On OTN the new Toplink 10.1.3 Developer Preview 3 can be downloaded. See here for a list all the new features . And here for the release notes .
Next to numerous bug/feature fixes, I noticed the following highlights when quickly scanning the documents.
Object Relational
- Toplink now uses JDK 1.4 logging
- Support for returning clause
- Support for bulk updates
- Support for Case stament in the expression builder
- Support for XMLType
- Support for flashback queries, new Historical Session object
- Several changes to make the API more consistent (Hurrah!)
On the logging issue, I wonder why Oracle didn’t opt for Jakarta commons logging. In that case the developer/maintainer of an application can configure what logging the application should use, JDK1.4 logging or for example log4J logging, making it easier to integrate Toplink’s logging with other parts of the application.
All in all there seems to be a move towards making Toplink benefit more from specific Oracle Database features. When using an Oracle database that is a very good thing. It does not mean you cannot use other databases, you just can’t use these special Oracle Features. I wonder if there will similar efforts for DB2 features 😉
Toplink also supports mapping Objects to XML. Some big enhancements have been made. Toplink strives to be JAXB compliant, but with this release it is not yet complete. On the other hand there are some mapping features beyond typical JAXB
The mapping workbench has also been upgraded.
- Finally you can edit the sessions.xml in the mapping workbench
- Support for Object – XML projects and mappings
I suppose these enhancements wil also be taken up in the Mapping Workbench/ Toplink support integrated into JDeveloper in the upcoming JDeveloper release . It will be interesting to see if you will be able to generate your Project to Java Source from within JDeveloper in the upcoming JDeveloper release. You could from the standalone Mapping workbench, but not from JDeveloper ….
Hopefully I will be able to spend some time on this Toplink version the coming weeks. I’ll post my findings. To be continued.
Toplinks respons on the logging question
The decision was made for consistency across the Oracle Application Server components. I am not aware of the specifics of the selection criteria. This only makes java.util.logging the default solution.
TopLink still offers the ability to plug in a SessionLog implementation of your own that you can use Log4J or any other logging solution.
Maybe Toplink didn’t opt for commons-logging for this reason
commons-logging issues?
I’ll put a post on the Toplink forum …