News and New Product Briefs (3/20/99)

Sun, Sanga, MedTech deliver subscription-, Web-based healthcare

Sun, Sanga International, and MedTech announced e-MedSoft.com Java-based healthcare management and billing software. At the recent Health Information and Management Systems Society 99 (HIMSS 99) Expo, the companies also announced a joint effort to market e-MedSoft.com.

e-MedSoft.com is a subscription-based healthcare management system delivered over the Internet. It has a Java integrator that facilitates low-cost communications regardless of location, platform, language, or resources. The integrator even lets legacy-system data be accessed. Specialized medical applications on diagnosis, care-outcome analysis, knowledge databases, and drug interaction can be easily adapted to the e-MedSoft.com system.

The e-MedSoft.com JavaDoc Integrator interfaces with and encapsulates an existing systems environment, transforming it into a distributed system that interacts naturally with other e-commerce systems.

e-MedSoft.com has a four-tier, distributed architecture:

• Tier 1 is a platform-neutral interface that allows applications to be delivered as applets or HTML.
• Tier 2 is the business logic layer, developed using healthcare industry business rules, and set up so that users can modify the rules while the system is running.
• Tier 3 is the infrastructure module, designed to manage resource use by the business applications and client interfaces. They provide such basic operations as naming, security, transactions, and collections.
• Tier 4 is the database and resource interfaces that provide a standard method for accessing data, regardless of the existing storage or transaction formats. Data can be directly accessed from Oracle, IBM, DB2, Sybase, and Informix relational databases.

Since the resource interfaces are separate from the business applications, other data source interfaces can be created to access data without changing business rules or interfaces.

https://www.mdtk.com

Inprise Entera 4.2 enhances Java programming

Inprise announced the release of Entera 4.2, an upgrade of the RPC-based middleware designed to help corporations build large-scale, mission-critical, distributed applications.

Entera 4.2 offers more support for Inprise’s DCE-CORBA Bridge, better database server reliability, new Internet firewall security, enhanced Java programming, and faster transaction-server performance.

Version 4.2 offers tighter integration with the Inprise DCE-CORBA Bridge, a seamless, secure integration tools that offers corporations an easy path to existing Web-enabling DCE-based applications. It sports an automatic database reconnection feature that detects database server failure, then automatically connects to a mirrored or replicated RDBMS. It later reconnects to the original database when it detects that it is available again.

Entera 4.2 supports IS firewalls and provides an option that allows multiple clients to access a single database transaction server and manages the configuration dynamically, all to more efficiently manage resources. It also includes enhanced caching abilities to improve performance.

Entera 4.2 now supports complex Java datatypes, so Java developers have greater control and flexibility over applications.

Entera 4.2 is available for AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, and Windows NT. Contact the company for pricing.

https://www.inprise.com/entera/

FusionStor offers LiveFusion enterprise integration engine

FusionStor announced LiveFusion, a Java-based enterprise integration knowledge engine that builds a universal, shared view of corporate data systems.

LiveFusion is an enabling technology that occupies the same “space” as traditional middleware, but which complements and extends middleware.

LiveFusion fills in the gap where document and knowledge management isn’t yet deployed, such as microfiche and offsite storage. With it, users don’t need to know where to look for information. It creates a unique identifier for data that lets a single piece of data (such as an employee’s name) be accessed from multiple locations, helping to reduce data duplication.

LiveFusion offers:

• A database-abstraction layer that rests directly above the data and lets developers write applications that are almost database-independent, focusing on objects and processes
• Pluggable providers that link multiple forms of data from various sources, extract abstract datatypes, and treat them identically
• Database extensions

After data and applications are integrated into a central repository, LiveFusion’s business processes (document management, workflow, knowledge management, and “push” technology) offer a single point of access for each piece of data. This also makes it easy when data or applications need to be updated, since it only needs to be done once.

LiveFusion users also get most of the environment and tools necessary to build new applications.

The company offers professional services to customize and integrate LiveFusion. LiveFusion 1.0 should be available by June 1999.

https://www.fusionstor.com/html/livefusion.html

GEO Interactive showcases live, no-plug-in Netcast site

GEO Interactive announced the launch of WebRadio.com, a plug-in-free Internet broadcasting site that users should be able to access starting Q299.

WebRadio.com is powered by GEO Interactive’s Java-based Emblaze streaming media technology, so users can hear radio Webcasts by just clicking on the site, no plug-ins required. Emblaze also lets content generators send streaming media through the site.

WebRadio.com will initially offer live radio broadcasting feeds around the clock to global Internet users. To this end, it has signed Webcasting deals with 27 US radio stations.

For the future, the company intends to offer other live and on-demand programming that includes music concerts and videos, TV programs, movie trailers, promotions, news, and sports. It will let users see, as well as hear, popular DJs through live Webcam broadcasts.

WebRadio.com plans to generate revenue through advertising, sponsorships, e-commerce commissions, and Webcasting service fees for events and corporations.

https://www.webradio.com/

PERCobol 2.1 compiles COBOL in Java environments

Synkronix announced PERCobol Enterprise 2.1, an upgrade to its ANSI-standard COBOL compiler that lets COBOL applications be deployed on any Java platform.

