Anyone who has used the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) hasto be impressed with how quickly it’s matured and become a robust programmingmodel. Besides the ability to build new applications, developers can useJ2EE to connect to third-party software, legacy systems, and Java-based e-businessapplication engines and deploy them across a distributed computing environment.As powerful as the various technologies supporting this platform are, efficientlymanaging and using them all in a development environment can be problematic.Providing an IDE to manage this complexity is what Oracle has set out toaccomplish – and in my opinion, has very successfully – with its new Oracle9i JDeveloper product.
Oracle9i JDeveloper allows developers to take advantage of thepower and flexibility of J2EE to create applications with the highest levelof scalability and performance. Written entirely in Java, it’s a robust IDEthat combines all of the tools and services to comfortably support a developerthroughout the full J2EE development life cycle. Oracle9i JDeveloperalso includes an open J2EE framework called Business Components for Java(BC4J) that helps developers quickly construct high-performance J2EE applicationsfollowing industry-standard J2EE design patterns.
For database-backed J2EE applications, the framework makes the object-relationalmapping process a point-and-click exercise. For client applications it includesan extensive set of JSP tags in a built-in tag library and a large set ofSwing-based components. Easy-to-use wizards speed the creation of JSP-, servlet-,EJB-, and Web services-based components. Built-in container objects thenallow for the quick and very easy testing of these components without youever having to leave the development environment. It’s conceivable that youwon’t have to leave the confines of the JDeveloper environment for a widerange of development services, including source control, UML modeling, debugging,testing, profiling, and deployment. Developers can also use the AddIn Kitto integrate third-party code libraries and open-source products, which couldinclude their own custom tag libraries.
Installation and Configuration of JDeveloper
The installation of the product is straightforward and all necessaryfiles are made available in a zip archive format.
After the files have beenextracted, a shortcut should be created to the file [jdeveloper_root]/jdev/bin/
jdevw.exe to execute the application. The necessary documentation is availablefrom the online help, the free product download from the Oracle TechnologyNetwork (OTN) at http://otn.oracle.com.
One of Oracle9i JDeveloper’s most exciting features is the built-inOracle9iAS Containers for Java (OC4J). With OC4J, developers aren’trequired to have access to a separate application server to test the componentsthey’re building within the JDeveloper environment. OC4J is built into JDeveloper,allowing for the immediate testing of JSP, EJB, servlet, and Web servicescomponents.
With a little extra work an OC4J server can be run remotely to simulatea preconfigured J2EE deployment environment. The steps to implement thisfeature are few and well documented in the installation guide. I highly recommendimplementing the OC4J remotely. A two-step process, it’s the final touchthat makes this elegant IDE a completely integrated development environment.The remote implementation allows for the test deployment of EAR, JAR, andWAR files via the various deployment wizards JDeveloper offers (see Figure1).
