The Readers' Choice Awards are based on nominations submitted to our Web site and by e-mail. There are a large number of categories for which a product can be nominated, including Best Bean, Best Application Server, Best Development Environment and a host of others (see below). The Readers' Choice Awards are presented to the products that receive the most votes in a particular category, with ties being decided by the editor, who reserves the right to select multiple winners if the situation warrants it.

The Editor's Choice Awards are selected by the editor-in-chief of JDJ – which is me, Sean Rhody. For each category in question, I did research to identify and compare the products that were relevant. For example, for Application Servers I looked at the servers that were shipping at the time of selection and that support Java as a primary component development language. I compared features such as model support (COM, EJB and CORBA), Load Balancing and Clustering.

For the category Best Development Environment, I looked at things like support for two-way coding, ease of use of the interface and support for team development. In each case I tried to identify the product that was the best overall in my comparisons. In some cases I didn't have a clear winner, or I didn't know enough about the competition in the category to make a selection. In those instances I left the selection of a winner to the readers. 

Congratulations to all of this year's winners!

BEA WebXpress
Category: Application Server
Winner: BEA WebLogic

BEA WebLogic is a Java application server for developing, integrating, deploying and managing large-scale distributed Web, network and database applications. With its comprehensive support for Enterprise Java Standards, WebLogic protects user investment and makes it possible to build portable, scalable applications that interoperate seamlessly with other applications and systems.

The BEA WebLogic application server offers the critical front-end Web component of BEA Systems' end-to-end enterprise middleware solution. BEA WebLogic:

• Fully implements 10 of the 12 Enterprise Java APIs, including JDBC, EJB, RMI, event management and JNDI

• Provides a comprehensive implementation of the Enterprise JavaBeans 1.0 specification

• Provides tools to aid in the creation and management of Enterprise JavaBeans, permitting the hosting of both custom and off-the-shelf business components

• Provides support for persistency to multiple databases

• Works easily with industry-leading databases, as well as Microsoft Visual Basic, Visual C++, Active Server Pages and COM

• Works easily with industry-leading development tools, including VisualCafé, JBuilder, Supercede, J++ and Visual Age

• Deploys and manages applications to ensure scalability, availability and security

BEA WebLogic extends leading Java IDEs to support the development and debugging of multitier Java applications. WebLogic's implementation of Enterprise JavaBeans technology makes it easy to encapsulate business logic as secure, transactional components.

The BEA WebLogic application server is an extensible framework that allows any standard Java application to be “snapped in,” including the Java client bindings provided for most legacy systems. BEA WebLogic's multitier JDBC implementation allows a Java application to access and update databases from anywhere on the network. BEA WebLogic also allows any Microsoft COM object to be easily plugged into the WebLogic framework. BEA WebLogic provides support for CORBA IIOP, IDL-compatible services and bidirectional interoperation.

Java applications hosted by BEA WebLogic can be replicated in a cluster with no additional programming. For scalability, WebLogic balances the load across available instances of the replicated service. For fault tolerance, 
WebLogic also replicates state information so that an outage can be completely masked from both users and applications. Network security is ensured through optional encryption, authentication and authorization based on the RSA Secured Sockets Layer,  X.509 certificates and access control lists.

BEA WebLogic provides centralized management for large distributed configurations of clients and servers through a single comprehensive view of the overall system. Its pure-Java graphical management console allows remote monitoring, integrated logging and dynamic application partitioning. Its Zero Administration Client supports automatic distribution of software applications and Java applets.

Cloudscape
Category: Database
Winner: Cloudscape Database

Cloudscape offers the first zero administration database that's optimized for embedding in applications to be deployed outside the corporate “four walls.” Cloudscape Database is a full object-relational DBMS, providing SQL-92, plus the ability to extend the system easily with Java class libraries to support complex data and logic. To support the needs of next-generation Java applications, Cloudscape Database is designed to be pervasive, deployable, manageable and extensible.

Written in 100% Pure Java, Cloudscape Database can be embedded in applications at any level in the architecture, allowing data management to pervade the entire system, wherever needed, from server-class machines to laptops. Cloudscape is also positioned to support the emerging lightweight device market by providing database support for platforms such as Windows CE. Optimized for the new mobile and distributed applications, Cloudscape makes no assumption that database management skills are available at end-user sites, whether the end user is an employee, partner or customer.

With an extremely small footprint, Cloudscape is agile enough for deployment over the network. It is designed to meet the needs of companies that see the intranet and extranet as the most cost-effective mechanisms for delivering core business applications and products. Remote and embedded applications are managed from a central point. Supporting the database is Cloudscope, a tool for the database developer.

Cloudscape recently released the beta version of Cloudscape Application Synchronization, advanced technology for replication offerings that guarantees application-level consistency from existing corporate applications to the occasionally connected individual user or workgroup. A key to its success is its low cost of deployment and maintenance of distributed applications using the Cloudscape architecture.

DTAI Category: Framework
Winner: LEIF

DTAI's lightweight extensible information framework – LEIF – leverages the best and most advanced features of Java to deliver a complete platform for information integration and data visualization. LEIF combines advanced JavaBean technology (InfoBus, BeanContext and JavaBeans Activation Framework) with intelligent data awareness through Java's reflection mechanisms. The LEIF architecture provides the means to gather information simultaneously from a variety of remote sources, using any protocol (CORBA, RMI, JDBC, etc.), to translate that information into a common object representation and then process and display that data intelligently using independently developed graphs, maps, spreadsheets and other visualization tools.