With this version, PERCobol extends remote file access through NFS and WebNFS file servers, allowing users to access remote files as if they were local. Other new features include execution performance, dynamic memory, and split-key support. Execution performance has been increased by 500 percent over version 2.0, according to company spokespersons.

PERCobol 2.1 lets COBOL programmers craft COBOL Beans and COBOL Servlets. The compiler generates JavaBeans that encapsulate COBOL business logic, and PERCobol’s COBOL syntax has been extended to support building high-performance servlets.

PERCobol 2.1 also adds Wang COBOL to its other supported language extensions (for IBM, HP, X/Open). It can also use dynamic internationalization to adapt a COBOL single-source program, then dynamically set the target nationalization characteristics (such as currency, punctuation, alphabet, collating sequences, and so on) at runtime.

PERCobol 2.1 is available for HP-MPE/iX, HP-UX, OS/390/400/2, AIX, Linux, UnixWare, Solaris SPARC/x86, MPE, Windows 95/98/NT 4.0.

https://www.synkronix.com/sync_perc1.html

InfernoSpaces lets network devices intercommunicate

Lucent Technologies’s Inferno division announced the free beta release of InfernoSpaces, its file-based network computing technology designed to allow network devices to intercommunicate, regardless of original or target operating system or language.

InfernoSpaces can be used to quickly write virtually any kind of network application and to build links to legacy systems, since the file approach allows developers to develop and embed network applications with fewer steps.

The file approach to distributing applications across the network is quite simple to use; it means that developers view and handle data, network devices, connections, and interfaces as files. With this scheme, files only need to be opened, read, and written, so developers don’t have to first define and implement protocols or create and debug network code — a complex task.

The InfernoSpaces model also includes such security measures as digital signatures, certificates, and encryption.

InfernoSpaces is completely language- and operating system-independent, so organizations with existing legacy systems or limited resources can implement distributed network computing.

Theoretically, it can work in with any programming language in any OS environment. However, at this moment, it supports C/Java in Solaris/NT. It is already in use in Lucent’s PacketStar IP Services Platform and Internet Protocol Exchange Systems.

Inferno plans to release a commercial version within the next few months. The company plans to keep the commercial version fee-free (both licensing and royalty). Users will be required to endorse an electronic open source licensing agreement. The company also has plans to implement a formal certification process.

https://www.lucent-inferno.com/Pages/Developers/InfernoSpaces/ISpaces1.0/index.html

Sun’s NetDynamics 5.0 app server to support Java 2, EJB 1.0

Sun announced version 5.0 of the NetDynamics Application Server, which a spokesperson claims will be a “building block for business portals,” offering enhanced cross-platform and standards support.

NetDynamics’s division VP Zack Rinat noted that NetDynamics 5.0 will be based on Java 2 and EJB 1.0, and should be able to support more than 225 million Web interactions per day, with a response time of less than a half a second. It will offer native connectivity to databases, enterprise-management systems, and third-party platforms and tools.

Rinat added that the version 5.0 server will be capable of handling more transactions “than Yahoo and eBay combined.”

With version 5.0, the company will release a NetDynamics Platform Adapter Component (PAC) for integrating with COM services and clients, as well as PACs for integration with Symantec’s Visual Cafe and Computer Associates Unicenter. Other new PACs include those for XML, LDAP, CICS, the MQSeries, and AS/400. PACs for PeopleSoft and SAP R/3 systems already exist.

Version 5.0 supports such connectivity options as SMTP, IMP, POP, SNMP, and JDBC.

NetDynamics 5.0 Studio is now available to developers for 95. The application server will ship for Solaris and NT by the end of March 1999, with prices starting at 5,000 per CPU. The HP-UX and AIX versions should appear sometime in Q2.

https://www.netdynamics.com/

CrossWorlds InterChange Server 2.0

CrossWorlds Software announced version 2.0 of the Java-based CrossWorlds packages, which includes the InterChange Server, the Designer, and the Connector Development Kit (CDK) development tools — a bundle designed to help users integrate commercial or custom applications across trading networks.

CrossWorlds 2.0 offers increased performance with new multithreaded processing, fast IIOP synchronous transport, and event sequencing. CrossWorlds has enhanced its Designer and CDK development tools, making it easier to extend, customize, maintain, and deploy the trading network. The Designer comes with three tools for modeling and implementing cross-platform business processes, maps, and data objects:

• A Unified Modeling Language-based business process-modeling tool that lets analysts graphically model and configure CrossWorlds Collaborations, maps, and business objects based on their particular requirements (instead of having to program the components by hand)
• A new mapping engine and relationship service to make it easier to define and maintain maps, transformations, and relationships across different applications
• The existing TSI Mercator mapping engine for existing customers who have chosen to standardize on it

The CrossWorlds package centers on its connectors and integrators (predefined application-connectivity modules) and collaborations (cross-application business-logic modules), combining these modules with native design tools and system management systems.

The InterChange Server supports Solaris 2.6 and Windows NT 4.0; other Unix-system support is forthcoming. Server pricing is dependent on the number and configuration of connectors, integrators, and collaborations. The Designer costs 0,000 per developer seat. The CDK costs 5,000 per seat.

https://www.crossworlds.com/products/prod_arch_overview.html

Schlumberger offers Cyberflex Access Java card

Schlumberger announced Cyberflex Access, a new Java-based smart card that combines onboard cryptographic services with multiple-application abilities.

