In the coming months when some of the smoke and mirrors have cleared around Web services and Web application development, it's a sure thing that IBM WebSphere Studio Application Developer will be one of the genuine winners. Application Developer is such an ambitious product: four major development environments (Web, Web Services, EJB, and XML) using a full set of Java and J2EE tools — bracketed with relational database tools, testing and publishing tools, code profiling tools, and an outstanding debugging system. It's tempting to say only IBM could bring it off.

I'm sure people assume IBM has the history and resources to produce a first-rate enterprise software development product. But don't take it for granted. Still, in this version there is a level of integration where the elements have all the heavy-duty features appropriate for the task, yet are also refined enough to be well-focused and simpler to use. This is a complete enterprise-level product that professionals will find unusually comfortable.

For those familiar with IBM Visual Age for Java and WebSphere Studio Workbench, Application Developer is the "next generation," combining features from Visual Age for Java Enterprise Edition, the old version of WebSphere Studio Advanced Edition integrated on top of WebSphere Studio Workbench. It also ends some confusion in the IBM enterprise line and provides a product that is reminiscent of, but better than, the sum of its pedigrees.

Roles and Teams

There are many standout features in Application Developer, but perhaps the most significant for the enterprise is the degree to which team development is not an afterthought, as it seems to be in some competing products, but integral to the design of the environment.

As the primary user interface, IBM uses the WebSphere Studio Workbench, which consists of views (windows with information about resources) and editors (to create and modify code). (See Figure 1.) These views and editors can be combined as perspectives to show project resources and tools appropriate for developers performing different roles or tasks. For example, a J2EE bean developer would work most often in the J2EE perspective, while a Web designer would work in the Web (HTML, JSP) perspective. (See Figure 2.) While other products can create something equivalent to perspectives, few do it so quickly or intuitively. This customizable role-based approach to development, when combined with a version control product and code repository such as Rational ClearCase LT (included in Application Developer) or Concurrent Versioning System (CVS adaptor included), makes a flexible and effective end-to-end team development environment.

Core Java

Largely based on JDK 1.3 (although some features such as incremental compilation look ahead to JDK 1.4), Application Developer can create, test, and deploy Java Beans, Enterprise Java Beans (EJB), servlets, and Java Server Pages (JSP). In the mixed (it's tempting to say mixed-up) enterprise environment, it's important to note that Application Developer supports a pluggable run-time switching of JDK versions.

Application Developer doesn't scrimp on wizards, syntax highlighting, and code writing support ("content assist"), but as a professionally oriented product it doesn't load up on them either. Beginners may find Borland JBuilder friendlier in this regard, but the clean and mean approach of Application Developer is another of those elements that will make experienced programmers more at home.

There are also plenty of code-related details with surprising utility. Particularly appealing was the scrapbook feature where you can edit code snippets and then evaluate them immediately, with the results showing in the debugger. Another feature, which Application Developer calls "refactoring" will, for example with a change of method name, automatically locate, display, and confirm update of all dependent references in the class hierarchy.

J2EE to the Max

IBM faces plenty of competition in the EJB arena; Borland JBuilder and Sun Forte are particularly strong in both the features and implementation of EJB 1.1 and J2EE. Application Developer distinguishes itself in the EJB to relational database capabilities, such as a Query Engine that can generate persistent classes from SQL strings. Bean deployment has full Web Application Archive (WAR) and Enterprise Archive (EAR) WAR/EAR support. There is also an EJB test client and a test environment for J2EE.

Java for Web Designers

It's doubtful that all Web designers would find Application Developer's Web perspective the be-all-end-all of HTML environments. However, because it so smoothly integrates the J2EE container structure with JSP and HTML file creation with a bevy of media tools, XML tools, and site style and template support, as a Java-oriented Web page environment it is surprisingly complete.

Database Tools

No application development system would be worth its salt without significant support for database connectivity (although some are less than fully saline). Application Developer offers a Relational Schema Center (RSC), which focuses on relational database design and database administration for tasks such as importing and mapping schemas. The handling of database connections from EJBs is well supported (especially if you are using IBM WebSphere Application Server). Although IBM no doubt favors its own DB2 database management system, support also includes Oracle, Sybase, MySQL, Informix, and Microsoft SQL Server.