Design and coding best practices using Borland Enterprise Studio 6 for Java

By: Sudhansu Pati

Abstract: Learn to design EJBs and Web applications with Borland Enterprise Studio for Java

Table of Contents

Introduction. 2

Design EJBs in JBuilder and port to Together 2

Design  EJBs in Together and port to JBuilder 9

Design Web Applications in JBuilder and port to Together 18

Design Web Applications in Together and port to JBuilder 25  

Introduction

 Borland Enterprise Studio includes the following:

  1. Borland JBuilder - integrated development environment for Java
  2. Together Edition for JBuilder - UML/Design solution for Java
  3. Borland OptimizeIt suite - performance optimization solution for Java
  4. Borland Enterprise Server developer edition – J2EE 1.3 compliant application server
  5. Borland JDataStore developer edition – 100% Java database

Since the design and coding of J2EE applications are much interrelated, the following sections explain how to use JBuilder and Together to design and code EJB applications.

Design EJBs in JBuilder and port to Together

Though both JBuilder and Together have capabilities for designing EJB applications, it is recommended to use JBuilder to design the EJBs. Once the EJBs are designed in JBuilder, they can be easily viewed in Together and will fit well with the rest of the design.

Tips : If you are designing J2EE applications from scratch, use JBuilder to design EJBs and then view in Together.

Lets create a simple session bean using JBuilder and understand how Borland Enterprise Studio for Java helps in designing EJBs.


Create a Project in JBuilder

 Click File | New | Project tab from Object Gallery | click Project.

 Enter the project Name as StudioEJBDemo and provide your own convenient Directory location.

 Refer to Figure 1 for details.

[Figure 1 : Creating a Project in JBuilder]

Click Finish.


Create an EJBModule in JBuilder

From JBuilder 9, click File | New | Enterprise tab from Object Gallery | double-click EJBModule.

Name the EJB Module as FlightMod.

Refer to Figure 2 for details.

[Figure 2 : Creating an EJB Module in JBuilder]

Click OK.

After the EJBModule is created, the JBuilder editor pane becomes a visual design environment for EJB. The developers can visually create EJBs and the underlying source code will automatically be created.


Create a Session Bean in JBuilder

Right click EJB Designer pane, click Create EJB, click Session Bean. Name the session bean as FlightSes.

Refer to Figure 3 for details.

[Figure 3 : Creating a visual session bean in JBuilder EJB Designer window]


Add a business method to Session Bean

Right-click the visual session bean | Add | Method.

Refer to Figure 4 for details.

[Figure 4 : Adding a business method to session bean visually in JBuilder]

Provide the following method information.

Method : getFlightNo,

Return type : String

Input parameters : String flightName

Interfaces : remote 

Refer to Figure 5 for details.

[Figure 5 : Providing method information visually in JBuilder]

The developers can easily get to the source code for the session bean FlightSes from the design window.

Right-click FlightSes and click View Bean Source.

Refer to Figure 6 for details.

[Figure 6 : Easy access to source code from the design view in JBuilder]

Tips : You can defer the source code changes until the design has completed. It does not matter for both JBuilder and Together, as the source code and design are interchangeable with both the products. 

Modify the getFlightNo(String flightName) method as follows.

public String getFlightNo(String flightName) {
    return "555";
  }


Make the project

To make the project click CTRL + F9.


Open Project in Together

From JBuilder, right-click the project (StudioEJBDemo) and click Open project in Together.

Refer to Figure 7 for details.

[Figure 7 : Opening JBuilder project in Together]

Together automatically reverse engineers JBuilder projects. The FlightSes EJB created in JBuilder is available in Together.

Tips : JBuilder and Together work seamlessly.  JBuilder source code can generate Together design and vice versa. At any point of time the developer gets the view of “livesource” without having to worry about the source code and design go out of sync.

Refer to Figure 8 for Together view of the project StudioEJBDemo.

[Figure 8 : JBuilder project ported to Together automatically ]

Once the project is available in Together, developers can take advantages of the capabilities of Together like Audits, Matrics, Design Patterns, Documentation Generation, etc. Also the developers can continue designing other parts of their application.

Tips : The developers don’t have to run  both JBuilder and Together to keep the design and code in sync. The design and code are always in sync.

Also as the developers create class diagrams for other components in Together project, corresponding source files are automatically created in JBuilder.

Design  EJBs in Together and port to JBuilder

If EJBs are already designed in Together, they can be also ported to JBuilder.