Cyberflex Access comes with 16 KB of EEPROM memory, enough to store several Java smart-card programs (called Cardlets); a cryptographic library that includes RSA, DES, and triple-DES functions; and a SHA-1 hashing algorithm.

The card’s library and processing power allows developers to secure transactions with digital signature and authentication services.

The card is fully compliant with the JavaCard API 2.0 specification, and supports the main features of the version 2.1 specification. It is also backwards-compatible with Schlumberger’s previous smart card, the Cyberflex Open 16K.

The Cyberflex Access card is supported by the Cyberflex Development Kit, which works with standard Java development tools.

https://www.cyberflex.com/index.html

IBM pushes to give EJB control to standards org

IBM is at the forefront of a movement asking Sun to hand over the reins of its Enterprise JavaBeans specification to a standards organization, such as OMG. Sun recently announced Java 2 Enterprise Edition, which encapsulates several server-side Java technologies (EJB, JSP, etc.).

After the review process for EJB 1.1 (Moscone) is complete, probably in June, IBM and others contend the spec should be delivered to the care of a standards organization. Bluestone Software Senior VP Bob Brickel said, “The EJB spec is getting bogged down and bloated. The problem with any Java API is how to control it. It would be good to open it up to get higher quality.”

IBM Middleware Integration GM John Swainson thinks OMG is a good choice for EJB: “I can imagine OMG becoming the logical body for the EJB spec. It’s an object spec more than a language spec. OMG already has work under way in CORBA 3 to converge CORBA 2 and EJB.”

OMG’s president Bill Hoffman is on board. He said, “We believe Java and EJB should be in a process where it’s truly open. We would welcome the move.”

A Sun spokesperson commented that EJB is not yet mature enough to turn over to a standards organization.

Saga to add Java to its integration product

Saga Software announced a strategic developer relationship with Sun that will focus on the integration of Java in Saga’s currently developing Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) product, Sagavista.

Sagavista is a business-centric middleware solution designed to intelligently link various systems in order to access desired enterprise information, integrating disparate operating environments within the enterprise. It comes with adapters, a message broker, and a developer’s kit. It can be used for:

• ERP integration with custom legacy systems
• Inter-ERP or packaged application integration
• Custom and database application integration
• Front-office-to-back-office systems integration

Sagavista comes with:

• The Sagavista Integration Server that provides intelligent routing, rules processing, and data-transformation engines to process, translate, and transport modified information to the receiving applications and databases in the expected format
• Adapters that link ERP applications (from SAP, Oracle, Baan, and PeopleSoft) and custom, legacy packaged applications and databases (from Oracle, Informix, Sybase, DB2, and Adabas)
• The Workflow Wizard that helps integrate custom and packaged applications, eliminating as much as 80 percent of the traditional coding

Saga CTO and VP David Linthicum said, “Sagavista is one of the first EAI products to be developed completely using Java technology, offering truly cross-platform functionality across multiple operating systems, including Sun Solaris, as well as OS/390, MVS, and NT.” He added, “The Enterprise JavaBeans specification defines a standard way for vendors to create a rich server execution environment for Java technology with the inherent scalability required for high-volume transaction processing and access to all resources. Sagavista’s components may be implemented as Enterprise JavaBeans and can be deployed in virtually any server.”

https://www.sagasoftware.com/site/solution/som/sagavista.htm

Blackdown Java/Linux porting team brings Java 2 to Linux

The Blackdown Java/Linux porting team announced the prerelease version of the Java 2 SDK for Linux.

This version has bugs and a variety of problems (depending on the library versions — libc, libdl, ld-linux, libpthreads). Known problems include:

• Only a statically linked version of Motif is available
• Infrequent problems with the child thread execution in Runtime.exec
• The just-in-time compiler is on by default, but doesn’t do well with green threads
• Poor sound
• Some problems running debug versions of Java (using java_g)

The team requests that users report all bugs to the Java/Linux jitterbug bug database at https://www.blackdown.org/java-linux.html.

For the x86 processor, at the present time there is only one flavor based on glibc 2.0 (glibc 2.1 coming).

https://shell.ncm.com/~sbb/jdk1.2-README.linux

Two teams build JDK port for PowerPCs

The PowerPC JDK porting team joins forces with Blackdown’s Java/Linux porters to deliver a unified, version 1 prerelease of Java 2 for LinuxPPC.

The port passed all noninteractive JCK tests for compiler, runtime-vm, and runtime lang. Its threads break into green (stable) and native (beta level). It is designed for glibc 1.99 (DR3, R4, and R4.1). It doesn’t support the Metrowerks JIT compiler yet, and it is statically linked with Motif 2.1.

MkLinux users will have to wait for an upcoming update before the Native Threads add-on will function well.

The download is 50 MB (35 for the basic JDK, 15 for the Native Threads pack).

https://business.tyler.wm.edu/mklinux/

Beta version 1 for Java 3D 1.1.1

Sun announced the beta version 1 of the Java 3D API 1.1.1 for DirectX.

The Java 3D API, a set of classes that allows users to build 3D graphics applications and Internet-based 3D applets. It provides high-level constructs for creating and manipulating 3D geometry and building the structures used to render that geometry.

With this software, developers can define and render very large virtual worlds.

