WebExpress

Just in time for Halloween, version 0.0.9-alpha is here and it is anything but spooky. With this release, we are delivering on our promise to significantly improve and expand the functionality of the user interface. The past few weeks have been marked by intense development, iterative refinement, and a clear focus. The UI should not only look better, but also be smarter and more flexible. What’s new in 0.0.9-alpha The main focus of this version is the overhaul of the user interface. Many details have been revised, consolidated, or completely reimagined with the goal of creating a consistent, extensible, and pleasant UI foundation. UI redesign at the core: The interface has been thoroughly reworked. Cleaner structures, more consistent components, and significantly improved interaction behavior make for a more intuitive experience. Smarter package manager: The package manager has been optimized to handle dependencies more robustly and simplify the integration of new modules. Confli...

WebExpress is a modern backend framework that stands out for its exceptional versatility. It’s suitable for rapid prototyping and simple websites, as well as for complex, scalable enterprise systems. Its “everything from a single source” approach ensures that all components work seamlessly together and are carefully coordinated. At the same time, the system remains open to customization and modular expansion. One of WebExpress’s key advantages is the ability to get started quickly using prebuilt templates. Developers can launch functional applications in no time, without having to wrestle with extensive configuration. At the same time, the architecture allows full personalization. Modules can be extended, replaced, or recombined as needed. This makes WebExpress suitable for lightweight installations on devices like Raspberry Pi, as well as for high-availability cloud infrastructures. When comparing WebExpress to other popular backend frameworks, several key differences emerge. WebE...

The discussion about strings and type safety in the WebExpress framework is more than just a technical detail; it touches the very core of software architecture. The framework follows the principle of avoiding strings wherever possible and instead relies on type-safe constructs. Strings are indeed flexible and universally applicable, but they are also among the most common sources of errors in complex applications. A misspelled fragment name, an inconsistent URI, or a typo in a resource definition often only becomes apparent at runtime. WebExpress aims to minimize precisely this kind of error through type safety. Type-safe code means that values are not treated as freely interpretable character sequences but as clearly defined types. Instead of passing a route as a string such as "user/profile" , a Route object can be used that only allows valid values. The compiler checks these specifications already at compile time and thus prevents invalid or faulty values from ever ent...

The inclusion of JavaScript and CSS files in the WebExpress framework is being fundamentally modernized to improve modularity, maintainability, and performance in a sustainable way. Until now, these resources were integrated manually through the VisualTree structure. This approach no longer matches the open and modular architecture of WebExpress and increasingly complicates maintenance. In the future, all required resources will be added automatically to the HTML header when a plugin is loaded and removed just as reliably when it is unloaded. The defined order of files is strictly observed to avoid dependency conflicts and inconsistent runtime conditions. A central aspect is the consistent consideration of dependencies between plugins. A plugin is loaded only when all declared dependencies are satisfied. When a plugin is unloaded, any dependent plugins are either deactivated or a warning is issued in order to maintain system stability. To optimize performance in release mode, all Jav...

Version 0.0.9-alpha of the WebExpress framework is nearly ready for release, and I could not be more satisfied with the progress. Over the past few weeks, I have worked intensively on the various modules, and the numbers speak for themselves. In the WebUI module alone, the codebase has nearly doubled. The number of C# code lines increased from 20,767 to 42,991, and comment lines from 11,472 to 26,959. The structure has also expanded significantly. The number of classes grew from 1,785 to 3,938, interfaces from 20 to 66, and enums from 67 to 89. In the JavaScript area, there was also a noticeable jump from 3,070 to 14,463 code lines and from 510 to 4,540 comment lines. Similar developments can be seen in the other modules. WebIndex shows a slight increase in C# code lines and comments with a stable structure. WebCore shows growth in classes, interfaces, and enums, indicating increasing modularization. WebApp has nearly doubled in both C# code lines and structural expansion. Particu...

In the development of WebExpress , a modular web platform built with a strong focus on visual clarity, technical depth, and contributor-friendly extensibility, testing plays a central role. It is not just a control mechanism. It is an essential part of the creative process, a reflection of the architecture, and a tool for communication between developers, the system, and the community. WebExpress currently includes more than 4,000 unit tests that target individual modules, methods, and API behaviors. These tests are not only extensive in number but also carefully designed. They follow principles of defensive programming, validate method chaining, input handling, and the presence of fallbacks. Each test acts as a contract between module and developer, a promise that the system behaves consistently and predictably under defined conditions. Tutorial projects play a unique role. They serve as learning tools for new users and also function as system-level tests. By modeling real-world appl...