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Oracle9i
JDeveloper Version 9.0.5
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Last Updated: June 9, 2003.
Contents
Oracle9i
JDeveloper
What Is Next?
Oracle Application Development Framework
Productivity with Choice
Oracle ADF Features
Other New Features
Availability
Summary
Oracle9i
JDeveloper
In the fall of 2001, Oracle introduced Oracle9i
JDeveloper, a completely rewritten and 100% pure Java version of the product.
JDeveloper has since become an award-winning Java development tool, offering
a complete and integrated experience for Java developers. Several product releases
in 2002 and 2003 have further improved the overall development experience and
added numerous features, such as Web services and Struts support.
In a single development environment, JDeveloper provides all the tools needed
to design, develop, test, debug, tune, deploy, and version J2EE applications
and Web services.
What Is Next?
J2EE has proven itself as a robust and scalable platform for business application
development and deployment. While the benefits of standards and portability
are clear, the complexity of Java programming and the lack of rapid application
development tools have prevented many IT shops from adopting Java.
While modern Java IDEs, such as Oracle9i
JDeveloper, offer many developer productivity features, they are still mainly
targeted at code driven developers. For example, smart editors can automatically
complete code, but developers still need to be able to write and understand
the code.
The next major milestone for JDeveloper is to provide a visual and declarative
approach to Java development. This new approach will offer the ease and productivity
previously associated with 4GL tools in an open and standard Java IDE, both
improving the development experience for existing Java developers, as well as
simplifying the transition to the Java environment for new developers.
Oracle Application Development Framework
Oracle's solution to the ever-increasing complexity of the J2EE platform is
the Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF). Oracle ADF makes J2EE development
accessible to the broader application development community, much like Windows
development became accessible to most developers with the introduction of frameworks
like Oracle Forms, PowerBuilder, and Visual Basic.
Based on the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture, Oracle ADF lets application
developers focus on the business domain rather than on the underlying technologies.
By using visual, declarative, and guided-coding techniques, the framework allows
application developers who are not necessarily J2EE experts to quickly become
productive.
The framework is based on industry-standard J2EE design patterns. Developers
manipulate the application's metadata using productive visual tools, while the
framework executes the application in the most efficient manner, using these
proven patterns.
JDeveloper offers the following visual tools for the framework:
- UML tools to model and generate business logic
- Visual editors to lay out client user interfaces
- Page Flow modeling to define and control navigation between pages
- Drag and drop data binding into user interfaces
Oracle will deliver on its vision of simplifying Java development by evolving
proven Oracle technologies such as Business Components for Java, UIX, JClient,
and the Oracle9iAS
MVC Framework. These technologies will be consolidated into one comprehensive
and powerful framework, with a consistent user interface that will speak to
application developers. Existing BC4J, UIX, and JClient users will be able to
seamlessly take their applications forward with Oracle ADF.
Productivity with Choice
Oracle9i JDeveloper
allows developers to build J2EE applications and Web services either from scratch
or by using a J2EE framework (such as Oracle ADF). Whatever implementation is
chosen, JDeveloper offers all the productivity tools needed to get the job done,
including UML modelers, visual editors, wizards, dialogs, and code editors.
In contrast to traditional development frameworks, Oracle ADF not only makes
application development easier and more productive, it is also more flexible,
extensible, and based on industry standards.
Oracle ADF offers pluggable technologies for the model, view, and controller,
allowing developers to make implementation choices at the various layers of
the architecture. With a unique combination of productivity and flexibility,
developers can make these technology choices or simply get started with a default
set of technologies and not worry about all the available options. Once a technology
choice has been made for a project, the environment will adapt itself to show
only the relevant options in future user interactions. Developers can extend
their applications through custom code, and customize or add to the behavior
of the framework using XML metadata and Java code. Finally, the framework is
completely based on industry standards. Not only can ADF applications be deployed
to any J2EE server, and connect to any SQL database, the framework itself uses
standard J2EE APIs, design patterns, code and metadata.
This flexibility is a big improvement over the traditional development frameworks,
where developers were forced into a proprietary application model, with little
or no possibility to work outside of the environment.
Oracle ADF Features
- Application Navigator
The new application navigator helps developers see all of their application
sources in a simplified organization, showing only relevant components while
not presenting implementation files and deployment descriptors. This reduces
clutter and improves usability for large application projects.
- Technology Scopes and Application Templates
Technology Scopes greatly reduce the complexity that developers need to deal
with by persisting project technology choices and helping the environment
tailor its dialogs to present only the options that are relevant to a given
project.
Application Templates simplify the creation of new applications and provide
a way to partition applications into tiered projects with associated technology
scopes. Instead of manually building each project, developers can now quickly
generate a complete foundation along with subprojects and technology scopes.
