A Quick Look at Java Studio Creator
posted Thursday, 7 October 2004
| Java Studio Creator is
great. You can check it out here.
As you can see I'm using the MacOS version. The Solaris,
Linux, MacOS and Microsoft Windows versions are already shipping in 1.0
versions. As many online articles have already
mentioned, there is a lot of enthusiam around Creator. Primarily
it is because it is one of the first Java-based tools that makes
creating Java-based apps visually easier than past application
environments. While the code-centric tools such as
NetBeans, Eclipse et all tend to focus on textual code
development,
Creator focuses on the visual. By visual I mean visual -
GUI
development is drag-and-drop. GUI elements are selected from
a pallette of GUI elements and visually layed out, SQL data is
dragged-and-drop ontop of components. Web Services are dragged and dropped onto the page. It is possible to view visual and non-visual components by means of a nice approach toward representing the components and resources. Page navigation is quickly accomplished visually. And yes, it is possible |
Figure 1 : What is Creator ?
Select image to enlarge.
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Figure 2 : Java Studio Creator
Select image to enlarge
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to look at the
underlying code. Let's take a look at some of this. First
it is
important to note that there is a complete roadmap - the first
version
focuses on Java Server Faces (JSF), while later versions expect to
include richer client behavior (such as Swing). The current
versions on Solaris, Linux, Windows and MacOS includes the Java Studio
Creator, PointBase database and Sun's Java Application Server 8 (a full
J2EE app server). Creator supports many other databases. In
addition, it is possible to examine the SQL tables within an
application by editing the rowset
query. In figure 3 it is possible to
see a visual view of the SQL data in the database as well as various
ways to interact with the data. Some of the basics are a component pallette that one
can choose GUI objects from), a property
sheets that allow
specific editing of GUI widget properties. A Server Navigator which |
shows various database, web
services, deployment server resources allows the developer to
drag-and-drop these resources into components and web application
forms. Another basic form is the Application
Outline which offers an outline of the appliction. Code Clips allows developers to keep
around reusable code clips. Developers can edit the visual layout,
properties, JSP/JSF code and the underlying Java code via visual and
text editiors.
It is relatively easy to drag various components and web resources or
database tables onto the page and lay out a user
interface. Each UI element can be edited via a property
sheet. Then drag data tables onto the UI elements and a easily
create a data driven application. Then the act of deploying
the
application onto the Application Server is done transparently and
with ease and results in a deployed app which
is now available for execution. One of the impressive aspects is
not all the features which are plentiful, but that Creator, the App
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Figure 3 : SQL
Tables In Creator
Select image to enlarge
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Server and Pointbase all integrate nicely together.
Developers can choose to deploy to other J2EE servers as well as Tomcat.
Figure 4:
Creator Book
Select to visit Amazon
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There are lots of tutorials
at the Creator developer
site. In addition, component builders can look at a java.net write-up
on how to build components. Sun has a 30 day trial version.
In addition to the Sun subscription model ( you buy it along with a subscription
for updates and SDN content for a year - you can continue to use it
after the subscription ends). Amazon offers
the software and a book called Java Studio Creator Field Guide for $51.
By the way - the software is unlocked by a alphanumerical license key
which also gets you into the SDN content.
Overall, I am impressed with the software. It works. There
are also a number of forums
which you can get answers to Creator questions.
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