As a client, LEIF connects to servers via independently developed extensions called LEIF Producers. The LEIF Producer APIs allow LEIF to dynamically discover the objects, attributes and functionality of new data sources. LEIF Producers are responsible for all external communication and storage responsibilities. Even local file access is handled through a File Producer. As a result, LEIF does not mandate any particular data storage model (e.g., file-based, object or relational databases) or distributed computing architecture (e.g., RMI, CORBA or COM). If a producer is developed to support a particular storage or communications implementation, then LEIF supports it as well.

The LEIF framework provides a central display model that serves as a runtime reference to all available data. The display model pulls data from the LEIF InfoBus and builds a hierarchy – or tree structure – of all data supplied by a LEIF Producer. The display model also provides a flexible display filter capability. As data enters the display model, it's tagged with display attributes (e.g., color, symbol, line style) based on the filter criteria specified by the operator.

The LEIF framework also supports the integration of new LEIF Views, or user interface applications that can view data either generically or based on expected inputs from known LEIF Producers. A LEIF View uses the InfoBus to consume the display-filtered data from the display model. By default, LEIF Views are based on the Java JFC/Swing user interface toolkit and typically manage one or more JavaBean components to display data in various visualizations (geographic maps, data plots, time plots, tables, etc.). Data can be dynamically interrogated and displayed in a variety of views. LEIF Views can also be tailored to provide nonwindow services on the display-filtered data from the display model. For example, services could include data forwarding, which would forward the display model objects to external CORBA-based display applications that can also use the display information.

Bruce Eckel
Category: Beginner's Book
Winner: Thinking in Java

Bruce Eckel developed his book, Thinking in Java, during the creation and delivery of a number of incarnations of his public Java seminar. During this process he observed that the problems most people had involved language His goal for the book was to teach the core language and to give people a solid foundation in what the lines of code mean before they jump into the use of Java libraries, such as for applets and windowing. He has found that once the fundamentals are understood, it's easy to acquire a new library. Without the fundamentals, there are constant roadblocks to developing that understanding. Consequently, it's not until Chapter 13 that applets and GUI programs are discussed. But by then, Eckel feels, people should understand the other issues and can focus on the libraries themselves. Readers will find that the programs are all designed to be compiled on the command line with the free JDK from Sun. And though they'll work with any conforming Java tool, the author has made an effort to avoid any vendor dependencies.

Eckel has created a system that automatically extracts code listings from the book for compilation, which reasonably ensures their accuracy. He put the book on his Web site (www.BruceEckel.com) and received a number of corrections from people, which he feels made a huge difference in its accuracy. This process also helps sell the associated CD-ROM, which contains all the slides and spoken lectures from his Java seminar.

EnterpriseSoft
Category: Reporting Tool
Winner: ERW Pro

EnterpriseSoft's Report Writer – Professional Edition (ERW Pro) for Java is a full-featured report writer. The core functionality of the software is to assist the user in creating a report definition file (called report templates), extracting data from a data source, and analyzing and outputing the data in a professional-quality report that's both informative and impressive.ERW Pro is data-source–independent. It can extract data either from databases or from objects in an application. Most commercial databases such as Oracle, SQL Server, Sybase and MS Access are supported via JDBC or ODBC. Application data is queried using an object-relational mapping architecture. Application data reporting is fast and efficient and can scale to tens of thousands of objects. It's ideal for distributed applications and is the preferred model of data access for enterprise-class applications.

ERW Pro provides multiple nested/sibling sections with dependent queries, nested groupings, a table of contents for viewing, charts/graphs, report executables and expression evaluations featuring user-defined function capabilities. The application data source uses an SQL-compliant querying functionality and can be extended to add one's own operators using user-defined query operators.

Reports in ERW Pro can be exported to HTML, PDF or ASCII-CSV file formats. They can also be sent to the printer for WYSIWYG hard copy or simply viewed on-screen. Efficient report distribution is possible using EnterpriseSoft's proprietary DAT file format.

ERW Pro is easy to use. The GUI is simple and intuitive and works similarly to the GUI found in legacy Windows-based report writers. Queries are autogenerated based on the report template. 

ERW Pro is designed with the Java developer in mind and is compact enough (about 500 KB; 350 KB for runtime) to be embedded into an HTML page or inside an application. Developers can use its API to insert this software into their applications. Licensing is developer-based with limited, royalty-free redistribution.

ERW is certified 100% Pure Java and can run on most platforms for which Java 1.1.5 or higher JVMs are available. Tested platforms include Solaris 2.5.1/2.6/2.7, Windows 95/98/NT 4.0 and Mac OS 8.0 or higher.

Inprise
Category: Java Development 
Environment
Winner: JBuilder 2

JBuilder 2 is a comprehensive visual development tool for creating pure-Java distributed enterprise applications. It includes a combination of features for creating platform-independent business and database applications, distributed applications and JavaBean components.

