Oracle ADF vs. Other Java Web Frameworks

Posted on Feb 15, 2011 in Technical Tips | 0 comments

To extend on an earlier blog posts by a colleague here at M&S, I’m a firm believer in using different technologies in different situations. Trying to make a technology ‘work’ when another is clearly a better choice is very often a critical mistake. Reasons why these decisions get made are numerous (familiarity with a technology, existing infrastructure, etc). With that said, my own take on ADF vs. other Java web frameworks (such as Grails) is actual a lot more black & white than I thought it would be.

While ADF enables typical CRUD functionality quickly and efficiently, it’s abstraction from the actual underpinnings and code make the overall learning curve higher. Personally, I’d rather be forced to generate my own view code and Javascript, as this has become the most important part to any rich web application and understanding it’s technology at a granular level is critical. On the flip side, ADF is extremely flexible allowing you to mix and match model technologies that fit just about any business infrastructure, whereas most other frameworks typically limit your choices here. Additionally, ADF Faces provides about 100 rich, AJAX enabled UI components out of the box that have functionality such as sorting, filtering, and row selection, that you’d need to use jQuery or Prototype to handle elsewhere.

At this point, I asked myself, when would I use ADF vs. another conventional Java web framework? Here are the characteristics that I’ve come up with that best suit ADF or another Java web framework. What are your thoughts?

ADF Typical Project Characteristics

• Enterprise
• Internal / Intranet
• Proprietary components ok (ADF Faces, ADF BC)
• Style unimportant
• Large datasets
• Rapid development critical
• Abstraction from underpinnings ok

Other Conventional Web Framework Project Characteristics

• Startups / Consumer Web Apps
• Internet
• Style Important / particular UI requirements
• Bulk UI changes probable
• Open Source required
• Dev team familiar with technology at a low level

Four Middleware 11g Servers — Here we go!

Posted on Feb 8, 2011 in News and Updates, Offerings | 0 comments

We just started into installs for four middleware servers for a customer. These will each run DB, WebLogic, IdM, SOA/BPM, UCM, and WebCenter — all 11g.

There’s nothing like getting fresh, fast, functionally-useless hardware and turning it into a powerful piece of problem-solving equipment. – Historic M&S Dogma

Oracle ECM vs UCM — What’s the difference?

Posted on Feb 4, 2011 in Business Strategy, News and Updates, Offerings, Technical Tips | 4 comments

I’m starting to see Oracle ECM get mixed with Oracle UCM more these days when people talk about Oracle’s Content Management offering(s). Sometimes I wonder if this kind of confusion isn’t premeditated by marketing managers, but that’s another story.

So, here’s the scoop (and though I say this confidently, I find myself compelled to disclaim that this is the scoop as I understand it, and as Oracle is using these terms as of the date of publication).

For starters:

• ECM stands for Enterprise Content Management
• UCM stands for Universal Content Management

“Oracle Content Management” offerings are also referred to as “Oracle Enterprise Content Management” offerings. In addition to this, there is also a specific suite of products called “Oracle ECM Suite” which is comprised of the following Oracle products:

• Oracle Universal Content Management (UCM)
• Oracle Universal Records Management (URM)
• Oracle Imaging and Process Management (I/PM)
• Oracle Information Rights Management

In summary, Oracle UCM is a product within Oracle ECM Suite, which is offered within Oracle’s overall Enterprise Content Management solution stack.

Perhaps an easy way to remember this is by recalling the unintuitive nature of including something named “Universal” *inside* something named “Enterprise”. As it turns out, Oracle UCM itself is quite a powerful product with many capabilities that you can read more about below.

IBM Attacks Oracle Middleware

Posted on Feb 1, 2011 in Industry Trends, News and Updates | 0 comments

IBM has published a page on their commercial website that questions why a customer would pay more for less, taking direct aim at Oracle and specifically Oracle Middleware offerings surrounding SOA and WebLogic.

Like other competitive material published by software vendors, highlighted areas will tend to focus on one-sided statistics. Consumers today expect valid information that is easily accessible/verifiable, so — not surprisingly — this page has a references section at the bottom as well. The thing that does surprise me with these claims is the important information that is left out.

When we pick solutions for a customer, we are generally considering variables that are *far* more important than software costs. For example, the existing technology infrastructure and internal resource skills-sets generally weigh heavily into software decisions. Cost is usually the last component of the selection that is considered. I can appreciate the competition, and I believe it will be healthy for consumers in the end, but want people to take a step back when they see generic claims like “why pay more for less?” as a suggestive summary for some very specific statistics collected by any vendor, weather it be IBM, Oracle, or anyone else.

More subjectively, I found the page to be unique in its directness as well as the fact that it was published on the internet, giving me the sense that IBM is concerned about Oracle prominence and growth in Middleware market share.

Oops. Did I just delete my WebLogic managed server?

Posted on Jan 28, 2011 in Technical Tips | 0 comments

Of all the wonderfulness that comes with Oracle’s latest product releases, there are always those little thing that make you scratch your head. This one is funny. Be VERY careful with your buttons in WebLogic server. If you accidentally click Delete, there NO confirmation prompt. Nothing that asks “Are you sure?”. So, in a heartbeat, you could simply delete your managed server.

Oracle WebCenter 11g Patch Set 3 (PS3) 11.1.1.4 Download for Windows, Linux, etc.

Posted on Jan 25, 2011 in Industry Trends, News and Updates, Technical Tips | 0 comments

Oracle has now officially released WebCenter 11g PS3 (11.1.1.4). You can download it online as of today (Jan 25, 2011). This marks a major leap in WebCenter’s capabilities and maturity as an Enterprise 2.0 Collaboration Portal. Look for more information on the M&S blog to come.

WebLogic 11g (10.3.4) Install on Windows – WLS 11gR3

Posted on Jan 20, 2011 in Technical Tips | 0 comments

I documented the steps I took to complete an install of WebLogic 11g PS3 (10.3.4) — sometimes also called 11gR3 — on my Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit OS. There is only a 32-bit version of WebLogic available for Windows, but it runs fine on Windows 7 64-bit and, as I understand, the same way with other version of the Windows OS as well (Vista, XP, Servers, etc.).

This walk-through covers:

• WebLogic 11g Install on Windows
• One Admin Server and one Managed Server

JDeveloper and BPM 11g Patch Set 3 (PS3) Released, But Hold Off Using JDeveloper (for now)

Posted on Jan 17, 2011 in News and Updates, Technical Tips | 0 comments

Heidi Buelow, Product Manager at Oracle for BPM Suite posted a note on the Oracle Forums over the weekend asking a member to hold off on using JDeveloper 11g PS3 with BPM.

I am generally pleased with the integration, and truly appreciate the vision of using one IDE (JDeveloper) for all things Oracle. That said, it seems Oracle is unique when compared to pure-play BPM vendors where the SOA/BPM teams are different than those over development tooling like JDeveloper, so they have to work extra hard at it. Feel free to follow the forum post.