If you use or develop JavaBeansTM,
JavaTM applications, or Java
applets, Taligent's WebRunner Bean Tools will help you do
it faster. If you have already developed part of your application using
ActiveXTM controls, the Migration Assistant
will help you move to 100% Pure JavaTM.
Your applications will be more portable and robust, and will include many
of the features your users expect from production software.
WebRunner Bean Tools
WebRunner Bean Tools includes class libraries, utilities, examples,
and reference materials that enable the creation of JavaBeans components,
applications, and applets. Bean Tools currently includes the following
products:
-
Bean Wizard
-
Bean Tester
-
Bean Works
-
Migration Assistant
-
Beans
This package contains the Bean Wizard, Bean Tester, and Bean Works. Some
of the available WebRunner Beans are included as samples. The Migration
Assistant and the complete set of Beans can be found on the Taligent
WebRunner web site.
A brief introduction to the Bean Wizard, Bean Tester, and Bean Works
is provided below. For more information, see the documentation
installed with the product. Updates to the documentation can be found at
the Taligent
WebRunner Toolkit site.
WebRunner Bean Wizard
If you are creating 100% Pure JavaTM beans
for the first time, WebRunner Bean Wizard gives you a quick start. Once
you enter the required information into the Bean Wizard dialog box, the
Bean Wizard generates complete source code for a working Java bean, optionally
compiled into byte code. This working Java bean understands activation
and deactivation, handles events, and generally interacts well with other
beans. If you selected the option in the dialog, you can even run your
bean as a standalone application complete with menus, toolbars, a status
bar, and fly-over help.
The Bean Wizard steps you through the creation of your Java bean
Because the WebRunner Bean Wizard is a round-trip wizard, you can add your
own logic yet still make changes to the overall structure of your Java
bean at any time.
WebRunner Bean Tester
Once you've created your 100% Pure Java Bean, you can exercise it and
validate its interaction using the WebRunner Bean Tester. Add your bean
to the palette, drag it into the workspace, and link it to other beans.
The WebRunner Bean Tester helps you evaluate your bean and feel confident
when you deploy it.

WebRunner Bean Works
All of the WebRunner Bean tools are based on WebRunner Bean Works, a comprehensive
set of class libraries designed to help developers create scaleable, maintainable,
and localizable Java beans and applications quickly and easily. If you
are an experienced Java programmer, you will be able to use WebRunner Bean
Works as the programming model for developing single Java beans or entire
client-server applications.
Sample Bean Work application, with standard menubars, toolbars, and charting
bean to analyze the data
Menus and toolbars, activation and focus, Web access and distribution are
all supplied to you. You can use the framework directly to create your
Java bean or let the Bean Wizard step you through.
Installation Instructions
WebRunner Bean Tools can be installed on any of the following platforms:
Installation of WebRunner Bean Tools on a Windows
platform
In order to use the Bean Tools, you must have Sun's JDK1.1.1 already installed
on your machine.
-
Double-click on the file btl120.exe (or btl120e.exe for
the Evaluation version of the product) to install.
-
The install utility will guide you through the remaining installation process.
-
When the installation is complete, set your JAVA_HOME environment
variable to point to the directory where JDK 1.1.1 is installed on your
machine.
-
Make sure that your PATH and CLASSPATH include JDK 1.1.1 binaries and
class files.
Installation of Bean Tools for use with VisualAge
for Java (VAJ) Version 1.0
-
Download the btl120.zip (or btl120e.zip for the Evaluation
version of the product) file.
-
Unzip and extract all the files in btl120(e).zip to
a directory of your choice on your local drive.
-
Importing the extracted files into VisualAge for Java:
-
Launch your 's VisualAge for Java's Integrated
Development Environment (IDE).
-
From the File menu, choose the Import menu item.
A SmartGuide Import dialog box appears.
-
Click on the Interchange file option then click on the Next button
-
Browse to the directory where you extracted the files from the btl120(e).zip
file and choose the beantool.dat file.
-
Click on the Update button.
-
A list of the following four projects will show up in the list :
-
Taligent WebRunner Bean Wizard
-
Taligent WebRunner Bean Works
-
Taligent WebRunner Bean Works Samples
-
Taligent WebRunner Beans
-
Select all the projects , and click on the Finish button to import
them into VisualAge for Java..
-
From the Selected menu, choose Add Project menu item to bring
the project in the workspace. A SmartGuide dialog will appear.
-
Choose Add project(s) from the repository.
-
Click on the Browse button.
-
Select each of the Taligent projects one at time, select the edition that
shows up in the Editions list, and add it in the Editions to
add column by clicking on the '>>' button. Click on the OK button.
-
Back in the SmartGuide dialog, click on the Finish button and wait for
all the projects to appear in the workspace.