JBuilder 2 can increase productivity with a visual development environment that includes a component palette, fully integrated application browser, project manager, visual designers, Pure Java Two-Way Tools, code editor, HTML viewer, graphical debugger and a fast compiler. With the Pure Java Two-Way Tools, the code editor and visual designers are always synchronized, with no proprietary markers, macros or tags.JBuilder supports the latest Java standards, including JDK 1.2, JDK1.1, JFC/Swing, Enterprise JavaBeans, JDBC, Servlets, Serialization, RMI, CORBA, Security, JNI and JARs. In addition, JDK Switching allows developers to compile against any JDK using JDK Switching.

Reusable and Enterprise JavaBeans can be created instantly with BeansExpress. JBuilder includes visual bean designers for Properties, BeanInfo and Events, making it easy – point and click – to create industry-standard JavaBeans. BeanInsight provides an analysis tool for diagnosing JavaBeans, including information on valid properties, property editors and Customizers. In addition, JBuilder has the largest library of JavaBeans, with 200+ components, including source code.

Corporate data can be managed with JBuilder's Pure Java DataExpress, which provides  components for visual development of database applications using industry-standard JDBC connectivity. Master-detail relationships, Picklists, Lookups, MultiTable Joins and transaction processing can also be created easily.

The Inprise Deployment Server allows Java developers and information system managers to centrally deploy, manage and update their Java applications across corporate information networks. IS managers can reduce application deployment and maintenance costs while remote clients gain immediate, reliable access to the most current version of any application.

Scalable enterprise applications can be built with VisiBroker for Java. JBuilder 2 includes VisiBroker for Java 3.2, seamlessly integrated into the environment and project management systems so that complex CORBA applications can be delivered quickly. The Visigenic IDL compiler is invoked as part of the normal build process for a project, and automatically translates all IDL files in the project into the OMG-compliant Java binding.

InterNetivity
Category: Reporting Tool
Winner: dbProbe

For organizations that wish to deploy business intelligence capabilities to their users, InterNetivity dbProbe 4.0 delivers Web-based decision support that's easy to deploy and use. The product's interactive OLAP and standard reporting client allows Web-based users to access and analyze data from a variety of sources, including ODBC and Microsoft OLE DB for OLAP-compliant servers.Administrators can deploy dbProbe in client-only or client/server mode. Deployment is straightforward in client-only mode; using a data source, administrators create a data cube and standard reports that are automatically published inside a single HTML page ready for deployment via the Web. There's no client software to install and no incremental effort required to scale up to thousands of users across an enterprise. Administrators can set up OLAP channels for distribution of updated cubes to their users. Larger data cubes remain on the server for remote access via the Web. For users it's completely transparent: they open a single HTML file from the Internet or intranet server that automatically downloads the dbProbe Java applet and then lets users navigate the data.

Written in 100% Pure Java, the dbProbe client lets users drill down, slice and dice, graph, create and share reports. Users can create new categories; hide, group and sort categories; and export data directly to their favorite spreadsheet or print it on any printer. The dbProbe client occupies less than 400 KB, supports mobile users and offers fast performance.

An economical, efficient way for organizations to distribute business intelligence tools to their Web-based users, its architecture makes dbProbe a good choice for software vendors looking to incorporate Web-OLAP capabilities into their tools.

Mercury Interactive
Category: Testing Tool
Winner: WinRunner

WinRunner is an enterprise-functional testing tool that verifies that Java applications are working as expected. By capturing and replaying user interactions automatically, WinRunner identifies defects and ensures that Java applications work flawlessly the first time and remain reliable.

The adoption of Java in mission-critical applications is causing a shift in the complexity of application architectures and in the client software distribution process. The need for testing in different environments occurs not only across different platforms but also between various browsers, virtual machines, windowing toolkits and releases of the JDK.

WinRunner simplifies test automation by approaching the task from a business-process perspective. While a user accesses the Java application, WinRunner automatically translates user actions into clear, readable test scripts that can later be replayed to verify the functionality of the later builds of the application. It supports script enhancements as the application is developed or updated, executes scripts, reports results and enables script reusability throughout an application's life cycle.

WinRunner works with any Java-based applets or applications. With its sister product, XRunner, it offers full support for different hardware platforms (Solaris, HP/UX, Windows NT, 98 or 95), different browsers (Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator or Sun's Appletviewer) and different windowing toolkits (Oracle's EWT, Sun's AWT, Sun's JFC/Swing, Oracle's Developer/2000, Symantec's Visual Café and others). WinRunner test scripts can be leveraged across any combination of these environments, shared between Java, ERP application fronts and custom client/server clients, and even used for load testing. For example, users can develop a WinRunner test with Internet Explorer on Windows 95 and run it without any changes with Netscape Navigator on Solaris.

Mercury Interactive's integrated testing solution for Java-based applications comprises the products TestDirector, WinRunner, XRunner and LoadRunner. These tools provide functional and load testing across the wide range of platforms, browsers and architectures found in Java implementations while leveraging test script usage between environments. WinRunner (for Windows-based applications) and XRunner (for Unix-based applications) automate functional and regression testing of Java clients. LoadRunner performs scalable load testing of Java-based systems while TestDirector organizes the entire testing process and manages high testing volume of Java-based applications.

