Saturday, June 26, 2004 - Posts

Java Studio Creator: great!

Only a word... wonderful!!!

Sun's Java Studio Creator is really a powerful product, maybe the product that every Java Developer was waiting for a long time. It's a complete set of products to develop Java applications in a more quick and productive way.

When you start Java Studio Creator, the first think you'll have is "but, it's quite similar to Visual Studio .NET"... yes, the environment is similar to VS.NET, so for a .NET program the usage is not traumatic. In addition, you have the possibility to add skins to the environment, so you can have a complete "clone" of VS.NET for example.

The main parts of the environment are:

  • Server Navigator: with this window you can have access to a variety of data sources and services, such as servers, databases (you can create a connection or automatically discover Pointbase, Oracle, MySQL, SQLServer, and Access databases) and Web Services (it provides automatic access to WSDL files located at URLs, in local files, or in UDDI registries) and drag-and-drop it to your application.
  • Palette: this is the place where you can find the building block of your application, such as textbox, button, datagrid etc. It's totally customizable and it's really similar to the VS.NET Toolbar.
  • Properties: it's like the VS.NET Property Window... All the properties of an object can be set here.
  • Portfolio Navigator: this is an interesting tool (but I don't like too much the name assigned!)... this is useful for web applications because provides access to the current components in the Web application as they are added and with it you can copy an existing application root directory outside of the test environment (useful for deployment).
  • The Code Window is clear, formats code based on file types (Java, JSP, XML, HTML etc.), with tabbed window, similar to VS.NET.

But for me the most interesting and new feature present on this environment are 2:

  • A great feature (that will be present also in the future Visual Studio .NET 2005) is the SQL Query Editor, a tool that helps developers to build database queries rapidly and visually (with drag-amd-drop of tables).
  • This is innovative: The DataGrid Customizer window, that helps you to format the visual aspect of your datagrid in a more and intuitive way (visually). Features include autoformat color options, sortable column headings, automatic paging and scrolling, the ability to rename columns to names other than those from the corresponding database tables, the ability to nest buttons, hypertext links.

As you can see from this my "quick" review, the Environment is really similar to VS.NET, and it's also similar the way to create an application. When you start Java Studio Creator, it asks what type of application do you want to create and, after the choice, the environment sets all the necessary project files and you're ready to start.

Really a powerful tool... now working with Java is better!

Interesting also the license mode... Sun will offers the software for an annual subscription of $99. The price includes a perpetual license for the Java Studio Creator tool, product updates and upgrades for one year, access to premium content for one year, and access to Community Support Forums.

Launch a Google Search from Visual Studio...

Marty Garins has written an interesting and useful macro for performing a Google search from the Visual Studio Environment, by simply press ALT+F1.

A great idea... thanks for the tip Marty!