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WebGain sharpens its edge

WebGain Studio 4.1 streamlines enterprise development with modeling and object-to-database mapping capabilities

By Mike Heck, InfoWorld, 03/02/01

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Developing enterprise or e-commerce applications in Java can produce multiple cost- and time-saving benefits. For instance, Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) components can be easily reused with different presentation technologies while a single backend database is maintained.

The Bottom Line

WebGain Studio 4.1 Professional Edition

Business Case
This Java development suite provides the bulk of tools needed to create and test large-scale enterprise Java applications. By integrating Visual Café 4.1 Enterprise Edition with XML and database mapping utilities, the risk of incompatibilities among development software is reduced, making programmers more productive. Technology Case
WebGain Studio 4.1 increases compatibility with Sun's JDK 1.3 and supports BEA's WebLogic Application Server 6.0. It provides UML (Unified Modeling Language) modeling with WebGain StructureBuilder and advanced object-relational database mapping with WebGain TopLink. TurboXML offers XML creation, validation, and conversion functions. Pros
  • Enables visual creation of Java applications
  • Reduces manual coding of Java objects to relational databases
  • Offers UML modeling and reverse engineering
  • Simplifies management of XML files
Cons
  • Costly
  • Requires separate J2EE-compliant server for large-scale testing
Cost
,995, Standard; ,995, Professional Platforms
Windows 98, Windows NT, and Windows 2000 WebGain Inc., Santa Clara, Calif.; (877) 932-4246; www.webgain.com


But going with Java has its hazards. For example, each member of the development team typically needs a different development application to match his or her area of specialization. These isolated tools often introduce duplications or errors into the programming cycle.

WebGain Studio minimizes incompatibilities and redundancies among the popular stand-alone Java programming products. Besides Visual Café for Java, which WebGain acquired from Symantec last year, WebGain Studio includes top-quality visual tools for designing EJBs, mapping EJB components to relational databases, and editing XML and HTML.

WebGain's weak spot is that it requires you to purchase more functions than most programmers will need; it may not be a cost-effective solution for those who can turn out Java code with Visual Café alone or with another editor. But for enterprise development teams, WebGain's graphical modeling and streamlined coding of complex database connections should pay off by shortening development cycles. That translates into lower development costs and a shorter time to market for revenue-generating Web applications, and therefore we awarded WebGain Studio 4.1 Professional Edition a score of Very Good.

WebGain Studio 4.1 is available in Standard and Professional editions. Both editions combine the Visual Café 4.1 Enterprise Edition IDE (integrated development environment), WebGain StructureBuilder 4.1 for graphically developing complex object models, the UltraDev HTML editor licensed from Macromedia, and TurboXML, a new addition licensed from Tibco Software. In addition, the WebGain Studio 4.1 Professional Edition, which we tested, adds WebGain TopLink 3.0 for linking EJBs and Java objects to databases without writing SQL query statements.


For more enterprise computing news, visit InfoWorld. Story copyright InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.

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