Lets create a simple EJB in together and port it to JBuilder.


Create a Project in Together

From Together, click File | New Project.

Enter the project name as StudioEJBDemo1 and provide your convenient directory location.


Create an EJBModule in Together

From Together, click File | New | select Enterprise from Categories | click EJB Module| click Next.

Refer to Figure 9 for details.

[Figure 9 : Creating EJB Module in Together ]

Provide EJB Module name as FlightEJBMod.


Create a Session Bean in Together

From Together, click File | New | select Enterprise from Categories| click EJB | click Next.

Enter the session bean name as FlightSes and EJB type as Session. Check the checkbox Include EJB in existing EJB module and provide FlightEJBModule  against Select EJB module.

Refer to Figure 10 for details.

[Figure 10 : Creating a Session bean in Together ]

Click Next.

In the next screen, provide JNDI name as FlightSesBean and Bean state as Stateless.

Refer to Figure 11 for details.

[Figure 11 : Providing session bean parameters  in Together ]

Click Finish. Now the session bean FlightSesBean should be visible in the Together designer window.


Add a business method to Session Bean

Right-click the session bean | click New | click Business method.

Name the business method as getFlightNo.

Refer to Figure 12 for details.

[Figure 12 : Creating business method to session bean  in Together ]


Open Project in JBuilder

Just like JBuilder project can be opened in Together, Together project can be opened in JBuilder by point and click.

Right-click project StudioEJBDemo1 in Together and click Open Project in JBuilder.

Refer to Figure 13 for details.

[Figure 13 : Opening Together Project in JBuilder]


Managing Project in JBuilder

When JBuilder gets Together project, it automatically reads the Java files created by the design in Together. For this specific case, files related to the FlightSesBean  are already available in JBuilder.

But JBuilder can’t render the EJB in the EJB Designer view.  To do that an EJB Module has to be created in JBuilder.

To create an EJB Module in JBuilder, JBuilder requires attach the project with an application server. For this paper, Borland Enterprise Server is used as the target application server. But developers can select any application server supported by JBuilder.


Select a Target application Server

Right-click project in JBuilder | click Properties | click Server tab | click Single server for all services in project | select an application server from the combo box.

Tips : If you don’t have an application server available from the combo box, then follow JBuilder documentation to configure JBuilder with the application server of your choice.

Refer to Figure 14 for details..

[Figure 14 : Assigning Borland Enterprise Server as target application server for JBuilder project]


Create EJBModule in JBuilder

From JBuilder 9, click File | New | Enterprise tab from Object Gallery | double-click EJBModule..

Refer to Figure 15 for details.

[Figure 15 : Creating EJB Module in JBuilder]

Name the EJBModule as FlightEJBMod.


Import EJB to JBuilder

Now FlightSesBean can be imported to JBuilder’s EJB Module FlightEJBMod

From JBuilder EJB designer window, right-click and click Import EJB.

Refer to Figure 16 for details.

[Figure 16 : Importing EJB to JBuilder EJB Designer]

In the Import EJB window,  provide bean name as FlightSes and select  Bean type as Session.

Click the ellipses against Bean Class, Home interface class and Remote interface class.

You can use the Browse / Search utility of JBuilder to find the classes.

Refer to Figure 17 for the Browse Classes window.

[Figure 17 : JBuilder Browse Classes window to search the classes easily]

Since FlightSesBean doesn’t have local interfaces, we don’t need to select Local home interface class and Local interface class.

Figure 18 shows the Import EJB window after the EJB classes are selected.

[Figure 18 : Import EJB window to import an EJB to JBuilder]

After importing the EJB, a visual EJB should be created in JBuilder EJB Designer window. The visual EJB will inherit the design artifacts from Together. For Example FlightSes has the getFlightNo remote method.

Refer to Figure 19 for the visual session bean in JBuilder.

[Figure 19 : Visual session bean in JBuilder after imported from Together]

Design Web Applications in JBuilder and port to Together

Just like EJB applications, the recommended way to design Web application is using JBuilder. Though both Together and JBuilder has the design environment, use JBuilder as the preferred way to create Web applications the port to Together.

Also you can port the Web applications from Together to JBuilder which is explained in the next section.


Create a Project in JBuilder

From JBuilder, create a new project (click File | New project) and name the project as StudioWebDemo.

Refer to Figure 20 for details.

