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Rumble in the jungle: J2EE versus .Net, Part 2

Compare how J2EE and .Net build a working enterprise application

By Humphrey Sheil and Michael Monteiro, JavaWorld.com, 07/26/02

In Part 1 of this two-part series, we introduced Microsoft .Net and J2EE (Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition) from the 30,000-foot level. In this article, in contrast, we actually implement a representative Web based application—the Ice Cold Beer Boutique (ICBB)—in both J2EE and .Net. To do so, we evaluate the presentation, business, and data tiers for both technologies, looking at common services such as exception handling, caching, and configuration, as well as the technologies' tool support. We then bring it all together to implement the sample business application. We finish by discussing the future for both .Net and J2EE.

Read the whole "Rumble in the Jungle: J2EE Versus .Net" series:

• Part 1: How do J2EE and Microsoft's .Net compare in enterprise environments?
• Part 2: Compare how J2EE and .Net build a working enterprise application

Note: Download this article's sample source code from Resources.

Web application overview

For the Ice Cold Beer Boutique application, which Sheil introduced in "To EJB, or Not to EJB?" (JavaWorld, December 2001), we chose a problem interesting enough to be nontrivial, yet simple enough to ensure that we can clearly show each technologies' features and deficits. With that in mind, what should the ICBB application accomplish?

The Ice Cold Beer Boutique

ICBB, a business-to-business (B2B) company that sells premium beverages to resellers in Europe and the US, wants to reduce costs and order turnaround time by allowing resellers to create orders on a secure Website. The IT strategy calls for incrementally building up the site as demand increases.

The application's first release must:

• Be secure by allowing only authorized visitors access the ICBB Website
• Be easy to use; ICBB's CEO intends to test this feature himself
• Allow resellers to view all currently stocked beverage types and prices
• Allow an ICBB system administrator to update the details for a beverage type
• Allow an ICBB system administrator to delete a beverage product

The second release, building on that functionality, will allow resellers to create orders and schedule them for shipment. Eventually, ICBB will integrate its Web store with its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system Sales order Processing module so sales invoices can be raised automatically and stock information updated.

Our goal: Produce an application using a technology and design that meets these immediate requirements and admits constant enhancements as the system expands.

Application structure

We implement a thin slice of the overall application, so you can see how the application layers communicate together. Figure 1 shows the distinct HTML pages planned for the system and how they hang together. All pages apart from the Welcome and Login pages are secure; only authenticated users can access them.

Figure 1. The system HTML pages in relation to each other, for both J2EE and .Net implementations. Click on thumbnail to view full-size image.

J2EE notes

Let's see how to design the ICBB application as a J2EE application, then look at the reasons behind the important J2EE-based implementation decisions. Figure 2 illustrates how the ICBB sample application looks when implemented with J2EE.

 

XpoLog Center Correlate application logs with server metrics - XpoLog

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