ObjectSpace
PCategory: Class Library
PWinner: JGL

ObjectSpace JGL – the Generic Collection Library for Java – is a Java adaptation of the ANSI/ISO standard template library that extends the JDK with a series of 11 advanced collections and more than 50 generic algorithms. JGL is designed to complement, not replace, the basic features found in the JDK and is of particular use to enterprise Java developers. JGL includes full source code, hundreds of examples and a comprehensive online HTML tutorial and class reference. JGL enhances distributed collection support, allowing the remote construction, access and persistence of all JGL containers using ObjectSpace Voyager, the standards-neutral platform for object computing.JDK, which contains limited support for data collections and algorithms, was designed to provide a minimal subset of features used by the majority of Java developers. Although the JDK is sufficient for simple applet design and other such uses, JGL offers serious developers not only essential enterprise collections, but also the advanced data processing algorithms needed for use with those collections. These algorithms have been designed for use on JGL collections, Java-native arrays of primitives and objects, and all JDK collections. The generic JGL algorithms can be adapted using function objects and predicates to solve most collection processing problems.

Since June 1996, when JGL 1.0 was offered free to the Java community, this 100% Java, high-performance extension of the basic JDK features has been licensed by 10 major IDE vendors and downloaded by thousands of users.

Protoview Development
Category: Best Bean
Winner: JFCDataExplorer

One of the first products to fully take advantage of Java Foundation Classes, the JFCDataExplorer is built on the familiar foundations of three JFC components – JTree, JSplitter and JTable – and Protoview has integrated them into a single component with added functionality and extended features.

Developers working with the JFCDataExplorer can take advantage of the synchronicity ProtoView has programmed between “panes” of the component. The left-hand pane contains a treeview that functions as a hierarchical structure for application data. Clicking on the nodes of the treeview allows the right-hand pane to populate with data from any source. While developers can default to the JTable data model, ProtoView has created a custom data model specifically for the JFCDataExplorer that incorporates a treeview into its logic and structure.

With each node click, the JFCDataExplorer retrieves data and populates the JTable with its corresponding column configurations. It also allows developers to add a column with images (the first column in the grid) at runtime. This column is bound to each row of data and moves when developers sort or move rows.

In addition to the standard JTable as the right-hand pane, ProtoView has opened the JFCDataExplorer to accept any Java component or panel in that pane. Using the treeview to drill down on nodes, the JFCDataExplorer creates the perfect UI for organizing and streamlining application data. With limited screen real estate, developers can create data hierarchies with corresponding grids, charts, calendars and panels on a node-by-node basis. Like all ProtoView JFC products, the JFCDataExplorer takes advantage of the “pluggable look and feel architecture” of JFC, which allows it to easily switch from Motif, Java or Windows displays on the fly.

Rational Software
Category: Modeling Tool
Winner: Rational Rose

Rational Rose 98 provides Unified Modeling Language-based modeling for designing component-based applications. UML, pioneered by Rational and officially adopted as a standard by the Object Management Group, is the industry-standard language for specifying, visualizing, constructing and documenting the artifacts of software systems.

Rational Rose 98 features multilanguage capabilities and enterprise team development features, including integration with Rational's ClearCase software configuration management product.It provides a component-modeling approach to application development with support for COM, ActiveX and JavaBean components. The Enterprise Edition has multilanguage support that allows multiple languages to be mixed and matched within the same model.

Rose 98 supports C++, Java, Smalltalk and Ada, as well as 4GLs such as Visual Basic, PowerBuilder and Forte. For Java development, it supports the design, modeling and visualization of all Java constructs, including packages, classes, interfaces, imports, inheritance, fields, methods and modifiers. In addition, Rational Rose 98 can automatically generate Java source code and reverse-engineer Java source and byte codes. It also offers extensive support for object-relational databases such as Oracle8.

To enable development teams to share project information, Rational Rose 98 provides integration with ClearCase software and Microsoft's Visual SourceSafe version control software. Rose 98 models may also be published to and imported from the Microsoft Repository.

Rose 98 provides a framework library that contains templates with predefined components for modeling certain systems and includes frameworks for databases, the Internet and the Microsoft Transaction Server. Users can store their own models in the framework library and then make them available to other development team members.

Rational Rose 98 is available in three editions for Windows 95 and NT. The Enterprise edition provides multilanguage support for C++, Java, Visual Basic, Oracle8 and other languages. The Professional edition provides single language capability and is available for C++, Java and Visual Basic. The Modeler edition supports UML-compliant modeling. Rational Rose is also available for the following UNIX platforms: Sun Solaris, HP-UX, SGI IRIX, IBM AIX and Digital UNIX.

Riverton
Category: Modeling Tool
Winner: HOW 2.0 for Java

 HOW is a component-based modeling tool and deployment framework designed for developers of distributed business systems. With the needs of business developers in mind, HOW extends the traditional idea of modeling to include development and deployment. HOW makes it straightforward for mainstream developers to build distributed and Internet systems in Java that comply with Sun Microsystems' Enterprise JavaBeans specification and allows these developers to leverage the growing number of EJB-based application servers.

HOW gives Java developers a set of business analysis and component modeling tools that understand business systems:

• Requirements gathering is accomplished using HOW's Business Rule Builder.

• Developers define the business problem and its business process context in HOW's Use Case and Workflow Builders.

• They use HOW's UML-compliant Domain, Interaction and Activity Builders to design the system's business components, describe their interactions and graphically depict their behaviors, respectively.

