Everybody agrees on the fact that the J2EE standard has
been widely adopted by companies that develop and use software worldwide.
However, it is not rare to hear programmers and experts saying that it is not
easy to develop J2EE applications. Let's examine some of the reasons they give
for this difficulty.
First, the gap between the J2EE components and the
problems that developers face in the real world. Even though J2EE components
offer a solid base to develop applications, they lack the abstraction level
needed for a quick development that would free the developer from the burden of
building part of the software infrastructure required by their
solution.
Another problem frequently mentioned is the lack of tools
capable of concealing the complexity of the J2EE APIs from the business-oriented
developer.
The next GeneXus version incorporates support for
Enterprise Java Beans (EJB), a standard to create reusable business logic
components that can be executed within any J2EE server. In this way, GeneXus
will be able to take any Knowledge Base (KB) procedure and generate an EJB
component just by changing a couple of the objects properties. In other words,
it is not necessary to learn anything new to reuse the knowledge already
available in the GeneXus KB.
In addition, Java applications not written in GeneXus will
communicate natively and simply with components created in GeneXus. GeneXus
users will be able to build applications that take advantage of the EJB servers
functionalities, explained Eng. Ignacio Roqueta, from ARTech's Development
Team.
On the other hand, the portability of J2EE applications
among different J2EE servers is not transparent in practice. The migration of a
package from WebSphere to Oracle 9i AS, for example, requires
changes.
GeneXus facilitates the portability with its EAR
Deployment tool, a wizard that enables making J2EE packages that run in the main
J2EE servers in the market. To migrate a server package, just execute this
GeneXus wizard and select the server where you want to install the application.
GeneXus Yi Beta 1, which includes all these new features,
has been released and the Beta Testing process has started. You are invited to
participate.
http://www.gxtechnical.com/main/hbtesters.aspx?2,6,42,YI