP and MySQL support. MySQL is only used to store the Weld meta data such as form layouts and security. Your application can use any database supported by PHP to store its information. Support for storing the Weld meta data in other databases is planed for the future.