WebObjects — Top-flight development environment and adequate app server Page 3

Platforms, Platforms, Platforms

One major plus to WebObjects — it ships in four major server platforms for server-side deployment: Windows NT, HP-UX, Sun Solaris, and (in the near future) Mac OS X Server. The Mac OS X Server support is notable, because of the natural audiences for WebObjects is the Apple community, and even though Mac OS X Server is based on BSD and Mach (see our review for more details), Macintosh/Apple shops will be a prime audience for Mac OS X Server installations. Mac OS X Server comes with a limited version of WebObjects, so you’ll need to augment it with a full commercial license. Still, the existing hooks in Mac OS X Server make WebObjects an attractive choice for an application-server installation.

WebObjects has been the leader in the application-server field for so long that most people assume that it’s on the cutting edge of the field. It’s not, but it’s still an excellent choice for those seeking a top-flight development environment and an adequate application server.

Pros: 7 Excellent development environment, 7 Support for COM, CORBA, and other open standards, 7 Multiplatform support important for larger enterprises, 7 Good hooks into Mac OS X Server

Cons: 7 Load balancing is not sophisticated, 7 Failover must be coded by hand, 7 No support for Enterprise JavaBeans

New in v4: Support for multithreaded applications, direct actions
Release Notes


Upgrade Meter: N/A

New in v4.5:
Connects applications to any HTTP server and any data source; load-balancing available across any number of systems; business object management; handles interaction with any thin client type; session management capabilities enable user profile maintenance; easy-to-use development tools; integrated development environment; visual designers (both HTML and Java); object modeler; data integration wizards for HTML applications and Java clients; open and extensible frameworks; application components for managing tasks like e-mail and file uploading; presentation components for generating user interfaces on demand; data components for caching objects and database connections; foundation components for handling Unicode strings and dates beyond the year 2000; full XML support for interoperability with other XML-based applications; LDAP support for access to standard directory services; deployment tools for application monitoring, testing management, statistics management, and dynamic performance profiling; Release Notes


Upgrade Meter: 5

New in v5.0:
Object-relational mapping;
database independence;
XML interchange;
WebObjects template engine;
reusable components;
built-in session management;
Project Builder;
direct to Web/Direct to Java Client;
Enterprise Object Modeler;
WebObjects Builder;
Interface Builder;
WebObjects Monitor;
Record and Playback Manager;
abstract interface management layer;
three-tier Java client support;
two-tier Cocoa clients on Mac OS X;
Java 2 compatibility;
flexible, low-cost licensing;
reliable, scalable deployment services;
Release Notes


Upgrade Meter: 5

New in v5.1:
JSP Servlet Integration for deploying WebObjects applications on top of third-party JSP or Servlet application servers;
support for EJB;
LDAP access through a JNDI adaptor;
documentation offers several new and updated books;
Javadoc provides reference documentation in Javadoc format;
enhancements and changes to the Java Client;
Release Notes


Upgrade Meter: 3