Weblog for the AMIS Technology corner
Archive for March, 2006
AJAX – What’s the buzz? Introduction and Workshop
Mar 31st
Yesterday we had a workshop titled: Ajax, What’s the buzz? During this workshop, we discussed AJAX – Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, notable examples of Ajax implementations, the repercussions Ajax can have for the application we develop, challenges we will face when adopting Ajax and of course ways to implement Ajax. During the hands-on session, we implemented the Ajax equivalent of HelloWorld, implemented cross-domain Ajax-requests and used the RICO framework for creating an Accordion effect (Outlook style). We also implemented client-side server based validation and a tooltip/suggestion like feature.
The driving forces behind Ajax and most of the appications, next to the obvious JavaScript and the XmlHttpRequest object, are the (DHTML) ability to directly write to the DOM. For some of us, this was a first introduction to the node manipulation features in DHTML as well as the innerHtml property that we can so easily use with container elements like DIV and TD.
You can find the presentation for this workshop here: AjaxWhatsTheBuzz_30maart2006.ppt Note that the slides contain some Dutch words. Also note that the slides have hyperlinks, some of them to websites on the internet – those will function – some of them to demos that you will not have. Those same demonstrations can be found later in this article. Also see Installment 2 – more in depth examples and discussions.
A truckload of new books
Mar 31st
This week we had many new books arriving. Three boxes came in with over 30 books. Among them are: Read the rest of this entry »
Ten golden rules for SOA Design – Database Systems 2006 – part 2
Mar 31st
The most provoking presentation I sat in on during the Database Systems 2006 conference was probably the one by Rick van der Lans, on 10 golden rules for SOA design. Rick is a fairly wellknown speaker in The Netherlands (and abroad his bio states and I ran into one of his presentation in Finland to underline that point, see http://www.tieturi.fi/seminaarit/ohjelmistokehitys2006/documents/soa_2006_esite_web2.pdf), on wide range of topics like Business Intelligence, Database Design and more recently Service Oriented Architectures. He is a very entertaining presenter, knows how to engage the audience and has a number nice presentation tricks up his sleeve.
I was a bit skeptical initially: it is hard to believe anyone has in depth knowledge on that wide range of topics he presents on as well as participate on real-world projects. However, although not all my hesitations have disappeared, his presentation was certainly worthwhile and triggered some very good discussions. Clearly he has a lot of experience to build his story on and he knows very well how to read the developments in the industry.
His best tip, which he re-iterated several times, is: make sure you buy your SOA infrastructure – like ESB, Adapters, BAM tools, BPEL Container, WebService Management and Governance tools – from a vendor who will survive the shake-0ut that in his opinion is imminent. There are over 30 vendors active in the SOA space and soon a shake out must follow that will have only a few survive. He strongly recommended the audience to only deal with vendors that would be among the survivors. Read the rest of this entry »
Oracle introduces free database development tool
Mar 31st
Oracle recently released its first production version of a graphical database development tool called “SQL Developer” (version 1.0) – formerly project Raptor.
If you have ever worked with Oracle Jdeveloper you will find that SQL Developer has the same look and feel.
With this tool you are able to browse database objects, view and edit table data, run SQL statements, edit and debug PL\SQL statements.
There is also a “Reports” section in which one can select some basic database catalog views, very handy.
SQL Developer supports database from 9.2 and later (including XE).
The tool has been developed in Java and therefore supports Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems.
Connecting to databases is done via the JDBC Thin driver which means that an Oracle client is not required.
The best news is that SQL Developer is FREE
All one needs to do is download SQL Developer from Oracle (54Mb), unzip the file and then run the executable (no installation required), it’s that simple.
SQL Developer does not have the same functionality as Toad or PL-SQL Developer but there again it’s only the first release.
Oracle provides an extension development kit with which (companies) can build their own extensions and of coarse Oracle will be developing extra extensions too (I wonder if these too will be free).
To sum it up, we have a development tool that:
- Works on Windows, Linux and Mac OS.
- Does not need an Oracle client to connect to the database.
- Is able to view data objects, edit tables, run SQL statements, edit and debug PL\SQL and the list goes on….
- Has a development kit with which you are able to develop your own extensions.
- And it’s FREE
I think Toad has something to be worried about. SQL Developer has alot of potential.
