SilverStream slightly diminishes programming woes

Data, data everywhere. There is no shortage of useful business data waiting to be shared with trusted partners or fed to applications for reporting or analysis. In fact, many businesses have so much data in their systems that sifting through and organizing it for partners or applications seems almost an insurmountable task.

Luckily, programmers can create middleware to extract data from a number of sources, convert it to a modern representation (such as XML), and send it to waiting applications. Presto: You have understandable and useful data.

Enter SilverStream’s recently released xCommerce 2.0, bulletproof middleware that handles data extraction, conversion, and delivery. Although it does not reduce programming as effectively as competing Netfish and Microsoft products do, xCommerce excels at gleaning data locked in IBM minicomputer and mainframe systems.

The combination of SilverStream Application Server, xCommerce Server, and the optional 3270 and 5250 Enterprise Enabler modules gives experienced developers a powerful foundation for enterprise data integration projects. We can rate xCommerce 2.0 only as Good for overall data integration, but we give it high honors for its adeptness at extracting data through terminal emulation, and we recommend it enthusiastically for that specific use. For other data integration projects, we suggest you look at alternatives or wait until SilverStream updates xCommerce with a more accommodating development interface and better adherence to XML standards.

Java’s middleware muscle

SilverStream’s Application Server is a leader among Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) servers in terms of their price-to-performance ratios. J2EE has enough built-in middleware power — database, transaction, and messaging facilities are standard — to make it a good base for business-to-business and other data integration projects. Indeed, Sun and Netscape, the vendors responsible for Java and the iPlanet line of enterprise Java servers, have established J2EE as the de facto environment for cross-platform middleware. This latest version of xCommerce solidifies SilverStream’s position in the enterprise market and gives it b-to-b bragging rights over J2EE insider iPlanet.

We had no trouble installing xCommerce 2.0 and SilverStream Application Server 3.5.1 on a Windows 2000 test server with 384MB of RAM and a 1GHz AMD Athlon processor. For now, xCommerce 2.0 integrates only with SilverStream’s J2EE server. The company plans to support IBM’s WebSphere server and also plans to consider servers from iPlanet and others as customers request them.

Lowering the bar

The ideal data integration solution is accessible to database administrators, implementation specialists, and other nonprogrammers alike. Beta versions of Biztalk Server 2000 indicate that Microsoft is focusing its b-to-b integration efforts in that direction. In contrast, xCommerce 2.0 does not open integration tasks to nonprogrammers. Every xCommerce solution will contain substantial amounts of customized code. xCommerce does make up for this, in part, by reducing the complexity of that code.

J2EE has great middleware credentials, but no one can say that it’s easy to learn or use. Programming with xCommerce Designer code means using ECMAScript, the standardized dialect of Netscape’s JavaScript, with Microsoft extensions. SilverStream’s built-in ECMAScript interpreter might rescue some doomed integration projects by cutting complexity and costs to manageable levels. You can probably hire a trio of skilled ECMAScript coders for the price of one enterprise-grade Java god. But ECMAScript programming is still programming, and xCommerce requires lots of it.

Given xCommerce’s programming burden, we were disappointed by its lack of integrated ECMAScript and XML development tools. The xCommerce CD includes trialware editions of almost every XML editor extant, including XMetaL and XML Spy. But all expire after a few days, and none is integrated into the xCommerce Designer development environment.

The default code editor is Windows Notepad. For xCommerce’s cost and scope, it should at least include full versions of stand-alone ECMAScript and XML editors.

Falling behind

We often hear developers lament the demise of printed documentation. If you’re in that camp, take heart: SilverStream includes online and printed manuals with its products. Both manuals are well-written and skillfully presented, rare qualities that give SilverStream an edge over several J2EE licensees that merely repackage Sun’s inadequate J2EE documentation.

The xCommerce 2.0 Designer interface matches SilverStream’s attractive, responsive style. We got a great walk-through supervised by SilverStream personnel; however, the package would be much stronger if it included more detailed tutorials, a set of starter templates, and functional sample code. You should budget for a SilverStream consultant to provide the on-site or teleconference tutorials you’ll need to get your developers started.

The xCommerce Designer interface is workable, but it is neither self-contained nor intuitive, qualities a hurried enterprise developer needs. We found ourselves fighting with Designer as much as we were helped by it, even for simple tasks such as defining XML document conversions. Such conversions are reduced to one step by XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation) documents, but xCommerce relies on a proprietary mix of XPath pattern-matching strings and ECMAScript programming to complete this function. This adds needless complications. SilverStream plans to integrate XSLT into a future version of xCommerce, and Version 2.0 can make limited use of XSLT through external calls.

Much of xCommerce Server’s power is obscured by the Designer interface. After considerable testing, we decided that calling the xCommerce Server API from Java was often easier than clicking our way through Designer. This alone is so significant a drawback that we recommend most companies wait for the next release.

However, xCommerce Designer shines brilliantly when used to extract data through IBM terminal emulation interfaces. The optional 5250 and 3270 Enterprise Enabler modules work so well with Designer that we couldn’t help wondering why SilverStream didn’t make the rest of Designer so intelligent.

Designer hosts a terminal emulation session and monitors the data passing between the development workstation and the IBM mini-or mainframe. With minimal effort, Designer learns to drive the IBM application and read (or “scrape”) data destined for the terminal’s screen. And xCommerce adapts to multipage forms and repeating data elements, factors that create trouble in other terminal screen scrapers. xCommerce will also communicate with IBM systems using low-level messaging and procedural interfaces, but its facility with terminal applications sets xCommerce apart.

We’re excited by xCommerce’s potential. If the whole of Designer worked as well as the optional 5250 and 3270 Enterprise Enablers, xCommerce would set a standard that J2EE rivals would find tough to match. SilverStream Application Server is our favorite J2EE, and SilverStream now has a solid b-to-b foundation in its xCommerce server components and APIs. With a more accessible development environment and XSLT document conversion, we think the next major release of xCommerce could be a stunner. We’re looking forward to it.