With all the libraries available that have emerged, Java and Ajax applications practically build themselves these days. This week Java tool maker Instantiations added support for Ext GWT to GWT Designer 7.2, the latest version of its Eclipse-based drag-and-drop GUI-building environment that can be had for as little as $5 a month.

Also known as GXT, Ext GWT builds on the Google Web Toolkit, adding a slew of customizable UI widgets and CSS-based themes, plus full documentation and backward compatibility. It's made by Ext LLC. And if you're currently building Web apps and you haven't hard of them, a look at their JS Desktop for an idea. For a couple hundred bucks, their libraries might help you avoid reinventing the foundation.

Now back to the news. With the addition of GXT 2.0.1 support, GWT Designer 7.2 adds multiple GXT-specific palette categories for Panels, Layouts, Widgets, Forms, Menus and Toolbars. It also provides WYSIWYG editing for all GXT components, properties and layouts, and adds several Ext-specific wizards for creating GXT Windows, Dialogs and Composites.


GWT Designer v7.2 also adds a multi-page CSS Style Editor as well as other CSS enhancements and continued support for GWT through 1.7.1, and stays in sync with GWT 1.7, which adds better support for Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3.5 and Safari 4. The company also claims to have improved the tool's overall performance and specifically its parsing speed.

Current subscribers can upgrade to GWT Designer 7.2 at no additional cost. One-year subscriptions cost $79; a perpetual license costs $169 including one year of support. Try the tool for two weeks free at http://www.instantiations.com/gwtdesigner.