Reviews : Review: Sun Java Studio Creator Early Access Release :

Review: Sun Java Studio Creator Early Access Release

by Drew Falkman

Summary

Sun's anticipated release of what is supposed to be the Java equivalent of Microsoft's Visual Studio is here at last. Previously known under the auspicious code name Project Rave, Java Studio Creator(JSC) is a drag-and-drop programming environment built on top of the NetBeans platform. Currently, JSC can be used to create JavaServer Pages/JavaServer Faces applications, though they will allow for Swing development in future versions. Overall, I was pleased with JSC and think it is a welcome addition to the Java library of developer's tools. Given that this is pre-release software, and built on NetBeans, I was surprised at how well it performed.

More Information

Introduction

Java Studio Creator comes with everything a beginning (or advanced) developer needs to get started building J2EE applications. In addition to the IDE, JSC also includes Sun's Java System Application Server, Pointbase Java-based relational database management system, the Java Software Development Kit and a number of tutorials, docs and JavaServer Faces components. JSC utilizes a standards-based development paradigm. This paradigm works as follows:

• JSP templates are the primary element of applications. They will be the core interface and processing pages.
• JSF is used for layout and form-building components, data validation and data conversion.
• Managed beans (simple JavaBeans components) handle the data model, including session/application management.

Beyond that, JSC development is about as straightforward as one would wish. A beginning Web developer could fire up this IDE and have a simple Web application development in little time. Additionally, because of the standards compliance and a good development team at Sun, the generated code is easy-to-read and more seasoned developers are provided one-click access to it at all times.

Setup and Installation

Currently JSC is available for Windows 2000/XP, Solaris SPARC and Linux. I tested JSC on Windows XP. The installation was very smooth. I followed the steps and everything worked without having to mess around with configuration files, classpaths or other setup issues. One thing to note; if you intend to play around with the sample database, be sure to start the Pointbase server by running the pb-start.bat batch file in the {JSC install directory}\startup\bin directory (there is also a shortcut in Windows >> Programs >> Sun Microsystems >> J2EE 1.4 SDK). You do not, however, need to worry about starting the J2EE application server for testing--JSC will do that for you automatically when you first debug or run a page.

How to Add Java Applets to Your Site

New on the Java Boutique:

New Review:

Time Management Made Easy with the Quartz Enterprise Job Scheduler
Why not just use the Java timer API? This open source scheduling API boasts simplicity, ease-of-integration, a well-rounded feature set, and it's free!

New Applet:

Reverse Complement
Reverse Complement is a simple applet that converts DNA or RNA sequences into three useful formats.

Elsewhere on internet.com:

WebDeveloper Java
Lots of Java information on webdeveloper.com

WDVL Java
Thorough Java resource at the Web Developer's Virtual Library.

ScriptSearch Java
Hundreds of free Java code files to download.

jGuru: Your View of the Java Universe
Customizable portal with online training, FAQs, regular news updates, and tutorials.