Teodor Danciu's posted version 0.4.3 of JasperReports, an open source Java library for generating reports from XML templates and customizable data sources (including JDBC). The output can be displayed on the screen, printed, or written to XML or PDF files. Version 0.4.3 adds XLS, CSV, and Java Print Service exporters. It also fixes assorted bugs.
EJBCA 1.4 is an open source, Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) Certificate Authority. EJBCA can be used standalone or integrated into other J2EE application. It supports multiple levels of certificate authorities, individual enrollment and batch production of certificates, PKCS12 and PEM export, configurable certificate contents. revocation and certificate revocation lists, and more. EJBCA is published under the LGPL.
Sun's posted a beta of the Java Advanced Imaging Image I/O Tools 1.0 on the Java Developer Connection (registration required) for Solaris, Linux, and Windows. This provides reader, writer, and stream plug-ins for the Java Image I/O Framework and Image I/O-based read and write operations for Java Advanced Imaging.
Sun's posted an early access release of the JDBCConnector, a J2EE Connector Architecture compliant connector that can plug in JDBC drivers into a J2EE application servers, on the Java Developer Connection (registration required).
debugtools.com has released version 2.2 of JDebugTool, a standalone graphical Java debugger built on top of the Java Platform Debugger Architecture (JPDA). Version 2.2 adds an Expressions Panel that enables you to interactively evaluate simple expressions, including method calls. JDebugTool is $99 payware.
JDictionary 1.8 is an open source, multi-platform dictionary application written in Java. It has a Swing GUI and a plugin management system that can download and install plugins automatically from the Web. jDictionary is published under the LGPL.
The seventh beta of Luxor, a GPL'ed XML User Interface Language (XUL) toolkit for Java, has been posted. Luxor includes a web server, a portal engine that supports RSS, the Velocity template engine, a Python interpreter, and more. Beta 7 lets you plug-in your own custom XUL tags as well as using the built-in XUL tags.
Jpedal 1.72 has been released. Jpedal is a pure Java library for extracting content from Adobe's PDF file format and rasterizing it. Text fragments are extracted as XML elements with font and location information. Images are extracted in both their raw formats and their clipped and scaled formats as TIFF, PNG, or JPEG files. Versopn 1.72 fixes a few bugs, reduces memory usage, includes the API documentation with the download, and adds a PDF link checker and an ANT build file. Jpedal is published under the LGPL.
MX4J 1.1.1 has been released. This is an open source implementation of Java Management Extensions 1.1. 1.1.1 "features OpenMBeans, HTTP adaptor enhancements, RMI adaptor enhancements, several bugfixes, some new features, new utility classes, and improved documentation."
Nathan Fiedler's released JSwat 1.7, an open source, stand-alone, graphical Java debugger based on the Java Platform Debugging Architecture (JPDA). It has all of the basic features you'd expect: breakpoints, source code viewing, single-stepping, watching variables, viewing stack frames, and printing variables. This release backports various bug fixes from the JSwat 2.x branch. JSwat is published under the GPL.
Executor 2.1. makes JAR files into Win32 .exe files that can launch either the user's Java VM or a VM distributed with the application. Executor costs $25.
Acunia's posted Wonka 0.9.4, an open source, cleanroom, Java Virtual Machine published under the BSD license. Wonka runs on NetBSD (arm, i386) and Linux. Wonka does not include JavaBeans or Swing, but does support the AWT 1.1.8.
Michael Fuchs has posted version 0.3.1 of his DocBook Doclet that creates DocBook SGML and XML documents from JavaDoc. This release uses graphviz 1.8.9 to generate UML class diagrams.
JMake 1.1.0 is a GPL'd build tool for Java programmers compiling large projects consisting of many packages and sourcefiles. The project page claims, "It is similar in purpose to the make utility familiar to C programmers, except it requires no user configuration."
EJTools 1.0 is a collection of WEB-based and GUI-based tools related to the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) platform, and especially the JBoss J2EE Server. It includes:
Jim Menard's released version 0.5.2 of DataVision to fix a few bugs. DataVision is an open source "database reporting tool similar to Crystal Reports". DataVision is written in Java and supports multiple databases including PostgreSQL, MySQL, and Oracle.
IBM's alphaWorks has updated their
Logging Toolkit for Java to version 2.2.1 to fix some bugs.
If you aren't familiar with logging APIs, think of it as System.err.println()
refitted with a nitro engine.