Sun also announced that it is looking for applications of Java 3D for joint marketing purposes. Registration is free.

https://developer.java.sun.com/developer/earlyAccess/java3D/index.html

Sun issues JNDI 1.2 Early Access 1

Sun announced the Early Access version 1 release of the Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI).

JNDI 1.2 offers such new features as event notification and LDAP vw controls and extensions.

This early access release provides an implementation of the JNDI 1.2 specification and has not undergone testing.

It requires JDK 1.1.6 or later or Java 2.

https://developer.java.sun.com/developer/earlyAccess/jndi/

Sun calls for HotSpot VM testers

Sun is looking for a few good beta testers for the Java HotSpot Virtual Machine 1.0.

Sun is looking for about 300 HotSpot VM testers who are developing Java 2 bytecode-intensive applications on Solaris or Windows platforms and can commit to delivering timely, detailed bug reports.

This is a limited beta test due to resource constraints.

https://developer.java.sun.com/developer/products/hotspot/beta-appl.html

Sun teaches the fundamentals of Swing

The Java Developer Connection is offering Part One of a short course on the Fundamentals of Swing, written by the MageLang Institute’s John Zukowski and Scott Stanchfield.

The goal of this two-part course is to detail the advantages of Swing over the Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT) used in JDK 1.1. The course explains Swing controls, layout managers, and events. Part One covers a general introduction to Swing; it will provide the basics to let developers use the Swing component set in place of the AWT components.

Part Two will include information on using Swing’s Pluggable Look & Feel and Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture. Part Two will be posted shortly.

The course and exercises require a JDK 1.1.5 or higher environment.

https://developer.java.sun.com/developer/onlineTraining/GUI/Swing1/index.html

Book on advanced Java design

The Java Developer Connection has posted a chapter of a book in progress by Calvin Austin, Tony Squier, and Monica Pawlan — Designing and Building Advanced Java Applications.

This book includes the design, development, test, and deployment phases for an enterprise-worthy antiques-auction application, to help developers navigate Java APIs. It explores common situations and delivers a solid methodology for designing and building Java applications.

Developers will need more than a beginning level of Java expertise for this book. Preliminary draft chapters will be linked as they become available.

Chapters available now are Chapter 7, “Performance Techniques,” and Chapter 2 (continued), “Printing.” Upcoming chapters include:

• Chapter 1: “Matching Project Requests with Java Technology (Defining the Project, Finding the Java APIs You Need, Design)”
• Chapter 3: “Distributed Computing (Security, Commerce, Enterprise JavaBeans, RMI, JINI, CORBA, JCE)”
• Chapter 4: “Working with Your Database Administrator (JDBC, Multitiered Architecture)”
• Chapter 5: “Reusing Legacy Libraries with JNI (Third-Party Libraries, Database Libraries, Scientific Libraries)”
• Chapter 6: “Debugging Applets, Applications, and Servlets (Collecting Evidence, Running Tests and Analyzing, Servlet Debugging, AWT Event Debugging, Analyzing Stack Traces, Version Issues)”
• Chapter 8: “Firewall Tunneling”
• Chapter 9: “Signing and Security (Web Browsers, Local File Access, Example, Signed Applets in JDK 1.1)”
• Chapter 10: “Deploying Your Application (Plug-ins, Installation, 100 Percent Pure)”
• Chapter 11: “Applets and Applications (Applets to Applications, Applications to Applets)”

https://developer.java.sun.com/developer/onlineTraining/JDCBook/index.html

Sun and Adobe put a price on the head of XSL implementations

Sun and Adobe are spurring eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) development by offering 0,000 in bounties to independent developers to build specific XSL implementations.

XSL is a W3C working draft that lets Web developers apply formatting rules to XML documents. XSL allows the document to carry information about the format structure, body, title, chapter, table of contents, and so on.

Sun will put up 0,000 for implementations of XSL to be added to the Mozilla.org open source project of developing source code for the Communicator browser. It will be a plug-in that provides XSL-formatting capabilities for the Mozilla browser, distributable under the Mozilla public license.

Adobe will provide money for some of the second set of prizes. It will offer a 0,000 first prize and a 0,000 second prize for a Java-based, print-oriented batch formatter that supports Adobe’s portable document format. The batch formatter must let printers process information from stylesheets when printing batches of data.

Chairperson of the W3C XML coordination group and Sun employee Jon Bosak said the companies would formally announce the prizes in April. The winning technologies will eventually be placed in the public domain.

Tek-Tools KAWA 3.20 gets Java API

Tek-Tools announced the release of KAWA 3.20, an upgrade of its IDE for developing Java applications, applets, servlets, and JavaBeans components. This version includes a new Java-based plug-in API.

The new API allows developers to integrate other development tools with KAWA and enables developers to integrate their own Java programs. This API delivers improved source-control integration and can help users more easily customize development projects.

Version 3.20 also comes with a new debugger that works with JDK 1.1 and Java 2.

The software provides a flexible wrapper that allows compatibility with all JDK versions. It contains JDK profiles, so users can switch among versions at will.

KAWA 3.20 supports Windows 95/98/NT 4.0. Developers can snag a free 30-day evaluation version. Pricing starts at 9 for a single-developer license.

There is also a maintenance release available.