[Figure 20 :  Create  a project in JBuilder]

Create a Web Application in JBuilder

From JBuilder, click File | New| Web tab from Object Gallery | click Web Application.

Refer to Figure 21 for details.

[Figure 21 : Create a Web application in JBuilder]

Click OK.

Provide Web application name as StudioWebApp and Directory as StudioWebApp.

Refer to Figure 22 for details.

[Figure 22 : Provide Web application Name and Directory in JBuilder Web Application Wizard]


Create a JSP in JBuilder

From JBuilder, click File | New| Web tab from Object Gallery | click JSP.

In JSP Wizard, provide JSP name as DemoJsp.

Select the checkboxes against Generate sample bean and Generate error page.

Refer to Figure 23 for details.

[Figure 23 : Provide JSP Name in the JSP Wizard window of JBuilder]

Click Finish.


Open Project in Together

From JBuilder, right-click Project and click Open Project in Together.

Refer to Figure 24 for details.

[Figure 24 : Open JBuilder project in Together]


Create a Web Application in Together

From Together,  click File | New | select Web from Categories | click Web Application| click Next.

Enter the Web application name as StudioWebApp  and Display name as StudioWebApp .

Click JavaServer pages tab and click Add  and the jsps DemoJsp.jsp and DemoJsp_error.jsp.

Refer to Figure 25 for details.

[Figure 25: Creating a Web application design in Together and adding JSPs ]

Click Finish.

Now the Web application diagram is created in Together and containing the JSPs.

Refer to Figure 26 for the details.

[Figure 26 : Web application diagram with JSPs imported from JBuilder to Together]

The display name of the JSPs can be changed by right-clicking the JSPs in Together and changing the names.

Refer to Figure 27 for the final view of the Web application diagram in Together.

[Figure 27 : Web application diagram after renaming the JSPs]

With this, the porting of Web applications from JBuilder to Together is complete.

Design Web Applications in Together and port to JBuilder


Create a Project in Together

From Together, click File | New Project.  Specify the project name as StudioWebDemo1.

Refer to the Figure 28 for details.

[Figure 28 : Create a new project in Together]


Create a Web Application in Together

From Together,  click File | New | select Web  from Categories | click Web Application| click Next.

Refer to Figure 29 for details.

[Figure 29 : Create a Web Application in Together]

Click Next.

Enter the Web application name as StudioWebApp1  and Display name as StudioWebApp1 .


Create a JSP in Together

From Together,  click File | New | select Web  from Categories | click JSP| click Next.

Refer to Figure 30 for details.

[Figure 30 : Creating a JSP in Together]

Click Next.

In the New JavaServer Pages window, a JSP can be imported or even created. Click the Generate new JSP stub file  radio button. Provide JSP File Name and Location.

For this paper, the JSP file name is DemoJsp.

From the Options panel, check the checkbox Show JSPs on Web Application diagram.

Click the radio button Create new diagram named and provide a name DemoJsp.

Refer to the Figure 31 for the details.

[Figure 31 : New JavaServer Pages window in Together to create JSP diagram]

Now you can see the JSP diagram created in Together as shown in Figure 32.

[Figure 32 : JSP diagram in Together]


Open Project in JBuilder

Open Together project in JBuilder by right-clicking the project in Together and selecting Open Project in JBuilder.

Note that the Web application diagram and JSP diagram created in Together is not automatically ported to JBuilder. So a Web application has to be created in JBuilder and the JSP needs to be copied to the right directory.

To create a Web application, the JBuilder project needs to be configured with a Web server. JBuilder install includes preconfigured Tomcat Web server. But you can configure JBuilder with a Web server of your choice.

Right-click JBuilder project | click Properties, click Server tab from Project Properties window.

Click the radio button Single server for all services in project and choose a Web server from the combo box.

For this paper, Borland Enterprise Server is selected.

Refer to Figure 33 for details.

[Figure 33 : Selecting a target Web server for JBuilder project]


Create a Web application in JBuilder

From JBuilder, click File | New| Web tab from Object Gallery | click Web Application. click OK.

Provide Web application name as StudioWebApp1 and Directory as StudioWebApp1


Copy the JSP to Web application directory

Copy the JSP created in Together (DemoJsp.jsp) to the Web application directory of JBuilder. Click Refersh.

Refer to figure 34 for details.

[Figure 34: Together Web application ported to JBuilder]

For more information on evaluating or purchasing Borland Enterprise Studio for Java, please contact your Borland representative.


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