Oracle Application Server 10g Essentials [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

8.2 Development Tools

Writing programs in Java can be
accomplished with something as simple as your favorite text editor
and the javac compiler. However, developing
business applications with Java (or any other language, for that
matter) requires a host of tools and technologies. To simplify
management of the tools and technologies required for application
development, and at the same time improve the efficiency of the
development staff, IDEs were created.

An IDE combines a modeling tool, text editor, compiler, make utility,
deployment tool, and so on, into one application that seamlessly
integrates the use of each tool with the next during the development
life cycle. As you will see shortly, many IDE vendors provide support
for Oracle Application Server, typically as a deployment destination.

8.2.1 Oracle JDeveloper

Oracle JDeveloper is Oracle's
IDE for Java. Oracle JDeveloper, an
excellent IDE in its own right, is tightly integrated with Oracle
Application Server. Because it is so tightly integrated, this section
will spend a little time providing an overview of this tool.

8.2.1.1 IDE

Oracle JDeveloper is a J2EE,
XML, and
PL/SQL development environment that
supports the full development life cycle, from modeling a business
solution through its deployment. The IDE itself is extensible, so
other development tools and technologies can be added to the
environment as needed.

Oracle JDeveloper provides tools for source code control, data and
object modeling, coding, debugging, profiling, and deployment. The
editor does both syntactic and semantic verification of your code as
it is entered. It also provides context-sensitive help in the form of
access to API documentation. Many complex or mundane programming
tasks are simplified with the use of wizards.

Figure 8-3 shows a typical Oracle JDeveloper
screen setup. The smaller window sections
are called dockable
windows . You select the
dockable windows you desire from the view menu. Displayed in this
figure are the Application Navigator, Class Structure, Data Control
Panel, Help, Editor, and Error Message windows.

Figure 8-3. An example of the Oracle JDeveloper IDE's GUI

Oracle JDeveloper can build J2EE and/or XML applications or Web
Services that can be deployed onto any J2EE server. However, Oracle
JDeveloper is also tightly integrated with Oracle Application Server
through its Application Development Frameworks that use OracleAS
Business Components for Java and OracleAS TopLink.

8.2.1.2 Application Development Framework

Oracle
JDeveloper's Application
Development Framework (ADF) allows you to use several combinations of
technologies to build web applications. ADF leverages the Open
Source, Model 2,
MVC implementation,
Struts. Using Struts as the
controller, ADF employs combinations of other technologies for the
model and view, such as:

EJB as the model and JSP as the view

OracleAS Business Components for Java
(BC4J) as the model and JSP as the view

OracleAS TopLink as the model and UIX as the view. UIX is a
presentation
layer developed using XML

8.2.1.3 OracleAS Business Components for Java

OracleAS Business Components for
Java, or ADF Business Components as it is known in Oracle JDeveloper,
is an application framework that implements common design patterns.
OracleAS Business Components for Java expands on the standard J2EE by
providing solutions for data access, network traffic minimization,
object-relational mapping, validation, and user-interface data
binding.

OracleAS Business Components for Java applications are deployable on
any application server. Oracle Enterprise Manager's
Application Server Control tool is an example of an application that
uses OracleAS Business Components for Java.

8.2.1.4 TopLink

OracleAS TopLink is an advanced
object-relational mapping tool that some may say resides in the same
solution space as EJB QL and JDO. However, unlike these technologies,
OracleAS TopLink makes mapping relational database architecture to
Java's object-oriented architecture easy by
providing a superior mapping tool called the Mapping
Workbench.[1] With OracleAS TopLink,
it's possible to persist any Java object in any
relational database that is also supported by a JDBC 2.0 driver.

[1] The OracleAS TopLink mapping editor is
fully integrated into Oracle JDeveloper 10g
(9.0.5).

OracleAS TopLink's graphical
mapping tool, Mapping Workbench, presents
relational databases with an object-oriented view. This means that
Java programmers with no SQL experience can map Java classes into a
relational database structure.

OracleAS TopLink is extremely flexible. It can map JavaBeans as well
as EJBs to a relational database. It supports the mapping of both
container-managed
persistence and bean-managed
persistence EJBs. OracleAS TopLink even supports
mapping in a Java Client two-tier application.

8.2.2 Third-Party Support

Many of today's top IDEs
provide support for Oracle Application Server. In addition, other
products exist that extend the capabilities of Oracle Application
Server. The following is a short list of
third-party IDEs that support
Oracle Application Server deployment:

Borland's JBuilder

Computer Associates' COOL:Joe

Macromedia's Dreamweaver MX and UltraDev

Rational's Rational Rose

Sun's Sun ONE Studio

TogetherSoft's Together ControlCenter

Because a list such as this
can change dramatically over time, it's best if you
consult it online. You can find an up-to-date list at Chapter 6, you can even
code directly in a deployment directory on the server. In this
configuration, you can simply use your favorite text editor and the
Sun JDK's javac compiler to build
your application.