Overview of IBM Worklight

IBM® Worklight consists of five main components: Worklight Studio, Worklight Server, Worklight device runtime components, Worklight Console, and Worklight Application Center.

Worklight Studio

In a mobile development platform, cross-platform portability of the application code is critical for mobile device application development. Various methods exist to achieve this portability. With IBM Worklight, users can develop multiplatform applications by using Worklight Studio, which is a mobile development studio, to address the requirements of the organization.

With Worklight Studio, you can:
  • Develop rich HTML5, hybrid and native applications for all supporting modern devices by using native code, a bidirectional WYSIWYG, and standard web technologies and tools.
  • Maximize code sharing by defining custom behavior and styling guidelines that match the target environment.
  • Access device APIs by using native code or standard web languages over a uniform Apache Cordova bridge.
  • Use both native and standard web languages within the same application to balance development efficiency and a rich user experience.
  • Use third-party tools, libraries, and frameworks such as JQuery Mobile, Sencha Touch, and Dojo Mobile.
  • Implement runtime skins to build apps that automatically adjust to environment guidelines such as form factor, screen density, HTML support, and UI input method.

Worklight Server

Worklight Server is designed to integrate into the enterprise environment and use its existing resources and infrastructure. This integration is based on adapters that are server-side software components responsible for channeling back-end enterprise systems and cloud-based services to the user device. You can use adapters to retrieve and update data from information sources, and to allow users to perform transactions and start other services and applications.

With Worklight Server, you can:
  • Empower hundreds of thousands of users with transactional capabilities and enable their direct access to back-end systems and cloud-based services.
  • Configure, test, and deploy descriptive XML files to connect to various back-end systems by using standard Worklight Studio tools.
  • Directly update deployed hybrid and web applications, without going through the different app stores (subject to the terms of service of the vendor).
  • Automatically convert hierarchical data to JSON format for optimal delivery and consumption.
  • Enhance users interaction with a uniform push notification architecture.
  • Define complex mashups of multiple data sources to reduce overall traffic.
  • Integrate with the existing security and authentication mechanisms of the organization.

Worklight device runtime components

IBM Worklight provides client-side runtime code that embeds server functionality within the target environment of deployed apps. These runtime client APIs are libraries that are integrated into the locally stored app code. They complement the Worklight Server by defining a predefined interface for apps to access native device functionality. Among these APIs, IBM Worklight uses the Apache Cordova development framework. This framework delivers a uniform bridge between standard web technologies (HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript) and the native functions that different mobile platforms provide.

The Worklight device runtime components provide the following functionality:
  • Mobile data integration: connectivity and authentication APIs
  • Security features: on-device encryption, offline authentication, and remote disablement of apps
  • Cross-platform support: Runtime skins, UI abstractions, and HTML5 toolkits compatibility
  • Mobile client functionality: hybrid app framework, access to device APIs and push notification registration
  • Reports and analytics: built-in reports and event-based custom reporting
  • Resource serving: direct update of app web resources and HTML5 caching.

Worklight Console

The Worklight Console is used for the control and management of the mobile organization, from managing deployed applications to collecting and analyzing user statistics.

With the Worklight Console, you can:
  • Monitor all deployed applications, adapters, and push notification rules from a centralized, web-based console.
  • Assign device-specific identifiers (IDs) to ensure secure application provisioning.
  • Remotely disable applications by using preconfigured rules of app version and device type.
  • Customize messages that are sent to users on application launch.
  • Collect user statistics from all running applications.
  • Generate built-in, preconfigured user adoption and usage reports.
  • Configure data collection rules for application-specific events.
  • Export raw reporting data to be analyzed by the BI systems of the organization.

Worklight Application Center

With the Worklight Application Center, you can share mobile applications that are under development within your organization in a single repository of mobile applications. Development team members can use the Application Center to share applications with members of the team. This process facilitates collaboration between all the people who are involved in the development of an application.

Your company can typically use the Application Center as follows:
  1. The development team creates a version of an application.
  2. The development team uploads the application to the Application Center, enters its description, and asks the extended team to review and test it.
  3. When the new version of the application is available, a tester runs the Application Center installer application, which is the mobile client. Then, the tester locates this new version of the application, installs it on their mobile device, and tests it.
  4. After the tests, the tester rates the application and submits feedback, which is visible to the developer from the Application Center console.

The Application Center is aimed for private usage within a company, and you can target some mobile applications to specific groups of users. You can use the Application Center as an Enterprise application store.

With the Application Center, you can manage native or hybrid applications that are installed on mobile devices. The Application Center supports applications that are built for the Google Android platform and the Apple iOS platform, but does not target mobile web applications.


Feedback