Oracle Previews Enhanced Java Tools for Developing Rich Internet Applications; Updates Java Application Server

Delivering on its commitment to provide Java developers with the industry’s most innovative Java tools, Oracle today announced previews of new releases of Oracle® JDeveloper and Oracle Application Development Framework (Oracle ADF), standards-based tools that make it easier to develop and deploy Java Enterprise Edition 5 (Java EE 5), Web 2.0 and Asynchronous Javascript and XML (AJAX)-style Rich Internet Applications (RIAs). A new release of Oracle Application Server, a key component of Oracle Fusion Middleware, is also available for preview. In addition, Oracle strengthened its ties to the open source community by donating more than 80 AJAX-enabled JavaServer Faces components to The Apache Foundation.
As organizations increasingly seek to deploy a new generation of standards-based Java and Web applications that are interactive, customizable and extensible, programmers require tools and components that simplify and accelerate the development process. To address the evolving requirements of Java developers, Oracle JDeveloper, the complete visual and declarative development environment, coupled with Oracle ADF, the easy-to-learn application development framework, provides developers with the tooling and runtime infrastructure to build the most advanced enterprise Java applications and RIAs.

Oracle’s updated software is designed to provide a Web services platform for building Service-Oriented Architectures (SOAs), based on the new Java EE 5 standards. Oracle JDeveloper and Oracle ADF enhancements include:


Advanced tooling and visual development for all Java EE 5 standards and APIs -- enabling developers to quickly leverage the latest Java technologies;
More than 80 AJAX-enabled, JSF 1.2-based rich client components -- for the rapid creation of dynamic and richly interactive user interfaces for Web applications;
Enhanced ADF Render Kit -- including support for Flash rendering of data visualization components, such as charts, in addition to SVG and PNG output;
Enhanced Web services support -- including JAX-WS-compliant Web services generation from existing code or WSDL, Web services testing capabilities and improved WSDL editor for simplified Web services development; and,
New JavaScript Editor and debugger.
Based on a powerful and scalable J2EE-server, Oracle Application Server provides industry-leading application deployment, business integration, and best-of-breed portal software. In addition, the latest update to Oracle Application Server includes several new features for easing deployment for RIAs. New features include:


Java EE 5 compatibility -- includes support for EJB 3, JPA, JAX-WS, JSF 1.2, and WS-Policy for configuring reliable and secure Web services;
Enhanced Oracle TopLink -- provides a complete persistence platform including support for JPA with extensions for advanced ORM functionality, OXM/JAXB, SDO and the ability to expose relational data as Web services;
Integration of light-weight containers such as Spring -- automatically enables component model interoperability within the Java EE application lifecycle; and,
Java Transaction Service (JTS) integration -- provides built-in kernel support for JTS to enable full transaction interoperability.
Building on a Solid Open Source Foundation
Marking another significant contribution to the open source community, Oracle today open sourced its ADF Faces Rich Client technology, a set of more than 80 rich, AJAX-enabled JSF 1.2 components. Based on this contribution, a new sub-project called Rich Client Framework (RCF) will be created under the Apache MyFaces project. This follows closely on the heels of the recent 1.0 release and graduation of Apache Trinidad, a popular open source project built on Oracle�s previous donation of JSF components.

“With the consumerization of IT continuing, end users expect their business applications to keep pace with the look, feel, functionality and usability of popular Web 2.0 offerings,” said Ted Farrell, chief architect and vice president, Tools and Oracle Fusion Middleware. “Oracle is committed to helping increase developer productivity by eliminating the need to learn multiple technologies, such as AJAX, Java Script and DHTML, while providing a declarative way to build rich front ends for enterprise Java applications and Service-Oriented Architectures. Oracle’s latest Java EE 5 compatible offerings mark another significant milestone in delivering on this commitment.”

Oracle’s Commitment to Java Developers
A leading supporter and instrumental contributor to defining key standards and aspects of Java since its inception in 1995, Oracle recognizes that a critical element in driving the adoption of the next-generation Java Platform, Java EE 5, is simplification of development around EJB 3.0 and JavaServer Faces (JSF) 1.2, a Web application framework designed to facilitate development of user interfaces for enterprise Java applications. Last year, Oracle launched the Oracle Developer Depot, a free, downloadable developer productivity tool that dramatically simplifies the way Java developers find, configure and provision Java applications for learning or prototyping purposes. The company also leads the Eclipse JPA, BPEL and JSF Tooling projects, served as co-spec lead for EJB 3.0 and recently donated Oracle Toplink®, the industry�s most advanced, award-winning persistence architecture, to the open source community. In conjunction with that donation, Oracle leads a new Eclipse run-time project to provide persistence services that can be used in Java and OSGi environments. Oracle is also a founding member of the JSF expert group in the Java Community Process (JCP) and joined the Apache MyFaces project as a core contributor.

Oracle also continuously contributes to the Spring community and supports the Spring Framework in a number of Oracle products. See related news release: Oracle Announces Availability of Software Development Kit for Spring.