Version 3.21 new features/fixes:

• The debugger tree displays static variables for Stack item
• Debugger displays long variables
• The Project/New extension problem (causing it to create project files with a KAW instead of KAWA extension) with Windows 95 is corrected
• New tutorials
• The “no main method” crash is fixed
• Compilation with jikes wasn’t recognizing errors, it is now
• For NT, the compiler was unable to create temporary files; now it’s fixed
• The plug-in classpath is no longer ignored

https://www.tek-tools.com/kawa/index.html

HOBLink J-Term 2.1

HOB Electronic announced version 2.1 of HOBLink J-Term, a 130-KB Java applet that emulates 3270, 5250, and VT220 terminals. J-Term 2.1 allows users to centralize applet and host-session administration, offering three new configuration options over the previous version.

Version 2.1 offers an enterprise, standard, and local configuration model:

• The enterprise model lets administrators handle management centrally from the Web server, with all user settings stored on the server.
• The standard model is a thin installation that doesn’t allow personalized user settings. This model minimizes the amount of data transmitted across the network, perfect for slow networks.
• The local model installs Java applets locally instead of over the Web.

Version 2.1 also allows for host access over the Internet and intranets, encryption of 3270 data for security purposes, support for Y2K and the Euro, and integration of a range of tools. Host connection can be made from any Java-enabled computer on the Internet, without additional installed software.

HOBLink J-Term 2.1 costs ,462 for a 10-user license.

For non-German speakers, AltaVista Babelfish Translations (https://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/) work well on this page.

German-language info on version 2.1: https://www.hob.de/produkte/connect/jterm21.htm

English-language info on version 1.1: https://www.hob.de/www_us/produkte/connect/javaterm.htm

CST extends Jacada

CST announced Jacada Connects (the former Jacada ComponentServer), an expanded product line that lets legacy applications rapidly be deployed as e-commerce, Web-to-host solutions.

Jacada Connects products include:

• Jacada Connects, for Java-based application integration
• Jacada Connects to Domino, for integration with Lotus Notes/Domino
• Jacada Connects to HTML, for integration to such Web servers as Microsoft IIS and Netscape Enterprise Server

The Jacada Connects products give users the ability to quickly catalog host-application screens and deliver access to those screens through an open Java API. Any AS/400 and mainframe application can deliver e-commerce solutions, since Jacada Connects uses existing business logic and data without requiring modifications to existing application code or data structures. The user only needs knowledge of the application’s user interface.

Jacada Connects products run on Windows NT and AS/400 servers (with native support for Unix and S/390 servers coming in the middle of 1999). Development licenses start at ,500, priced per concurrent sessions.

https://www.cst.com/Products/JacadaCS.htm

Visual Cafe suite simplifies distributed app development

Symantec announced the Visual Cafe Enterprise Suite, a superset package of the Java IDE Visual Cafe Database Edition version 3.0.

It offers Symantec’s Single-View technology, which maintains a single image of the distributed development environment, hiding the complexities of a multiplatform computing environment. According to product manager Seth Cohen, “We want to mask from the average Java programmer the communication details across tiers.”

Cohen added, “We polled our installed base and, by leaps and bounds, the notion of being able to debug the entire context of a distributed application was the top need.”

The suite also introduces support for client and server development using object request brokers (ORBs) based on CORBA and Remote Method Invocation (RMI) architectures. It uses wizards to simplify the development of client and server objects.

Client adapter wizards make it easier to build software that communicates with a remote object, based on either CORBA or RMI. Servant class wizards simplify the creation of CORBA or RMI server objects. The wizards can link components across Solaris, NT, HP-UX, and application servers. And with COM-to-CORBA ORBs from Iona and Inprise, COM can also be integrated.

Visual Cafe Enterprise Suite costs ,794 per developer license.

https://www.symantec.com/domain/cafe/enterprise/

VTEL buys Vosaic Net video software company

VTEL announced the acquisition of the core team at Vosaic, an Internet video software technology company. Vosaic built the first multimedia Web browser, Video Mosaic, which was the first to stream video through a browser in an adaptive manner and was the first to offer large-scale Webcasts using pure Java with no plug-ins or specialized software.

The acquisition delivers a combination of VTEL’s PC-based products with Vosaic’s Java-based streaming applications, giving VTEL videoconferencing users the ability to extend collaborative applications to broader audiences through the Internet and other IP networks.

With the purchase, VTEL gets:

• Java-based media players that can run on Windows, Mac, and Unix
• Java-based server-encoding and -authoring technology
• Server-based reflector technology that provides network administration, security, and intelligent routing
• Quality of Service (QoS) algorithms to implement intelligent routing, improve network load balancing, and to ensure a high degree of reliability in delivering Internet video and audio
• Network protocols for realtime adaptive multimedia transport
• Internet-optimized loss-resistant codecs

VTEL plans to integrate the Vosaic technology into its SmartVideoNet Manager.

https://www.vtel.com/

ClubComputer picks Selectica for e-commerce

Selectica announced that ClubComputer.com (“Costco for computers”) has chosen Selectica’s all-Java ACE products to run part of its online computer store.

ACE lets ClubComputer.com offer its buyers a way to build their products to order through an interactive advisor that helps them pick the features that best meet their needs. Users can click through a series of screens to select hardware components, software packages, and networking peripherals. The ACE system’s Advisor utility counsels users on options, while the Pricer utility keeps a running tally of the costs.

