BEA dev tool upgrade poses challenges

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Noting a lack of binary compatibility between current and future versions of its Java development environment, BEA Systems is pledging to smooth the transition for developers moving from BEA WebLogic Workshop 8.1 to the planned Workshop 9.0.2 release.

Code-named “Daybreak,” Version 9.0.2 is due next spring, said Pieter Humphrey, senior product marketing manager at BEA, during the BEAWorld 2005 conference on Thursday.

“[Version] 8.1 applications are not binary-compatible with 9.0.2 because just to keep pace with the standards [and] Java 5.0 annotations means a change in source code syntax; that means you have to recompile it,” Humphrey said. Applications that originated in Version 8.1 would benefit from Version 9.0.2 features such as the multiplatform compatibility that the Apache Beehive component model offers, Humphrey said.

To accommodate switches between the two IDEs, BEA is planning an upgrade “harness” tool for reporting and restarting failed upgrades. It’s also eyeing source upgrade tools. A demonstration of an application upgrade between the two versions required approximately 10 mouse clicks. 

Providing a strong upgrade path factored heavily in the company’s decision to postpone the release of the IDE until next spring as opposed to this fall, when it was originally planned, Humphrey said. The company this fall, however, will release run-time software to support Beehive and WebLogic Server application server integration.

Version 9.0.2 will be based on the Eclipse 3.1 open source tools framework. It also will support Java 5.0, the Struts framework, JavaServer Faces and the Eclipse Web Tools Platform. Also highlighted is backing for Java Web services development based on annotations, in accordance with Java Specification Request 181. Web-services specifications such as WS-Reliability and WS-Security are supported in release 9.0.2, as well.

BEA’s Workshop presentation demonstrated efforts to improve performance, said conference attendee Jeff Banks, a technical analyst at Federal Express. “I think they were trying to address performance, which is really one of our biggest issues right now,” Banks said.

BEA’s newly acquired M7 NitroX tools, meanwhile, add capabilities such as strong JavaServer Pages editing to the BEA tools arsenal, according to Humphrey. M7 also has an application-scanning technology called AppXRay, which offers dependency analysis. BEA plans to merge M7 capabilities with Workshop, but it has not been determined whether any M7 capabilities will be included in Workshop 9.0.2.

“We’re not 100 percent sure how exactly we’re going to merge them together. Eclipse gives us a pretty good opportunity to do the merge, though,” Humphrey said. M7’s tools are based on Eclipse and will be re-branded with the BEA name in the short term.

In another potential improvement, BEA may expand Workshop in the future to serve as a development engine for SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) applications, Humphrey said. SIP initiates interactive communication sessions such as voice, video, and chat.

On Wednesday BEA officials detailed the company’s planned Liquid Infrastructure Architecture, intended to boost utility computing.

Included in the architecture are BEA Infrastructure Command Center, to set and monitor service-level policies; Cluster Manager, for automatic cluster resizing; Java Resource Broker and Bare Metal. The Bare Metal technology will enable BEA’s JRockit Java Virtual Machine to run more independently of the operating system and boost performance of Java.