FlowBuilder 3.5 Tears Down Wall between Domino and J2EE
"Visual SOAP" augments powerful service oriented architecture (SOA) assembly model and simplifies Web services integration; adds Eclipse plug-in option for Java developers
WOBURN, Mass. -- Aug. 23, 2004 -- Trilog Group, Inc. today announced the general availability of version 3.5 of its flagship product, FlowBuilder. FlowBuilder 3.5 is an integrated J2EE development framework, based on a powerful Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) that reproduces the Domino development model and developer experience for open-standards platforms. This similarity enables Domino shops to leverage their existing developer resources as they implement a J2EE or portal strategy, saving the time and expense of staff retraining (or replacement), and avoiding the decline in development productivity that often accompanies Java projects.
"FlowBuilder 3.5 tears down the wall between the Domino community and the J2EE community. Simply put, we're enabling 700,000-plus active Domino developers to build solutions for IBM Lotus Workplace or IBM WebSphere using their existing skills and without going through the painful J2EE learning curve," said Alex Homsi, CEO, Trilog Group. "Beyond the benefits to the Domino community, FlowBuilder plugs directly into Eclipse to offer J2EE developers unparalleled productivity and ease of integration through an innovative SOA-based visual assembly model and a very rich framework for building complex collaborative applications. Unifying the collaborative development model across Java and Domino development teams will provide organizations with significant economies and improved quality."
FlowBuilder 3.5 benefits developers in three new ways.
FlowBuilder includes a visual representation of the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) for intuitive point-and-click integration of Web services. Building on FlowBuilder's powerful SOA, this capability provides integrated support for the Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry to provide dynamic discovery of business services using the Web Services Description Language (WSDL). To implement these business services, FlowBuilder automatically generates forms and portlets from the WSDL, and integrates role-based security through its organization modeling capability. The result is seamless choreography of Web Services and FlowBuilder's native component services.
FlowBuilder 3.5 includes a new Eclipse plug-in that makes the entire framework available as an Eclipse perspective for Java developers. FlowBuilder's core XSP Studio is still available as a standalone lightweight IDE, but the Eclipse integration allows Java developers to reach unparalleled productivity levels by seamlessly reusing FlowBuilder's rich framework services and components.
FlowBuilder's automated Notes application migration capabilities have been augmented with the addition of an automated application migration analysis tool. This tool enables an organization to examine the XML description of its existing Domino applications and to categorize those applications based on complexity. FlowBuilder's migration estimator and methodology then enable the user to more accurately estimate the time required to migrate selected applications to their target J2EE platforms.
FlowBuilder 3.5 also includes many other feature enhancements, such as improved transaction control and cache management for XML documents stored in a relational database, new pre-built visual "beans" to automate specific functions, such as for document initialization, and improved server performance. These new capabilities add significant value to FlowBuilder's foundation, which includes advanced portlet development capabilities and automated Notes application migration capabilities. FlowBuilder's dual servlet/portlet architecture enables any FlowBuilder application to be published as a portlet through IBM WebSphere Portal or IBM Lotus Workplace with just simple configuration and no further development, taking full advantage of the advanced capabilities of these platforms, including session sharing, portlet messaging, and click to action.
FlowBuilder's Migration Wizard converts Notes design elements into the FlowBuilder framework, and then expresses them in Java. FlowBuilder automatically converts Notes forms, subforms, views, and view categories, as well as Notes formulas, rich text, the security model, and all of the application's data, documents, and attachments. While any LotusScript may need to be rewritten, FlowBuilder's graphical tools eliminate the need for scripting for many functions, such as to implement complex workflows and dynamic tables.
FlowBuilder 3.5 includes many other new features and capabilities; for a complete listing please visit http://www.triloggroup.com.
About Trilog Group, Inc.
Trilog Group, Inc., is a pioneer in service-oriented visual J2EE development frameworks and tools for the rapid development of standards-based, document-centric business process applications, portals and workplaces. The company's flagship product, FlowBuilder 3.5, is designed to address the needs of both Domino and Java developers by taking advantage of a full range of open standards such as J2EE, HTML, and XML. Information about the Trilog Group is available at http://www.triloggroup.com.