ClubComputer.com has plans to extend the system soon with the ACE comparison utility, which will allow buyers to compare similar configurations from different manufacturers.

The front-end ACE system runs on the Windows NT platform, easily integrating with ClubComputer.com’s back-end order processing, purchasing, and customer database systems.

The ACE product suite includes:

• An interactive GUI
• A multi-threaded, constraint-based rules engine that can execute thousands of constraints in subsecond response times with thousands of concurrent users
• A centralized database

British utilities reps test Tadpole Java field system

Tadpole Technology recently sponsored an event for the British utilities, telecommunications, and public service industries to demonstrate the future of mobile computing.

The event, hosted by the Bristol Water utility at its visitors center, brought in representatives from the above mentioned industries to give them an opportunity for hands-on experience with Tadpole-Cartesia, its Java-based, enterprise-level field information system.

The mobile Tadpole system combines easy-to-use, specialized software and rugged pen-based computers so field workers can access and deliver mission-critical data regardless of location. Tadpole announced that it had developed this system in the middle of 1998. Field trials started late in 1998.

At the event, Bristol Water’s Paul Fanner talked about nine benefits workers realized from using the system in the trials:

• Shortened job-completion cycles in the field
• Accelerated scheduling, dispatching, recording, and tasks closing
• Eliminated need to print maps and work orders and reduces paperwork
• Ensured accuracy of corporate data by “forcing” field worker input and validation of work entries
• Improved accuracy of field worker and corporate data
• Provided up-to-the-minute information
• Reduced data-transfer times
• Accommodated data-model changes
• Integrated with existing back-office corporate systems

Sun/Sybase alliance to speed Java DB development

Sun and Sybase announced they will join efforts to help developers use Sybase products to produce next-generation consumer and embedded devices that can use a small-footprint database.

Officials said that the agreement is not exclusive; Sun will continue working with other vendors to develop small-footprint consumer and embedded devices that enable Internet access. Sun Consumer/embedded division president Mark Tolliver said, “We believe that this is a terrific use of Java.”

Tolliver added that Jini would be key to delivering a small-footprint database architecture.

Delivery dates for products and services were unavailable.

Java extension will support XML

Sun announced that it is crafting an extension for Java that will provide support for the eXtensible Markup Language (XML), making it easier for developers to create applications that bridge the two technologies.

Sun will employ the Java Community Process to build the extension, which will be in the form of a standard API. Sun Senior XML Product Manager Nancy Lee said, “There are a lot of different implementations out there at the moment. [This API] will benefit enterprises because they’ll be able to count on this API to be stable and secure, and they needn’t be concerned about incompatibilities with each vendor using a proprietary parser.”

The XML extension will consist of standard classes to generate and manipulate XML. Sun’s preliminary outline of the extension provides basic functions, such as the capability to read, manipulate, and generate XML-based data streams and formats.

https://java.sun.com/xml

ServletExec 2.0.2 upgrade

New Atlanta announced a maintenance upgrade for its servlet engine, ServletExec 2.0.2. The upgrade mostly covers Java 2 compatibility issues plus some bug fixes.

ServletExec is a Java-based Web application server that is a complete implementation of the Java Servlet API 2.0 and includes such features as session tracking, servlet aliases, chains, and response filters. It supports JavaServer Pages (JSP) defined by Draft Specification 0.91 and such Web servers as IIS, PWS, FastTrack (Unix and Windows), Enterprise (Unix and Windows), Apache (Unix and Windows), and maces Web servers.

ServletExec supports IIS 2.0/3.0/4.0 on NT; PWS 1.0/4.0 on Windows 95/98; FastTrack/Enterprise 3.0/3.5.1/3.6 on NT/Solaris; Enterprise 3.5.1/3.6 on HP-UX/Solaris; and Apache 1.3.1 on NT/Unix. For the Mac, it supports WebSTAR 2.0/2.1/3.0; Quid Pro Quo 2.0/2.1; WebTen 1.1.1/2.0; and AppleShare IP 5.0.2.

Pricing for ServletExec 2.0 is 95 for a single-server license.

https://www.newatlanta.com/products.html

Early access release of Java Sound API 0.85

Sun announced an early access release of the Java Sound API specification, an API that provides low-level support for audio mixing, audio capture, MIDI sequencing, and MIDI synthesis.

Version 0.85 is an API-only release, with the implementation to follow soon. The 0.85 release offers significant changes to the API over the 0.8 version. Developers can still get the 0.8 release, though.

The included Java Sound Engine is a high quality, 32-channel, audio-rendering and MIDI-controlled sound-synthesis engine for reliable sound on all Java 2 systems.

https://java.sun.com/products/java-media/sound/

Wrapped up in the Cocoon servlet

The Java Apache Project announced the Cocoon Servlet, a 100-percent Java publishing-framework HTTP servlet that changes the way Web content is created, rendered, and delivered.

The Cocoon scheme is based on the division among content generation, style, and logic in a document. Cocoon’s method is to separate the three layers, so each can be independently generated, designed, and managed.

With HTML, information and presentation are combined with formatting and description tags and programmable logic. With Cocoon, content would be written in XML, style would be set on XSL stylesheets, and logic composed on logicsheets or actionsheets. The different layers would be stored as different files.