• HOW extends UML to include the Task Builder, a graphical tool for architecting the system's visual components, and the Query Builder, another graphical tool for defining middle-tier business component data access.

From these models HOW users generate Java classes – including Enterprise JavaBeans – that form the basis for Java business applications. HOW generates:

• Design objects (class objects and domains) into Java classes, including Enterprise JavaBeans (session and entity beans)

• Queries into classes that implement JDBC-embedded SQL statements

• Class methods that allow convenient traversal of associations as collections of business objects

These HOW-generated classes can be loaded into a Java development environment and elaborated as required by the application. HOW is designed to integrate tightly with all of the major Java development environments, which ensures that the transition from HOW to IDE and back is seamless. HOW's ability to synchronize development and design environments assures round-trip engineering and loss-free code generation.

Developers can also use HOW to preserve and reuse existing work. In addition, it can capture classes from data models or Java source files. Once in HOW, these classes can be modified or enhanced and then regenerated – even as Enterprise JavaBeans.

HOW is built on a multiuser object repository that promotes team development and creates a climate for component reuse. Developers share and reuse individual components. And HOW's integration with popular configuration management products means that versioning and archiving take place at the component and object level.

HOW-built Java components can execute on COM+ or EJB application servers, using either DCOM or CORBA as their distribution protocol.

Secant Technologies
Category: Middleware
Winner: Extreme POS

Secant Extreme Persistent Object Service for Java provides a Java-to-RDBMS and ORDBMS integration solution. Extreme POS is a powerful development and runtime environment that simplifies the assembly of the data-intensive business applications that integrate Java objects with enterprise-relational data. For three-tier development, Extreme POS provides an efficient in-memory caching and database connection-pooling architecture, making it a good choice for companies that are developing CORBA-based systems and want to use a scalable, persistent object service to support the data-intensive needs of hundreds of concurrent users. Extreme POS can also be used in a classic client/server configuration, allowing each client to have its own database connection.

Extreme POS provides a complete, ready-made infrastructure solution that supports both forward and reverse engineering. It will generate database schema and mapping code from an object model and will also generate an object model and mapping information from an existing database model.

Extreme POS is unlike competing JDBC products that implement call-level interfaces. Such products force Java developers to work at the SQL level with rows and columns. As a result, developers must hand-code a specific Java-to-relational-mapping solution for each application. Because the SQL data mapping code is intermixed with the business logic programming code, the resulting applications are difficult and costly to maintain. The JDBC approach is time-consuming, expensive and error-prone. Extreme POS eliminates the deficiencies imposed by other solution approaches and provides the following benefits:

• Productivity: Application development time is reduced to 20% - 40%. Developers write no database mapping code, as code is generated automatically from a standard object definition language or from a Rational Rose 98 UML description of the business object model (when used in conjunction with Secant's Rose Secant Extreme Link product). With 100% portable applications across all supported databases, no extra porting work is required.

• Performance: A ten- to a hundredfold improvement in application runtime performance is typical, as objects are read into memory only once, using an advanced two-level, in-memory caching architecture. Coupled with an enterprise scalable architecture, high-transaction volume applications are easily supported.

• Extreme POS's integration support is seamless and easy to use, and it makes a relational database look and perform like an object database. Developers perform all querying, navigating and updating in terms of the object model, not the database. No SQL is ever needed.p>Sybase
Category: Application Server
Winnner: Enterprise Application Server 

The Sybase Enterprise Application Server (EAServer) is a scalable deployment environment that supports simple, dynamic, data-driven Web sites as well as fully integrated, component-based information systems. EAServer includes a component transaction server (Jaguar CTS) and a dynamic page engine (PowerDynamo) to deliver rich, dynamic data publishing and OLTP for the Web. This provides customers with a complete platform and enables them to build the next generation of applications that call for stronger relationships with back-office systems, such as customer self-service, dynamic information, trading networks and enterprise application integration.p>EAServer provides both Web and nonWeb access to back-office systems, allowing customers to leverage their current IT investments by reusing existing skills and applications. It delivers a flexible foundation that can scale from simple dynamic Web sites to complex, data-intensive, transaction-aware applications in one integrated environment.

With this product, Sybase delivers an enterprise class platform for distributed and Web applications. EAServer provides high-performance capabilities, including page caching and scheduling, connection, and instance and session pooling. With EAServer, applications are secure because they have the support of industry-standard Secure Socket Layers, which secure access to operational systems.

EAServer offers a standards-based environment, giving customers and partners freedom of choice in building applications. It provides support for most major components, including Java and JavaBeans technology, CORBA, COM and C/C++. Upcoming releases will add native support for PowerBuilder components and Enterprise JavaBeans. EAServer also supports over 25 databases.

EAServer is an integral part of Sybase's development tools, offering the choice of PowerBuilder or Java component development. This provides a complete Web development environment with team and site management, HTML and script editing, component assembly, script debugging and automated deployment.

Tidestone Technologies
Category: Grid Control
Winner: Formula One for Java

Spreadsheets are one of the most commonly used technologies for collecting, computing and displaying data. The Internet is a vast and powerful resource for enabling communication between organizations, their employees and their customers. Formula One for Java 5.5.1 from Tidestone Technologies, Inc., enables users to merge these two technologies and make it easy for spreadsheet data and functionality to extend wherever it's needed.

