In a step towards the development of a Universal Application Architecture (UAA) for e-commerce, MIP Holdings has announced the availability of Progress Software`s Apptivity Version 3.1, its Java application server and integrated development environment.
Apptivity`s support for XML facilitates the deployment of business-to-business and e-commerce applications. In addition, enhanced SQL functionality strengthens e-commerce applications by allowing custom, vendor-specific queries on enterprise databases.
"With this release, Progress is improving what many consider to be the industry`s premier application server and integrated development environment. A recent Gartner Group report placed Progress Apptivity in the coveted "Leaders Quadrant" for Java integrated applications environments, indicating Progress Software is a visionary in its technology as well as a leader in the Java market," notes Richard Firth, chairman of MIP Holdings, South Africa`s leading Progress VAR.
"The delivery of the newest Apptivity release brings us closer to the goal of deploying the industry`s first Universal Application Architecture," says Firth. "Applications created and deployed within the UAA framework will leverage XML to the fullest extent. UAA will help bring about universal connectivity between networks and devices on the scale needed for Web-based e-commerce."
"Progress Apptivity 3.1 represents a major scalability step in accommodating the ever-increasing volume of online trading," says Chris Thomas, CTO at FuturesOnline, a leading online trading platform. "Ours is a middleware application enabling brokers on the floors of North American futures exchanges to receive orders and send fills to customers who place Internet orders. As such, it must be bulletproof. The new features such as enhanced XML support and conditional HTML tags, coupled with Apptivity`s reliability, will allow us to more readily connect to heterogeneous systems."
The new version also features performance enhancements that place it in the top tier of application development servers tested recently by Doculabs, an independent industry analyst firm with research initiatives in e-business areas such development tools for Internet, intranet and extranet applications.
Apptivity Version 3.1 greatly increases the ability of enterprises to exchange information via support for documents formatted with the XML data interchange language. The product`s integrated XML support enables more rapid deployment of business-to-business transactions such as procurement and cataloguing without the need for external XML servers. Via enhanced Apptivity SmartAdapters technology, inbound XML data are seamlessly integrated into local applications as relational data, reducing the need for manual conversion.
Apptivity 3.1 offers additional benefits for the large installed base of Progress Software 4GL users. Through Apptivity SmartDataObject (SDO), Progress 4GL business logic can be readily integrated into electronic commerce applications. This saves a large amount of conversion time since customers can use existing code when developing and deploying Web applications.
Additional enhancements include:
. Improved SQL Functionality:
. A relaxed SQL parser allows SQL expressions to be created with vendor-specific SQL, such as Oracle, commands. In addition, parameterised SQL queries allow more precise and dynamic data filtering.
. Conditional HTML Tags provide application developers with convenient ways to personalise content on their Web pages. For example, a Web site that tracks the stock market could use a conditional HTML tag to monitor the time and inform buyers how much longer the markets will be open.
. Java 2 Support:
. Apptivity Version 3.1 supports the latest Web standards, including Java Development Kit 2.0 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.
. Refined Look and Feel: New cut-and-paste functionality allows speedier communication between Apptivity Java clients and other applications on the desktop. Improved text field formatting can be customised to automatically correct data entry.
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