Developing Web content is also divided into three levels:

• XML creation by the content owners, a person with no specific knowledge on how the XML content is further processed.
• XML processing — the XML file is processed and the logic in the logicsheet is applied. Here processing instructions and defined active tags are evaluated.
• XSL rendering, the point where an XSL stylesheet is applied and the document is rendered.

A concern of the project is that of complexity. The operations necessary to process document layers are complex, currently not designed to operate in a realtime environment. One option proposed by the Cocoon developers is for it to be a page compiler for dynamic pages, hardcoding the layers in binary Java servlet code and to be a cache system for static pages.

Another concern is the problem of page compiling the three processing layers into a single servlet, linked to the postprocessing requirements of XSL rendering. This problem may be solved when XSL browsers are available, since the XSL rendering would happen on the client side.

For more information, check with the project.

https://java.apache.org/cocoon/index.html

IBM alphaWorks Xeena edits XML documents

IBM alphaWorks announced Xeena, a generic Java application for editing valid XML documents derived from a valid DTD (document type definition).

Xeena is built on top of Swing and the TRL XML parser. The XML element attributes are edited through a table. The editor, a multiple document Interface application, is designed to guide the user in inserting elements into the tree in the correct, DTD-defined order. It also supports interdocument cut and paste.

With Xeena, the editor takes a given DTD as input and automatically builds a palette that contains the elements defined in the DTD. Users can create, edit, or expand any document derived from that DTD by using a visual tree-directed paradigm that requires only a modicum of instruction, since only the valid constructs and elements are presented to the user in a context-sensitive palette.

Xeena supports syntax-directed editing. It is aware of the DTD grammar, and by making just the authorized elements icons sensitive, it automatically ensures that generated documents are valid according to the given DTD.

Xeena also features easy customization, a tree control view of XML documents for editing, the ability to edit multiple XML documents, a source viewer, restrictions of adding and editing features, and a facility that checks the generated document’s validity.

Xeena is for Windows 95/98/NT and Unix platforms.

https://www.alphaWorks.ibm.com/tech/xeena

IBM issues Excel Bean

IBM alphaWorks announced the ExcelAccessor Bean suite, JavaBeans that can visually program a Java application to access and modify the contents of a Microsoft Excel worksheet, all without writing code.

The suite consists of three nonvisual beans that can be linked to other beans to build applications to access the Value, Formula, Format, and Note Text properties in an Excel spreadsheet.

It supports JDK 1.1.

https://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/ab.nsf/bean/ExcelAccessor

IBM alphaWorks updates XML Parser for Java

This upgrade to version 2.0.3 of the IBM alphaWorks XML Parser for Java includes some bug fixes, improved native DOM performance, and native DOM control of entity expansion.

Among the bug fixes are repairs to the TX compatibility classes and SAX DTD Handlers.

Version 2 added an easily configurable, modular architecture.

For Linux and all Java platforms.

https://www.alphaWorks.ibm.com/tech/xml4j

KL Group’s JProbe Profiler 2.0

KL Group announced JProbe Profiler 2.0, an upgrade to its Java performance-profile software. This version includes a new graphical memory debugger for easy identification of Java code bottlenecks and memory leaks.

JProbe Profiler 2.0 sports such features as:

• Memory debugging and performance profiling on a per-method or per-line basis
• Memory (heap) usage in realtime as a program runs
• Automatic filtering and trigger features for targeted data collection
• A Heap Reference Graph as an aid to quickly find and eliminate memory leaks

JProbe profiles applications written in JDK 1.1 and Java 2, running on Windows 95/98/NT and Solaris. It should be shipping by press time at a cost of 99 for a single-developer license. Gold Support Subscriptions costs 99 a year.

https://www.klgroup.com/jprobe

Tom Sawyer Graph Editor Toolkit for Java 3.0

Tom Sawyer Software announced the Graph Editor Toolkit for Java 3.0 (GETJ), an upgrade to its all-Java component that lets developers rapidly assemble market diagram editors.

GETJ is built with Swing and provides graphical editing utilities, diagram management, and automatic layout. New features in version 3.0 include

• Multi-level nested diagramming that lets developers drill down and interact with multiple levels of diagrams with built-in navigation routines
• Smart labels, so users can add, delete, and edit multiple labels interactively or automatically — and the labels are smart enough to keep from overlapping
• Smart path routing, so paths are automatically routed around diagram elements
• The ability to deliver automatic or interactive on-demand hierarchical, orthogonal, circular, and symmetric layout on thin clients, applied incrementally or globally
• Built-in graphical editing utilities
• A set of customizable and extendable class libraries and APIs
• A scalable graph model that allows diagrams to grow in size without degradation in interactive or display performance
• Topology support that allows users to generate and display advanced graph topologies such as cycles, self-loops, and multiple connections between pairs of diagram elements

GETJ 3.0 can be used in applets and standalone applications, and it supports Java, RMI, and CORBA. Check with the company for pricing.

https://www.tomsawyer.com/get/get-java.html

Sun offers Java Embedded Server 1.0

Sun announced the Java Embedded Server 1.0 (JES), a small-footprint thin server designed to extend Sun’s application server offerings out of the office to remote environments. This version complies with the OSG 1.0 specification established by the Open Services Gateway Initiative (OSGI), an industry task force that crafts standards for the deployment of network services to remote environments.