Primarily, Formula One for Java is a 100% Pure Java spreadsheet application.However, Java developers can use it as a JavaBean while Webmasters can use it as an applet. Powerful as well as versatile, it can be used on a server or a client and in Web-based applications. It includes several robust, cross-platform features and, in addition to spreadsheet applications, developers and Webmasters can use it as a grid to present data in tabular format, to perform simple or complex calculations, to access data in a variety of databases, and to write and format spreadsheet data in a variety of ways.

As a JavaBean, Formula One for Java can be used in many of the Java development environments on the market today, such as Symantec's Visual Café, Sun's Java Workshop and Inprise's JBuilder. Formula One for Java includes a robust API of more than 400 properties and methods. It also connects to most databases through its JDBC support and is capable of writing spreadsheets to HTML. Its lightweight file size makes it possible to build server-based applications that are easy for users to download while supplying developers with the spreadsheet functionality they require.

Webmasters can deliver live spreadsheets in their Web pages by using Formula One for Java as an applet and as little as one line of HTML code. They can also load spreadsheets customized with their own formulas and formats. A good way to move Excel spreadsheets across the Web or a network, Formula One for Java's small download and fast calculations ease the implementation of live spreadsheets in Java-enabled browsers.

The product includes a Workbook Designer that can be used on any platform as a stand-alone, Excel-compatible spreadsheet application. Users can implement numerous data formatting options and utilize Excel-worksheet function syntax. Formula One for Java also delivers fast calculations, making it a good cross-platform solution for reading and editing Excel files.

Timecruiser Computing 
Corporation
Category: Best Java Application
Winner: Timecruiser

Timecruiser 1.5 is a Web-based collaborative time management and event publishing application. Using Timecruiser, enterprise or community users can manage and communicate their event information such as corporate events, departmental activities or project schedules via intranet, Web site or extranet. It enables individual users to maintain personal schedules in accordance with group and public events.

Installed entirely on a Web server, the Timecruiser application is launched easily from any browser. Timecruiser's architecture allows users to post, coordinate, promote, invite and RSVP group or individual events placed on calendars, enhancing the cohesiveness for groups. Data is instantly portable and users aren't tied to the corporate local area network. Administration of Timecruiser also resides on the Web and can be accessed within any Web browser. It provides LDAP connectivity for centralized corporate directory database or stores configuration information on a proprietary database.

By attaching Timecruiser's framework of calendar applets – Capplets – to an event, publishers may provide additional contents in multimedia fashion such as video, sound or animated graphics. Within a Web calendar environment, Capplets may be used to attach interactive forms for users to book event tickets or seats, to attach directions and/or agendas for meetings or to get a syllabus for a course. Timecruiser propels the Web from an online reference source to a working application environment. Its features include:

• Web-based cross platform scheduling and event posting

• Multiple secured access levels

• Event forwarding and in-box

• Easy event editing

• Joint calendar views

• Multiple time prospects

• Assistant

• Recurring events specification

• Ticker tape event highlighting 

• RSVP

• E-mail integration

• Multimedia Capplets

• Event advertisement

• Group schedule coordinating

• Alternative HTML calendar view

• Event search

• Print

• Configurable GUI and functions

• Local alerts

• LDAP directory support

• File system or ODBC/JDBC databases

• Multiple server support

• API

• Online enrollment / ticketing for events

Timecruiser is good for community members who wish to publish events or share calendars securely, or who want to coordinate group schedules, meetings or resources such as people, facilities and equipment. Current Timecruiser customers are from various market sectors including education, corporation and the government.

Zero G Software
Category: Installation Tool
Winner: InstallAnywhere 2.5

InstallAnywhere supports virtually every Java-enabled platform, allowing developers to create a single universal installer that will run on any platform. It handles all the platform-specific details, and supports Windows 95, 98 and NT, Unix (including Solaris, Linux and others), Mac OS and OS/2. InstallAnywhere tailors itself to the user's system, such as setting custom icons on the Mac OS or making Win 32 registry entries.InstallAnywhere has a Java-based installer engine that can handle installations with thousands of files. The SpeedFolders technology introduced in version 2.5 uses advanced compression techniques to create installers that are smaller and faster than other platform-specific installers.

InstallAnywhere's interface provides a six-step Project Wizard for quickly building installers. For more complex installations, an advanced mode allows developers to install files to multiple destination locations or to set rules to install files only on specific platforms.

One functional feature, especially for end users, is the ability to create double-clickable application launchers. These LaunchAnywhere executables give Java-based applications true double-clickable, nativelike icons that can be placed on the user's desktop, in the Windows Start menu or in the user's home directory. LaunchAnywhere automatically locates the correct Java Virtual Machine, configures all runtime options, including classpath, and starts the Java-based application automatically without any setup by the end user.

If the client has no Java VM, InstallAnywhere can automatically install one as part of the installation, eliminating the need to download and install Java separately. The product is fully compatible with the latest Java VMs, including Sun's Java 2 and Apple's Mac OS Runtime for Java 2.1, in addition to supporting Java 1.1.

For basic installations or an enterprise Web-based deployment solution, InstallAnywhere is a useful tool for deploying Java software.