-
In order to import all the resources for the Taligent projects, you will
need to unzip the resource.zip file that was extracted from
the btl120(e).zip file.
-
Double click on the resource.zip file that should be in the directory
where you had unzipped btl120(e).zip.
-
Extract all the files from resource.zip to
<VisualAge for Java Install directory>/ide/project_resources
NOTE: The Bean Tester needs to run with Sun's JDK1.1.1 for Windows, and must therefore be run
outside of VisualAge for Java. The document "Using Bean Tools with VisualAge for Java"
explains how to use the Bean Tester.
Supported Platforms
The current release of WebRunner Toolkit has been tested for
use with the JDK1.1.1 available on WindowsNT and Windows95.
Releases on other platforms will be supported in the near future, depending
on the availability of stable releases of the JDK1.1.1 on those platforms.
When using Bean Tools on the Windows 95 platform, you may find the following
hints helpful:
-
You might encounter an "Out of environment space" problem when launching
the applications from the Program group. To correct this problem, add the
following line to your config.sys file:
shell=X:\command.com /e:4096 /p
where "X:" is the drive path where your Windows 95 operating system is
installed.
-
You may get a "MSVCRT.DLL not Found" error. This file is required to run
java.exe. To correct this problem, copy your Windows 95 MSVCRT40.DLL
over to MSVCRT.DLL as follows (in single command string):
copy X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSVCRT40.DLL
X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSVCRT.DLL
where "X:" is the drive path where your Windows 95 operating system is
installed.
-
If you open the Bean Tools Wizard, generate files, and then close the Wizard,
the DOS window that brought up the Wizard will say the Wizard is finished
but will not close automatically. To correct this problem, close the window
manually by clicking on the close button (X) in the extreme upper right
corner of the DOS window.
Known Problems
The following problems have been identified:
-
The Wizard currently does not generate a JAR file. As a workaround, the
Wizard creates a file called makejar.bat. Generate your code with
the Wizard in the usual way. Then go to the directory containing the generated
code and run the makejar.bat file. This will create the necessary
JAR file. You are now ready to load your bean into the WebRunner Bean Tester.
-
If your application code has a System.out.println
call in it, running your application using the Wizard's Run button might
cause it to hang. (This happens because the instance of the Java virtual
machine is launched using the exec command. This instance has no standard
output stream associated with it, which causes it to hang. ) To avoid this
problem, simply run your application from a command shell.
-
The Wizard allows you to enter free-form parameter types. It does not check
that these types are valid. For instance, it will allow you to create a
class with a method that takes a parameter of type 'foo'. It will not warn
you if 'foo' is not in your CLASSPATH or even that it is not a valid Java
type.
-
Currently, the Wizard does not provide backward compatibility for Project files (files with
the .WIZ extension) that it creates. So, you would not be able to open a .WIZ file created by an
earlier version of the Wizard, in a later version of the Wizard.
Running the Samples as Applets
-
The provided applets are JDK 1.1.1-based. For this reason, the applets
do not run in any web browser that does not support JDK1.1.1. (all except
HotJava 1.0 browser, as of this release of WebRunner Toolkit).
-
When you run any of the sample applets in the appletviewer, you might see
an AppletSecurityException. If this happens, remove the ARCHIVE
tag from the HTML files for the sample applets, and include the paths specified
by the ARCHIVE tag in your CLASSPATH environment variable.
Beans
When using the Network Beans, users have occasionally reported a problem
of these beans "freezing up". We have been unable to pinpoint the cause.
If you experience this problem, simply terminate the process the bean is
running in.
Tiles Sample
In the Tiles sample, when you disable the toolbar or status line, a thin
black line is left on the screen. This is corrected by forcing a refresh
and does not affect the operation of the tiles.
Using WebRunner inside VisualAge for Java
Some problems have been found, when using some pieces of the WebRunner
Toolkit inside VisualAge for Java, although these do not seem
to affect the functioning of these pieces. These problems are not seen
when the toolkit is used independent of VisualAge for Java.
-
In the Visual Composition Editor for VisualAge for Java, the Bean
Customizer dialogs for any of the Network Beans --- the FTPSession Bean,
the NNTPSession Bean, the NNTPSession Bean and the SMTPSession Bean ---
are displayed much smaller than the actual size of the customizer, and
need to be resized. Once resized, and all the fields are visible, the beans
function normally.
-
Some of the dialogs of the WebRunner Bean Wizard contain text labels
that appear to be truncated. This does not affect the functioning
of the Bean Wizard. To see the correct labels, check the online documentation
for the Wizard. Screen captures of the Bean Wizard interface can be found
in the Bean Wizard section of the Contents panel. To get to the Contents
panel, choose Overview from the documentation cover or click the Contents
link on any inside page.
|