The OSG 1.0 spec is based on the JES 1.0 architecture and is expected to be available in Q3/499. (A services gateway is the buzz phrase for a connection point between enterprise data centers and residential/SOHO LANs. It lets service providers manage and deploy network applications in existing setups.)

According to Sun sources, upcoming releases will feature a pluggable Jini lookup and registry service component (code-named “Project Aladdin”) that allows devices and services to automatically register themselves on a network, so service providers can deploy Jini’s easy connectivity to intermittently connected environments.

JES 1.0 is available, but only by calling 888-843-5282. An early access version (with Jini support) will be available at the JavaOne Conference, June 15 to 18 , 1999.

https://java.sun.com/embeddedserver/

Flashline starts Beans By Design online service

The Flashline.com online component marketplace has launched Beans By Design (BBD), an online service to combine the outsourcing of JavaBeans development with a double-blind, sealed bidding system.

The idea: Instead of searching the Net to find a JavaBean that meets specific needs, clients can use BBD to choose the best developer to build a custom bean to their specifications. BBD uses online auction technologies and expects to soon expand to ActiveX and COM component offerings.

Searching companies anonymously submit a “Bean Request” online that outlines the project, including specifications, due date, support, requirements, etc. E-mail is sent to all registered developers notifying them of the request. Respondents can submit a sealed bid or ask for more clarification on the project (the additional questions will be posted online for all to see). After bidding closes, the requestor selects the winner, decided by whatever criteria they determine is valid.

Flashline does not charge a fee for either developer or client.

https://www.flashline.com/Components/Developers/BeansByDesign.jsp

NetBeans DeveloperX2 2.1 tools support Java 2

NetBeans announced DeveloperX2 2.1 and Developer 2.1, two toolkits that allow developers to build Java Foundation Classes GUIs and compile and debug applications on their choice of platforms. DeveloperX2 is designed to support Java 2, and Developer supports Swing 1.1 and JDK 1.1.

The Developer duo supports all levels of visual application development, including design, coding, compiling, and debugging. All parts of the packages are JavaBean components, making the entire programs easy to add to, modify, and customize.

The next release of Developer (code-named “Gandalf” and planned for Q299) should feature JDBC support, a new editor, more advanced debugging, drag-and-drop abilities, beans enhancements, collections, image processing, and printing, plus a set of Open APIs that allow third parties to customize NetBeans.

Both versions are available and can be tried for free. They cost 45 each.

https://www.netbeans.com/developer.html

SourceGuard 3.0 Enterprise Edition

4thpass announced SourceGuard 3.0 Enterprise Edition, software that protects investments in Java applications and applets by replacing all names with unreadable symbols so decompiled code is almost impossible to read. It also produces bytecode with no equivalent source code.

New in version 3.0:

• SmartReflection, a patent-pending built-in mechanism that handles reflection calls
• NameMinimizer algorithm that chooses the smallest set of symbols possible within the protected project to allow for greater size reduction
• Loop hiding, which transforms flow-control graphs of methods that contain loops to irreducible graphs by introducing harmless instructions
• Bytecode Range Modification technology that stops decompilers dead in their tracks by introducing catch tables with overlapped ranges of an unthrown exception
• Improved performance
• RMI support
• Predefined templates and custom rules for applications, servlets, applets, libraries, and JavaBeans
• Package and name managers
• New Project and Build wizards
• a visually configurable expressions builder

Available now, SourceGuard 3.0 requires Java 2 to run. The CD version costs ,995; the download version, ,935; and the upgrade from version 2.0, ,395. Royalty-free unlimited distribution allows for distribution of any number of applications per developer.

https://www.4thpass.com/products/

Areane offers servlet-based SSI

Areane announces SSI for Java 0.21, a toolkit that allows programmers to separate program logic from the generation of HTML tags, so, according to the company, “programmers can think like programmers and Web designers can think like Web designers.”

SSI for Java 0.21 links the work of both worlds. It defines two new interfaces — Writable and Translator. A Writable element is an object that can produce HTML tags. It provides several predefined objects that implement the Writable interface, including:

• CounterElement (implements a page counter that is incremented each time it writes its content)
• PropertyElement (displays the value of one variable of the context)
• DateElement (derived from PropertyElement, it is optimized to display dates using specific formatting strings)
• GenericElement (a general purpose class to produce neat lists of Properties taken dynamically from an Iterator)
• IndexElement (produces indexes of files and directories in a path)
• InputElement (handles a stateful input tag)
• ListElement (builds lists of links)
• SelectElement (handles a stateful select tag)
• TableElement (produces a table from a flow of dynamically provided Iterator items)
• TextElement (displays static text)

The Translator is a dictionary that can be used to substitute objects.

SSI for Java uses the traditional SSI framework to Java development, so Web applications are developed from a model that uses such ordinary Java objects as hashtables, vectors, arrays, and custom classes. Views are built by creating HTML templates. Intuitive SSI commands are used to place/format data from the model objects directly into the HTML document.

The all-Java software uses only standard features from Java 2. It is released under the GPL.

https://www.areane.com/java/ssiforjava/index.htm