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XML functionality spices up Java tools
Fri May 05 23:46:00 EDT 2000
May. 05, 2000 (Computer Reseller News - CMP via COMTEX) -- San Francisco - Java
tool builders are making it easier for integrators and developers to integrate
disparate systems in e-business solutions by adding XML functionalities to their
products.
Enhancing Java tools with support for XSL and XSLT-XML's style sheet language
and XML's native data transformation engine, respectively-helps speed systems
integration by transforming XML to HTML and allowing disparate XML dialects, or
schemas, to communicate with one another.
Several tool builders are providing XML functionalities with their
Java tools.
Last week, eXcelon Corp., Burlington, Mass., and Oracle Corp., Redwood Shores,
Calif., formed a strategic marketing alliance to co-market Oracle's JDeveloper
3.1 Java development tool with eXcelon's Stylus 2.0 to accelerate the use of XML
in Java application development environments, eXcelon said.
Stylus 2.0 enables developers to create XSL style sheets for transformation from
XML into HTML for Web presentation, and into other XML formats for building
business-to-business applications, according to eXcelon.
These style sheets enable developers to easily transform one XML schema into
another, which supports systems integration, said Vittorio Viarengo, director of
product management at eXcelon.
Rather than perform the complex engineering process that would integrate Stylus'
XML functions into JDeveloper, co-marketing the products was a way to offer Java
developers and Web integrators the solution faster, Viarengo said.
"Java developers face the problem of writing style sheets today, so this is the
best way to do it to meet their needs right now," said Viarengo.
The co-marketing deal with Oracle may be the first step in a process that
eventually would integrate Stylus' XML functionality into Oracle's JDeveloper,
but "what's going to happen after this is not defined," he added.
Under the terms of the one-year agreement, eXcelon and Oracle will market Stylus
2.0 in conjunction with JDeveloper through developer discounts and promotions,
as well as through links on each company's Web site.
Meanwhile, Sun Microsystems Inc. last month said it integrated support for XSLT
into the next version of its Forte Fusion application integration tool suite,
which provides developers with a tool that enables disparate XML schemas to
communicate across platforms.
Forte Fusion 2.0, which is scheduled to ship this month, includes support for
XSLT in its transformation engine. This allows support and integration across
applications written using different XML dialects from a variety of sources,
including Oasis, Microsoft Corp. BizTalk and Rosetta Net.
Currently, specific vertical-market sectors, such as the auto and health-care
industries, use different XML schemas for representing information in data
transfers. With a standard for these XML schematics yet to be determined, Forte
Fusion's support for XSLT means integrators developing applications for vertical
markets no longer have to worry if they are using a schematic that may become
obsolete in that market sector, said Drew Engstrom, senior product manager for
Forte Fusion 2.0 at Sun, Palo Alto, Calif.
"Support for XSLT makes a company's investment in a [schematic] a safe bet,
since it allows data to transfer from one [schematic] to another," said
Engstrom.
Tackling the problem of XML transformation from one schematic base to another is
inherent in companies that have a broad applications portfolio, said Kate
Fessenden, research director of enterprise XML at Boston-based Aberdeen Group
Inc.
Support for XSL and XSLT will help Java developers integrate these large
business systems, which is required for complex e-business solutions, said
Fessenden.
"If you're a very large company, you're going to see many of these different
dialects or schemas," said Fessenden. "There's going to need to be a way for
those to be read from both ends."
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