IBM
Category: Java Development Environment
Finalist: VisualAge for Java

VisualAge for Java is a Java application development environment for building Java applications, applets, servlets and JavaBean components. Version 1.0 offered developer productivity, ease of use and other features. Version 2.0, which is aimed at setting the standard for the development of enterprise Java solutions, allows for the quick extension of existing data, transactions and applications to e-business, enabling large teams of developers to manage their Java projects and build large-scale, high-performance server solutions.Version 2.0 features a new high-performance compiler, connections to more enterprise systems, team programming support and exploitation of the latest in Java technology. The Entry Edition is free from IBM's Web site; the Professional Edition is the tool for power users and programmers becoming familiar with Java; the Enterprise Edition offers additional functionalilty to developers working in large teams, developing for multiple platforms or extending existing server data, transactions and applications to the Web.

IBM's VisualAge Developer Domain offers developers a single access point for everything needed to build business-critical Java applications, including Java-related samples, education and support, as well as the ability to network with a community of Java professionals. Solution developers can also join IBM's Object Connection – Partners in Development program – to get advance copies of VisualAge for Java and to find assistance in marketing their products directly to VisualAge users.

InstallShield Software Corporation
Category: Installation Tool
Finalist: InstallShield Java Edition 2

InstallShield Java Edition 2, a 100% Pure Java product, provides Java developers with the ability to create setups that offer the InstallShield look and feel to end users regardless of target platform or operating system. InstallShield Java Edition 2 is easy to use.The development wizard walks developers through the installation process and uses the responses to its prompts to package the installation and application into a file that's readable by all operating systems supporting Java Virtual Machines version 1.1 or higher. Wizards guide setup creation, and InstallShieldExtensions, which customize installations, allow developers to plug in their own Java-based extensions. InstallShield Java Edition also supports silent mode installations and batch building via command-line access, and allows customers to run installations directly from a Web page. The InstallShield Installation applet enables users to specify the appropriate Java Virtual Machine for running the installation. If a Java VM isn't available, the applet can download one and install it for the user. The applet then downloads and installs the Java application via a browser link. Using InstallShield Java Edition 2 eliminates the need to create multiple installs for various platforms. The self-extracting Java class file created by InstallShield is universally understood by all platforms with specified Java VMs 1.1 or higher. This package contains a wizard that takes end users through a consistent installation process regardless of platform. Additional new features in InstallShield Java Edition 2 include:

• Self-extracting installations that embed installation and application in one file for easy launching

• Password protection for installations

• Improved compression and decompression

• The ability to create windows shortcuts anywhere on the target Desktop – Start menu, Programs menu, Startup folder, SendTo folder or directly on the desktop

• Launch scripts supply system properties from VMs as arguments

• On Windows systems, selecting Help automatically launches the Web browser

• GUI-based Extensions management

KL Group
Category: Best Bean
Finalist: JClass

Java Developers using the JClass Enterprise Suite of 100% Pure JavaBeans are creating professional GUI applications. Because all JClass components are database-aware, they bind automatically to a database, making RAD development easy. Developers working with the newly released Swing component kit and Java 2 (JDK 1.2) are now supported by the latest JClass releases.

JClass components support easy-to-use developer interfaces, offer a common API on all major JDK releases for easy migration and are supported in all popular IDEs. The JClass “family” consists of:

JClass SwingSuite: This set of extensions and enhancements for Swing in Java 2 (JDK 1.2) add the power of MDI, wizards and thread-safe, lightweight components.

JClass HiGrid: This RAD outline grid allows development of advanced multilevel data-bound database GUIs in minutes, in one component.

JClass DataSource: This robust, hierarchical multiple-platform data source provides the power of data binding to components and makes drill-down data access and updates trivial.

JClass LiveTable: This 100% Pure Java data-bound grid/table creates data-driven tables and forms with support for text, images and lightweight components in cells.

JClass Chart: This 100% Pure data-aware Java component enables quick and easy embedding of sophisticated graphs and charts into applications and applets.

JClass Field: This 100% Pure data-aware JavaBean provides data input and validation for a range of popular data types with calendars, pick-lists, spin-boxes and combo-boxes.

JClass BWT: This collection of 100% Pure Java GUI components enhances and extends AWT to improve the look and quality of Java applications. The JClass Enterprise Suite of components comes with KL Group's Gold Support and Subscription, and includes the following features:

• Integrated, high-level 100% Pure Java GUI JavaBeans

• The ability to work within any JavaBean-compliant IDE

• The ability to connect to multiple levels of a master-detail relationship

• Robust database connectivity through JClass DataSource or through an IDE's data binding object

• JarHelper, a utility for creating a single JClass deployment archive that contains only the JClass products that are needed

KL Group
Category: Profiling Tool
Finalist: JProbe Profiler

Performance bottlenecks lurking in Java code can be searched for and destroyed quickly using the JProbe Profiler. The product provides accurate time and memory profiling with multiplatform support for Windows NT and Solaris in Java 2 (JDK 1.2), JDK 1.1 and JIT environments. Designed from the ground up for Java developers, JProbe Profiler's user interface and new heap reference tools find and eliminate memory leaks or simply explore how code runs. JProbe Profiler comes with a Call Graph that enables developers to drill down to hotspots using nine performance metrics.

JProbe uses a standard Java VM licensed from JavaSoft and instrumented by KL Group. This means that JProbe can accurately measure virtually anything to do with Java program execution from within the VM itself. The instrumented VM combined with JProbe's graphical-based analyzer makes JProbe a powerful Java performance profiling and exploration tool.

