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Miletus goes JavaScript/TypeScript

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

About 1.5 years ago, we introduced Miletus as a technology within the TMS WEB Core product to create cross platform desktop applications for Windows, macOS, Linux and later also Raspberry Pi. Using Miletus, you create from the Delphi or Visual Studio Code IDE a standalone executable application that can be used offline and that can directly access a wide range of operating system functionality including also local database access.

As such, Miletus offers an alternative way to create cross-platform desktop applications using a RAD component based framework and the Object Pascal language. Other than the advantage to use a single code base to create applications for 4 different operating systems, with Miletus you can use HTML and CSS to create visually very attractive applications with minimal effort when you reuse one of the thousands of templates that are around free or very cheap.

On Raspberry Pi, there is the extra capability to directly access connected electronics via SPI, I²C, GPIO or UART ports.

Miletus for JavaScript/TypeScript

So, it was a kind of logical step to also leverage the power of the Miletus technology to JavaScript or TypeScript developers. By creating a JavaScript version of the Miletus API for native operating system access and local database access, you can now create such Miletus desktop applications using just HTML, CSS and JavaScript or TypeScript. And these Miletus apps will run on Windows, macOS, Linux and Raspberry Pi

The advantages of Miletus technology versus other technologies to create native desktop applications with a web development stack are:

Extremely light deployment

A Miletus application is in its minimum form a single executable file. It uses the pre-installed operating system default browser engine for rendering and running the app. It hereby also benefits automatically from continuous operating system level managed browser engine security updates.
Flexible local database connectivity

The Miletus API abstracts local database access. This means that by simply changing one connection object, your app can start using a different database without needing to change any other line of code.
Extensible native OS access through libraries

Whereas with other technologies, one is restricted to use only exposed native operating system functionality via an existing API, with Miletus it is possible to provide a custom library for accessing custom native operating system functionality that isn't available through a browser engine.
Raspberry Pi access to local connected hardware

It is a unique Miletus feature that these apps can run directly on Raspberry Pi and on top of that, can access hardware connected to the Raspberry Pi via the I²C, SPI, GPIO or UART ports. This way, it becomes very easy to read sensor data or steer a stepper motor connected to the Raspberry Pi from your Miletus app. And all this with JavaScript or TypeScript code.
Create apps for all operating systems from all operating systems

With Miletus technology, it is sufficient to have one development machine with your operating system of choice. From this one operating system, you are able to create application executables for all the Miletus supported operating systems.
Robust code & backwards compatibility

With the Miletus API, we strive for maximum backwards compatibility. So with future versions of Miletus that are on our roadmap, the applications you create today, will still work when using a future Miletus version.

Miletus API for JavaScript/TypeScript

The API that is available is fully online documented. This API can now be used from your JavaScript or TypeScript code. Our team is working already on future API extensions as well to cover even more native functionality.

Watch what Miletus for JavaScript/TypeScript can do for you

Get started!

At this moment, Miletus for JavaScript/TypeScript v0.9 beta is available for your testing and after a test period, we will move to the first official v1.0 release. On the website dedicated to Miletus for JavaScript/TypeScript, several videos introduce you to the technology and help you to get started. Spread the news and let your JavaScript or TypeScript developer friends know about this new existing technology!

Bruno Fierens

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