- Drag and Drop Databinding
The ADF framework provides a consistent drag and drop databinding experience
for many different server-side technologies, including ADF Business Components,
Oracle9iAS TopLink,
Enterprise JavaBeans, Web services, and Plain Old Java Objects (POJOs), through
the usage of standard Expression Language (EL) syntax.
- New Visual Editors
The new visual editor for HTML, JSP, and UIX lets developers design Web
pages interactively. The WYSIWYG visual editor is tightly integrated and synchronized
with the property inspector, code editor, and structure window, providing
an overall superior visual editing experience.
- Visual Page Flow Modeling
The new visual Page Flow Modeler for Jakarta Struts and Oracle ADF Controller
lets developers build new pages and actions and connect them visually to design
the flow of a web user interface.
Other New Features
- Improved IDE Interface
Optimal usage of screen real estate is critical to developer productivity.
The new window management capabilities optimize editor usage, provide editor
splitting, manage multiple editor windows, and offer better window docking.
Developers can easily switch between different views of their code (eg. switch
between code editor and visual editor) as well as split the screen to watch
multiple views of the application at the same time.
- Improved Code Editor
JDeveloper continues to improve coding productivity for hard-core Java
programmers. This release includes capabilities to surround code with common
coding constructs (if, for, try catch, etc.), quickly access Javadoc with
Javadoc popups, highlight syntax and semantic errors, and assist with adding
import statements.
- UML Modeling
Oracle9i JDeveloper
now supports platform independent UML modelers (UML Class, UML Use Case, UML
Activity) to capture analysis and requirements, and platform dependent UML
profile modelers that are two-way synchronized with the implementation (Java,
Enterprise JavaBeans, ADF Business Components, Web services, and Database).
An MDA style transformation is supported between UML Class models and Java
or ADF Business Components models.
The new Database modeler allows developers to define online and offline database
objects, import database schemas, generate SQL scripts for database objects,
and reconcile offline database objects with an online database schema. In
addition, version 9.0.5 introduces Use Case and Page Flow modelers, while
the Business Components modeler now includes support for Application Modules
and View Objects.
Finally, many usability and scalability enhancements have been implemented
for the modelers, including fast autolayout of diagrams, a thumbnail overview,
the publication of diagrams in Javadoc format, and the ability to insert links
to other diagrams, external files, and generic URLs.
- J2EE and Web Services
Oracle9i JDeveloper
supports the latest standards in J2EE and Web services, and provides easy-to-use
visual tools for developing JavaServer Pages, servlets, Enterprise JavaBeans,
and Web services. JDeveloper now also supports the generation of J2EE design
patterns such as Data Transfer Object and Session Facade.
The new administration tool for the embedded J2EE server helps manage datasources,
JAZN, and other settings for J2EE applications. With the latest release, developers
can deploy J2EE applications with a single click to Oracle9iAS,
BEA WebLogic, JBoss, and Tomcat.
JDeveloper's Web services support has been improved to handle WS-I Basic Profile
compliance testing, UML modeling and visualization of Web services, one-click
Web service creation from Java classes, and the creation of complex PL/SQL
Web services.
- Integrated Oracle9iAS
TopLink Mapping Editor
JDeveloper has new integrated support for Oracle9iAS
TopLink persistence mapping. TopLink developers can now fully customize mappings
for Java objects and Enterprise JavaBeans to relational databases, directly
inside the JDeveloper IDE.
- Audit and Metrics Tools
JDeveloper's new static code analysis tools help developers write better
code. The new audit tools help detect coding convention violations as well
as other common coding problems, while the new metrics tools help measure
and report on code complexity. Both tools are fully configurable and customizable
to work with company or team specific coding standards.
- Improved Team Development
JDeveloper offers improved source control support for Oracle9i
SCM, CVS, ClearCase, and WebDAV, as well as an improved extension API to support
other source control tools. The Compare, Version Tree, History, and Merge
tools have been redesigned to simplify the management of large application
development projects.
Availability
A Developer Preview of Oracle9i
JDeveloper with Oracle ADF will be available on the Oracle Technology
Network in the summer of 2003. Oracle9i
JDeveloper Version 9.0.5 is scheduled to go production in the second half of
2003, after incorporating user feedback from the Developer Preview release.
Summary
Oracle9i JDeveloper
will continue to enhance its Java coding capabilities, while at the same time
introducing a more visual and declarative development environment. Oracle9i
JDeveloper with Oracle ADF will provide a single tool that both Java programmers
and application developers can utilize to build J2EE applications and Web services
better, faster, and at a lower cost.
More Information
For more information about Oracle9i
JDeveloper and Oracle ADF, check out Oracle
Technology Network and the Oracle
ADF Frequently Asked Questions.
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