Advances In Object Technology Discussed

Anne Thomas

Anne Thomas Provides JavaBeans Update

Reported by Colleen Young lantern567@aol.com

Not at all fazed by a stage set up for the next day’s Hartford-sponsored play, Anne Thomas of the Patricia Seybold Group made herself right at home in the "kitchen". Starting with Java background material, Anne gave a thorough overview of Java-Beans as well as the future direction of Beans as described in the latest specifications.

JavaBeans are reusable components that can be embedded in your code. We are most familiar with standard GUI components such as Buttons and SliderBars, but a Bean could be built to handle something larger, even business-specific - Ms. Thomas gave an example of a SAP-Aware com-ponent for handling an order inquiry func-tion. For those of us who grew up on structured programming, reusable modules are nothing new, but there is more.

Beans provide a way to customize the code without access to the source. This is done essentially by setting parameters. So far, still familiar territory.

It starts to get interesting when we see how the parameters (properties) are known and set by the programmer. Within a visual development environment (IDE) , the Bean can tell the IDE what the properties and possible values are (a process known as Reflection.) The IDE can then prompt the programmer to set these values.

In fact, Beans have two types of interfaces. One set is intended for communication with the IDE, as described above. The other (more conventional) is the set of methods used within the deployed system. The development interface can be large, the deployment portion small, and JavaBeans separates the two. This means that a smaller piece of code needs to be downloaded to actually run the application. ActiveX does not make the same separation.

In addition to the discussion of the current JavaBeans, we heard about two upcoming developments.

The first, codenamed "Glasgow", will allow Beans to request services (e.g. printing) available within the containing environment, and to nest Beans. There will also be the capability for drag and drop between Java and native applications. In addition, the Activation Framework addresses the ability to understand data types and instantiate a component to manipulate the object.
The other, Enterprise JavaBeans (also in the specification phase) refers to Beans that will be "contained" by TP monitors or object databases which will control the remote invocation and transactional aspects of managing these Beans. Since the spec is not yet complete, there are few vendors who are supplying containers for this type of Bean at this point.

The presentation showed Ms. Thomas’ wealth of experience and knowledge in the industry, and with this subject. The informal stage set made a cup of Java at the kitchen table seem appropriate.

You may contact Ms Thomas at: www.psgroup.com or E-Mail her at anne@psgroup.com

Scott Koehler

Scott Koehler Explains Real Vertical Industry Frameworks

Reported by Terry McAuliffe tmcaul@aol.com

Returning for a second time to Hartford, Scott Koehler, who chronicled a large OO project for us back in January ’94, drew on his continued experiences in development and marketing to explain the dynamics of vertical industry frameworks and components.

His company, Koehler Consulting, has been developing business object applications for the finance and insurance industries since the mid-80’s. The work has included consulting for major companies, serving on OMG sponsored projects, and building and selling a life insurance tax compliance package.

Scott outlined the important definitions for this area of Object technology:

Business Object

• an object that corresponds to an entity in the business domain
• Stock, Bond, Policy

Class Library

• a collection of classes that represent entities of the business used for creating business objects.

Component

• encapsulated software services that can be used to build systems which are packaged for reusability.

Framework

• a group of business objects or components that work together to provide some useful business application.
• A subsystem.
• claims processing, order entry.

A software application is comprised of cooperating business objects that deliver a particular business benefit.

But, Koehler observed, business objects are rarely "generic". There are company specific rules and methods.

In this market, there is no such thing as "black box" components. Customization is always required for a particular company’s business rules.
Selling is also difficult. You must fight "not invented here" as well as "professional curiosity" in others wanting to examine your intellectual property. What must be sold is value:

• The Intellectual property itself
• A foundation to extend
• A defined set of requirements
• Existing design and implementation
• Tested code.

And architecture

• Application architecture
• Design Principles
• Design Patterns

And support

• Implementation consulting
• Testing
• Knowledge Transfer
• Delivery time

You may contact Mr. Koehler at: skoehler@koehlerconsult.com or
scott_koehler@compuserve.com

by Mike Smoolca
COM SIG co-chairperson

Plans for next year's COM SIG include meetings on ASP, COM threading, and quarterly COM Q&A sessions. Also planned are more talks on real world experiences using COM technologies. Next year the COM SIG will also be revising our web site to include, among other things, the COM Corner articles featured in the COOUG newsletter.
Please visit our website http://www.ctcomsig.org/comsig

by Mike Smoolca
COM SIG co-chairperson

mikes@connix.com