It also helps finish Java projects faster, and helps write code that's fast and memory-efficient. JProbe can eliminate inefficient algorithms, excessive object creation, I/O blockage, excessive thread creation, excessive method calling and inefficient memory usage. In addition, JProbe detects unwanted object references that are preventing objects from being garbage-collected.

Using JProbe's powerful GUI can teach developers things about Java code that are hard to learn any other way. Calling relationships and program structure – even for native methods and third-party code with no source code can be probed. With JProbe, a program's memory usage can be watched while it runs, enabling developers to learn which operations are causing program size to grow or shrink.

Rogue Wave Software
Category: Best Bean
Finalist: StudioJ

StudioJ is a one-stop solution for GUI development, data analysis, charting and database access. The StudioJ suite integrates four libraries of pure Java components and classes from Rogue Wave Software and its Stingray divisions: Blend.J, Grid.J, Chart.J and DBTools.J.

• Blend.J integrates Rogue Wave's JWidgets and Stingray's Objective Blend to deliver more than 45 JavaBean components to Java developers. It provides both JFC and AWT support, with controls that offer the same interface and different implementations, rather than rewriting code. New controls include a splitter layout manager, regular expression filter and drop-down color chooser.

• With Grid.J, developers can turn a grid into a fully functional spreadsheet, with features such as automatic reference updates and circular dependency checks. Tree behavior can be embedded to give users an optional treelike view of a grid. Grid.J delivers both JFC and AWT support, with grids that offer the same interface and different implementations – again, without rewriting code. Developers can bind to any data source, including JDBC and ODBC. Support for DBTools.J is included when Grid.J is purchased as part of the StudioJ suite.

• Chart.J uses Model-View-Controller architecture based on the JavaBeans event model to provide for dynamic updates. (Charts automatically update as underlying data changes and the update interval or criteria are set.) With built-in callback mechanisms, users can drill down to display underlying data. Developers can bind to any data source, including JDBC and ODBC, and Chart.J includes support for JFC. Support for DBTools.J is included when Chart.J is purchased as part of the StudioJ suite.

• DBTools.J supports fine-grained error control and provides for flexible connection management. Just-in-time binding ensures streamlined performance since implementations are created only when it comes time to execute the object. DBTools.J has been optimized for applications using Oracle and Sybase, but also provides connectivity to any database that fully supports JDBC.

With integration support among the four libraries for seamless interoperation, StudioJ provides options such as tying a grid to a database and then feeding the data to a chart placed within the grid. Each library is also available separately, without the integration features.

Schlumberger
Category: JavaCard
Finalist: Cyberflex Open

The Schlumberger Cyberflex Open 16K smart card is built on the Java Card 2.0 API to provide easy application development, quick time-to-market and the most memory for Java-based multiple applications.
 The Cyberflex Open 16K Development Kit features a PC/SC interface and fully integrates an application processor, a smart card simulator and a smart card manager.Java-based smart cards allow applications from one or more providers to reside securely, side by side, on the same smart card. Multiple application cards can provide convenience for users and differentiated, market-specific products for issuers.

Smart cards, which incorporate a computer chip and memory instead of the traditional magnetic stripe, have been very successful in single roles – as bank cards, phone cards, electronic tickets and so on. But like early computer software, the programs they run are specific to a particular manufacturer's card and are for all intents and purposes “carved in stone.”

Now issuers can put more than one application on a card, securely, and modify the applications after the cards have been issued, meaning that consumers will have cards that can perform a range of functions – such as debit, credit, e-purse, e-commerce and loyalty – whose  applications can be changed and updated. This reprogrammable quality means that consumers will be able to individualize cards to reflect their own needs and priorities.

Schlumberger Electronic Transactions offers a flexible portfolio of smart-card–based solutions for businesses and communities of all kinds. The company provides cards, terminals, development tools and support in open configurations for operators, developers, integrators and distributors worldwide.

Schlumberger
Category: JavaCard
Finalist: Cyberflex Open

The Schlumberger Cyberflex Open 16K smart card is built on the Java Card 2.0 API to provide easy application development, quick time-to-market and the most memory for Java-based multiple applications.
 The Cyberflex Open 16K Development Kit features a PC/SC interface and fully integrates an application processor, a smart card simulator and a smart card manager.

Java-based smart cards allow applications from one or more providers to reside securely, side by side, on the same smart card. Multiple application cards can provide convenience for users and differentiated, market-specific products for issuers.

Smart cards, which incorporate a computer chip and memory instead of the traditional magnetic stripe, have been very successful in single roles – as bank cards, phone cards, electronic tickets and so on. But like early computer software, the programs they run are specific to a particular manufacturer's card and are for all intents and purposes “carved in stone.”

Now issuers can put more than one application on a card, securely, and modify the applications after the cards have been issued, meaning that consumers will have cards that can perform a range of functions – such as debit, credit, e-purse, e-commerce and loyalty – whose  applications can be changed and updated. This reprogrammable quality means that consumers will be able to individualize cards to reflect their own needs and priorities.

Schlumberger Electronic Transactions offers a flexible portfolio of smart-card–based solutions for businesses and communities of all kinds. The company provides cards, terminals, development tools and support in open configurations for operators, developers, integrators and distributors worldwide.