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Hello,
I am using Java Client (against the advice of many other, much more knowledgeable WO developers).
I have been working on a project for over the last year that is making extensive use of Direct to Java Client functionality, it is only the admin interface to what will initially be a web-application for the general users, but long-term I'd like to transition even the web users to a Swing UI.
It is an application for managing manufacturing. I hesitate to call it an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application, but that is what it is most similar to.
It maintains Bills of Materials of all manufactured parts, combines customer orders into manufacturing orders, then allows them to be combined again based on their BOM for scheduling on the appropriate manufacturing line. It also manages recall so if a vendor recalls a component used in a manufactured part, we can tell what customer got products made with that lot-code of that component. It also tracks scrap and reports component usage to the inventory management system.
It is an internal application used by a maximum of only 20 people, and initially only 3, but the plans are to license it to other, similar businesses for managing their manufacturing as well.
My intention has been to move away from the initial D2JC implementation for the next version of my application, move from Xcode to Eclipse and use Flor's 3rd option for WO Java Client development (using the client-side Java classes only for persistence). I admit I have not spent an great deal of time researching what it would take to do this, figuring the worst-case scenario would be building a Web-UI if the Swing Java Client wouldn't work.
I would love Direct, Indirect and Custom Java Client functionality to remain and be better supported, because I feel that they are an incredibly powerful combination of tools for rapidly building powerful cross-platform, client-server applications. If custom Java Client development is the only way going forward, I'll make due. If it is all dropped, then I will have to start evaluating using other technologies to build my application. Since Web-UI isn't a requirement, and to be honest neither is Mac compatibility, other non-cross-platform frameworks would have to be seriously considered - which is bad for me because I am a Java/WO developer only.
To me, AJAX is all about trying to duplicate the functionality that is provided by more traditional desktop clients and great strides are being made to make it happen, BUT if a web-app isn't REQUIRED, then what motivation is there to use WebObjects? Right now, if I want a powerful, mature, cross-platform Object-Relational framework that I can build a desktop client on top of, WO is really the only choice. There are several others that are gaining ground, but as far as I can tell, none are as sophisticated as EOF.
Remove Java Client capabilities from EOF/WO, and what reason is there for non-web developers to stick with WO? I don't see any.
Dave
On Jun 23, 2007, at 10:00 AM, Philippe Rabier wrote: There seems to be a lack of distinction in different ways to use WO JavaClients. It seems that most people see this being done as either the direct or non-direct approaches described by Apple. BUT, there is another approach that does not utilize large portions of WO's JavaClient support code, where most trouble comes from.
This approach comes down to using client side EOF only for data persistence, within any kind of a Java app. There is no D2JC auto- generated GUI, rule systems, translations from nib to Swing etc. All the places where WO's JavaClient capabilities become difficult and error prone.
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