Forte Software Inc will deliver the anticipated Web support for its three-tier application development environment in two phases. The $20,000 Forte Web software development kit phase one, now in beta testing and due to ship by mid-year, will enable Web browsers to function as Forte clients using a customized Common Gateway Interface. Forte says it will be quicker than conventional Common Gateway. It will also provide HyperText Mark- up Language class libraries that format responses to requests made by Web browsers, including formatting the results of SQL queries. Developers will be able to create Windows look and feel interfaces. A new utility will automatically create HyperText Mark-up Language Web clients from Forte interfaces. It will also support Javascript. The second piece of Forte Web software development kit will generate Java interfaces, enabling Java applets to interoperate with the Forte framework, sharing the Forte business services that support multiple applications. It will also include support for Netscape application programming interface as an alternative to Common Gateway Interface. The second piece will be released along with the next major release of the Forte application environment, which is due by the year- end.
