JavaWorld News Briefs (11/15/96)

Index of news briefs

Win 3.1ers can grab Java applets

Good news for Windows 3.1 users (and there are still tens of millions): In mid-November, Netscape posted to its DevEdge developer program Web site a beta version of its Navigator 3.01 browser for Windows 3.1 that boasts Java support.

Earlier in the month, Microsoft demonstrated its own Java-enabled browser for Windows 3.1 (Internet Explorer 3.0) and vowed to deliver IE with the Java add-on in December. Netscape, meanwhile, expects to offer a general release at the end of November.

Microsoft indicates its 16-bit browser includes a Java virtual machine that translates 32-bit Java calls into 16-bit calls. Of course, this will create some overhead whenever users move a file to memory or draw to the screen.

In August, IBM released a Java virtual machine for Windows 3.1, but only for developers.

Registered Netscape DevEdge subscribers can download the free beta at

https://developer.netscape.com/software/index.html

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Webmasters seeking to index their sites and make information easily accessible may want to take a look at NetResults, Innotech Multimedia Corp.’s Java-based search and retrieval tool for both Internet and intranet Web sites. Unlike most other search engines, NetResults allows “cascading searches” across multiple platforms within an enterprise. Such searches can yield results more quickly by simultaneously utilizing the horsepower of multiple machines rather than relying on a single computer to process the search.

The NetResults suite, priced at ,995 for a site license, includes four components: an administrator’s tool used to create an index of a Web site’s information, an application server (the Java-based search engine), Java applets designed to serve as an interface to the search engine, and an applet developers kit that lets administrators create custom applets to allow such tasks as searches by stock symbol. Innotech claims the software doesn’t require programming knowledge or ongoing technical support and can be set up in “an afternoon.”

Currently the admin tool requires a 486 or better running Windows 95 or NT (a Mac version is in the works), 16 megabytes of RAM, a CD-ROM drive, and a TCP/IP connection to any HTTP-compatible server software running a Java VM. (The server application runs on any server platform that supports Java.) End-users need a Java-compatible browser.

https://www.netresults-search.com/ Back to index

Ignite Technologies’ Layout Mill graphical user interface builder is designed to work on any hardware platform for which a Java virtual machine is available. Written in Java, the 99 software helps let teams develop and deploy Java programs on any platform, and it boasts a small footprint.

Features include a WYSIWYG “hot switch” capability that lets developers preview the GUI on non-native platforms (thus allowing, for example, the preview of a Windows GUI to appear on a Mac or Unix machine); code re-use by reference to ease maintenance (application logic is kept separate from the tool logic); reusable GUIs (they’re created as classes); and a sidecar mechanism that can take an AWT component made by someone else, describe it to Layout Mill, and incorporate it within the GUI palette.

Founded in February, Ignite notes that Layout Mill is the first in a series of tools built in Java, and will act as a foundation or baseline for subsequent products, such as a component pack (due in February 1997 for 99), debugger, compiler, and data source connectivity (“not just to databases, but to legacy systems, groupware, and live data feeds”).

https://www.ignite.com/products/index.htm Back to index

HP 9000s get Java Developer’s Kit and VM

Hewlett-Packard is almost ready to showcase the HP-UX Developer’s Kit for Java and the HP-UX Virtual Machine for Java (based on Java 1.02). HP plans to embed and fine tune the developer’s kit and virtual machine in upcoming releases of HP-UX. It’s also developing a just-in-time compiler to boost Java performance within HP-UX.

Both products are available now at no charge. Customers may purchase support contracts through normal sales channels.

Download for products was not available at the time of this writing, but keep checking the site:

https://www.hp.com/gsyinternet/hpjdk/main.html Back to index

Infuse allows drag-and-drop JavaScript editing

Windows 95 and NT users can now saturate their Java scripting with a point, click, and pull by means of Acadia Software’s Infuse. Infuse, which is due for release later this month, will let developers create JavaScript scripts and Netscape ONE applications from a visual programming environment. Infuse can be used to craft HTML with embedded JavaScript or as a companion to HTML editors. Infuse also can compile Netscape’s LiveWire applications.