Kennis Maken bij AMIS – serie openbare kennis sessies, van RAC tot JSF en van Source Control tot Oracle WebForms
Mar 31st
Kennisdeling, onderlinge kennisoverdracht en samen op onderzoek met nieuwe tools en technologie is sterk ingebed in de AMIS organisatie. Deze weblog is daar een uiting van, onze artikelen in diverse tijdschriften en uiteraard onze kennis sessies. Wekelijks organiseert één van de Kennis Centra binnen AMIS wel een sessie, een presentatie, demonstratie en discussie/brainstorm na een warme maaltijd gevolgd door een hands-on workshop. Van 16.30 uur tot pakweg 21.00 – hoewel het ook wel eens een ietsje later wordt – zijn we bezig met iets volledig nieuws of iets nieuws aan iets bekends.
De maand april is extra druk: eind maart komt de 2e editie uit van het boek De Beste Werken van AMIS, een bundeling van artikelen, conferentie-bijdragen en weblog-schrijfsels. Na het succes van de ‘limited edition’ van december hebben we nu gekozen voor een oplage van 6000 stuks die naar de lezers van Optimize, Oracle Magazine (in Nederland) en OGH Visie worden gestuurd. Met dit boekje willen we aan de markt – klanten, partners en eventuele nieuwe medewerkers – laten zien waar wij mee bezig zijn en hoe we daarmee bezig zijn. Bij het boekje zit een uitnodiging om deel te nemen aan één of meer van de kennis sessies. Nou mag dat altijd: onze KC bijeenkomsten zijn openbaar en staan aangekondigd op de website: http://www.amis.nl/activiteiten.php, maar in de maand april zijn de sessies ook speciaal ingericht op bezoek van buiten. Om een lang verhaal niet langer te maken: als je interesse hebt om een van onderstaande sessies te bezoeken en zo ook eens face-to-face kennis te maken met mensen achter de weblog, meld je dan aan via bovengenoemde website. Dan zorgen wij dat er in elk geval een smakelijke maaltijd klaarstaat – en doen we je ook een aantrekkelijk kennis aanbod, of het nu EJB 3.0 Persistence, InterConnect, Backbase RIA ontwikkeling of Java Security is: Read the rest of this entry »Oracle Forms for games?!
Mar 31st
Tired of writing only administrative applications? Try a Forms game.
Gratis Spring cursus
Mar 29th
NL-JUG maakte vandaag de mogelijkheid wereldkundig voor het volgen van een vier-avondse Spring training. Zie www.nljug.org. NL-JUG merkt op: “Samen met bijvoorbeeld Hibernate maakt Spring het programmeren weer leuk! Geen extra code schrijven of hoofdbrekers om je applicatie aan de praat te krijgen. Met Spring kan je sneller betere kwaliteit leveren”. Deze cursus is gratis voor leden, maar voor een geeltje ben je lid van NL-JUG en krijg je nog een mooi tijdschrift ook. Jippie!
Database Systems 2006 – Conference on Service Oriented Architectures
Mar 28th
Today I attended – and presented at – the Database Systems 2006 conference – an annual Dutch conference on Database Architecture and Technology, Enterprise Integration and Service Oriented Architectures as well as Information Architecture and Business Intelligence. The main theme – at least in the sessions I attended – was SOA. In this article a brief overview of the main highlights of the day. Read the rest of this entry »
ODTUG 2006 Kaleidoscope (Washington) – We are on our way… – AMIS does 9 presentations!
Mar 28th
We at AMIS have a fairly long tradition when it comes to having developers attend the annual ODTUG (Oracle Development Tools User Group) conference. My first conference – while I was still at Oracle – was in 1997, in San Diego. And I haven’t skipped a single one, presenting on a wide range of topics.
This year the ODTUG conference will take us to Washington DC, starting June 17th. See also: http://www.odtug.com/2006_Conference/2006_conference_papers.htm No fewer than 6 of us from AMIS will go to this conference and present. If you are there, we will be very hard to miss. And of course you should come and attend each and everyone of our 9 presentations, as they are all both interesting and entertaining. We will present on:
Read the rest of this entry »
Easy Ajax for Java
Mar 27th
I like to bring under your attention DWR – Easy Ajax for Java, a Java open source library created by Getahead. “Easy” is always good (like “free” is always good). The easiness of DWR is the principle that a Javascript method calls a server-side Java method: “It allows code in a web browser to use Java functions running on a web server as if it was in the browser.” Read the rest of this entry »
