Sun Adds 18 New Open-Source Modules

Sun Microsystems Inc. Thursday announced that its NetBeans open-source project has added 18 new modules to its open-source code base.

In addition, Sun Thursday announced the NetBeans Lookup Library, which enables developers to register different commonly used software components and make them visible to other elements in the system. The Lookup Library allows the independent modules to communicate with one another, the company said. The Lookup Library, which can be used independently of the NetBeans Platform or integrated development environment (IDE), is available at http://openide.netbeans.org/lookup. Moreover, the NetBeans Platform and IDE use the Lookup Library to enable plug-in modules to install new objects, such as compilers.

Sun also announced an addition to the enterprise version of its Sun ONE Studio application development platform. The new Native Connector Tool for Linux includes a specification and set of libraries and wizards in the Sun ONE Studio, Enterprise Edition products. The connector tool supports the Java 2 Enterprise Edition Connector Architecture (JCA) and enables Linux developers to extend applications as Web services. With the Native Connector Tool, developers can encapsulate native Linux C and C++ applications and libraries as Java classes or XML Web services.

The new NetBeans modules, contributed by the open-source community, can be found at www.netbeans.org. Among the 18 new modules is one that features support for Java Data Objects, which is a Java technology for mapping entities in relational databases to Java objects. Another is a module for Java 3D support. And a third is support for the Apache Struts framework, which is a technology built on top of JavaServer Pages that enhances productivity for Web application developers, the company said. Other modules include a Support Interface Module, a BugSubmitter module, an audit module for defining best practices, a metrics module for analyzing source code, and an XTest module for providing performance and API compatibility tests.

Sun officials said the addition of these modules was made easier by a new module contribution process that enables any community member to upload a contribution and make it immediately available to the NetBeans community. Information on the process can be found at http://contrib.netbeans.org.

"We welcome these new additions to the NetBeans code base," Peter Young, vice president and general manager of Sun ONE Studio Tools, said in a statement. "NetBeans and Linux share the belief that an open-source community is the best path to innovation, and the rapid addition of functionality in the form of the new modules announced today affirms this belief. The Native Connector Tool will facilitate further innovation by Linux Developers working to create Web services by enabling the integration of their existing C/C++ code."