Infuse is priced at 0 until January 199; after this, the retail price will be 30.

• Original story: InfoWorld

  http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayArchives.pl?dt_iwe46-96_21.htm

• Acadia Infuse product info:

  https://www.acadians.com/Infuse/welcome.htm

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JAALSoft binds HTML and SQL

Majesco Software’s new U.S. division, JAALSoft, has released JAAL 1.0 — a new way to bind HTML and SQL together to build Internet and intranet database applications with 66 percent fewer lines of code than C or Perl.

JAALSoft is a partner in Sun’s announcement of its JavaStation network computer (NC). JAAL will be a key product for corporations using the JavaStation NC for distributing network-based software in Internets and intranets, as well as for PC users and LANs. It is differentiated from other available software by the fact that it supports development on the NC.

JAAL 1.0 (which means Web in Hindi) uses its own 4GL with a complete development environment written in Java. JAAL includes a full WYSIWYG editor and rapid application development (RAD) support. It is also cross-platform and uses CGI to communicate with Web servers running Windows 95 and NT, and Unix. JAAL uses 32-bit ODBC drivers to communicate to relational databases — with native interfaces to Oracle, Sybase, and Progress.

https://www.jaal.com/overview.htm

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Microsoft packs Intel’s Realistic Sound and Display in SDK

Intel’s Java media components — Realistic Sound eXperience (RSX) and Realistic Display miXer (RDX) — will be part of Microsoft’s Java SDK third-party Gallery for Java. Based on high-speed DirectX APIs, RSX and RDX will allow developers to bring positional sound and high-performance animation of complex scenes to Java. And with support for the component object model (COM) in Microsoft’s virtual machine, Java applications using RSX and RDX automatically take advantage of Intel’s MMX technology.

RSX and RDX can be downloaded now.

• Download RSX and RDX at

  https://www.microsoft.com/java

• More information:

  https://www.intel.com/ial/webmedia

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Components 2.0 brings some Java to Notes

Lotus is building Components 2.0, a set of Lotus components for the Internet that are based on Java and ActiveX. Components 2.0, slated for release in the second quarter of 1997, is being developed using JavaBeans and will allow for interactive data exchange between the Domino 4.5 Notes server and Web browsers. Domino 4.5 is Lotus’ first Notes server to incorporate the HTTP-based Web server; it is scheduled for release next month.

The interactivity should make it possible for developers to build custom applets using components such as spreadsheets, send them from the Domino server to an outside browser, display them on a Web page, then allow Internet-/intranet-based users to add data to them and submit them back to the server with a click of the mouse. Lotus chose JavaBeans because it provides for cross-platform development. Lotus is using the JavaBeans 1.0 specification but will also provide ActiveX support.

• Original story: PC Week

  https://www.pcweek.com/archive/1337/pcwk0121.htm

• Components 2.0:

  https://components.lotus.com/

• Domino 4.5:

  https://domino.lotus.com/

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Mac developers are ready for Java

Apple Computer’s free beta of MacOS Runtime for Java (MRJ) is ready for the developer community. Now Macintosh developers can create Java applets and applications for users of Macintosh-based systems. Apple cites Java’s built-in threading, automatic memory management and protection, and innate cross-platform compatibility, as well as customer and developer calls for Java, as reasons for supporting it. MRJ includes the API to enable developers to load Java class libraries, create Java objects, and call Java methods in order to build hybrid Mac OS-Java applications. Users need a 68030 or faster machine and System 7.1 and later.

To encourage developers to join the Java explosion, Apple also announced a “MRJ (Macintosh Runtime for Java) Coding Contest.” Creators of the best Java applets and applications will be announced at Macworld and awarded prizes.

https://www.devtools.apple.com/mrj/ Back to index

Microsoft Gallery for Java — Free libraries make Java development easier