The next full release of Java Studio Creator will be a larger release adding the ability to access data held in Enterprise Java Beans (EJBs), linking Java clients to servers.
Dan Roberts, Sun group marketing manager for developer tools, said Sun is responding to the fact much corporate back-end development has been performed using Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE).
Roberts added Sun is linking clients to servers using Java rather instead of Web Services protocols because of improved performance.
If you are taking a Java client to a Java backend you are better off having a Java API [rather than a web service], Roberts said.
Sun launched Java Studio Creator to simplify development of Java-based interfaces and lightweight web applications. Based on the Java Server Faces (JSF) specification, Java Studio Creator uses drag-and-drop development to construct the interfaces and applications, reducing the need for developers to work at an API level.
Java, specifically Java 2 Enterprise Edition – the umbrella specification for EJBs – is notoriously complex to work with, a fact that has helped slow adoption.
Roberts said the next version of Java Studio Creator, codenamed Thresher and due in the next quarter, would support WAR files to a broader number of market leading server targets. Roberts would not say which application servers Sun is targeting, but indicated these could be market leaders WebSphere and WebLogic.
Additionally, Thresher will feature extra JSF plug-in modules and expanded functionality.
Sun, meanwhile, is expected to released version 4.0 of NetBeans 4.0, its open source Integrated Development Environment (IDE) framework. NetBeans 4.0 supports Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) 5.0 with autoboxing and generics, ANT for team-based development, MIDP and CLDC for mobile development Java applications.