The Logging Toolkit for Java
includes "loggers, handlers, filters, and formatters. Loggers generate the data to be logged; there are message loggers for end users and administrators and trace loggers for developers. Handlers process the event data generated by the loggers and correspond to a physical device, such as a console, file, or socket. Filters control which log records are written to the output devices controlled by the Handlers. Formatters present event data in a desired format and recognize specific types of events; multiple formatters may be attached to a handler, which allows the handler to process diverse event types."
Apple's posted a beta of JDK 1.4.1 that runs on Mac OS X 10.2 or later on the Apple Developer Connection (registration required). The VM is an implementation of Hotspot 1.4.1, and the user interface sits on top of Cocoa. The Apple Developer Connection is based on Apple's WebObjects, a horribly designed system that produces unbookmarkable URLs and requires cookies, but the Java software isn't too hard to find if you look under Download Software in the left hand tab after logging in.
Sun's released the specification for the Java Community Process (JCP) Program, version 2.5 (Java Specification Request 171).
Sun has submitted Java Specification Request (JSR) 196, Java Authentication Service Provider Interface for Containers, to the Java Community Process (JCP). This JSR suggests "a standard service provider interface by which authentication mechanism providers may be integrated with containers. Providers integrated through this interface will be used to establish the authentication identities used in container access decisions, including those used by the container in invocations of components in other containers." Comments are due by November 4.
Sun has also
submitted JSR 197,
Generic Connection Framework Optional Package for J2SE,
to the JCP. "The Generic Connection Framework (GCF) Optional Package for J2SE will permit applications that rely on the GCF in J2ME to migrate to J2SE."
Essentially, this means adding
javax.microedition.io package from J2ME to
the regular JDK.
Comments are due by
November 4.
The Apache Commons Group has released
Commons BeanUtils 1.5.
This provides some easier-to-use wrappers around Java's built-in
Reflection and Introspection APIs.
Version 1.5 fixes bugs and adds a BeanComparator class.
Guillaume Desnoix's slaf 0.13 is a Swing "LookAndFeel" that provides many themes, including Gnome, KDE, Pilot, Aqua, BeOS, Redmond, Aluminium, and Alien. This release adds a new redmondxp theme and provides "better rendering of focus, opacity, tabs, and improved control of textures." slaf is published under the GPL.
The Apache Jakarta Project has released Commons Collections 2.1, an open source library that extends and augments the Java Collections Framework. It includes:
New features and classes in version 2.1 include buffers interfaces for queues and queue-like things and decorators. The decorators are found on classes named XxxUtils where Xxx is the collection type. Decorators include:
MX4J 1.1 is an open source implementation of Java Management Extensions 1.1.
jTDS 0.4 is a 100% pure Java (Type 4) open source JDBC 2.0 driver for the Microsoft SQL Server series (6.5, 7.x and 2000). It's originally based on the work of the FreeTDS project. Version 0.4 changes the package names, cleans up the code, and fixes bugs.
Tapestry 2.2 has been released. Tapestry is a server framework, that serves as "an alternative to scripting environments such as JavaServer Pages or Velocity." It "streamlines the creation of Java web applications. The majority of application logic, including request dispatching, localization, server-side state management, and form submission processing, is shifted into the framework; developers are responsible for just application-specification business logic. Tapestry accomplishes this by dividing pages into a hierarchy of components which are configured to work together within the page." Tapestry is published under the LGPL.
Motorola's posted the proposed final draft specification of JSR-118 Mobile Information Device Profile 2.0 in the Java Community Process. "This specification will define a profile that will extend and enhance the "J2ME Mobile Information Device Profile" (JSR-000037)."
The maintenance review draft specification for JSR-88 J2EE Application Deployment has been posted to the Java Community Process. This "defines standard APIs to enable a deployment of J2EE components and applications. It is intended to enable the development of platform-independent deployment tools. The J2EE Deployment Specification can be implemented as an extension to the J2EE 1.3 platform and will be a required component of the J2EE 1.4 platform."
debugtools.com has released version 2.1.2 of JDebugTool, a standalone graphical Java debugger built on top of the Java Platform Debugger Architecture (JPDA). Version 2.1.2 adds support for Java 1.4 chained exceptions and improves the Motif Look and Feel. JDebugTool is $99 payware.
Jochen Wiedmann's DrMem 0.04 is a non-interactive Java heap profiler based on the Java Virtual Machine Profiling Interface that creates statistics about classes and objects in use. DrMem is in the public domain.
The Audiere Audio System 1.9.1 is a portable audio library for playing Ogg Vorbis, WAV, IT, XM, S3M, and MOD files. It uses native Windows and Linux code but is accessible from C, C++, Python, Java, and any language that supports XPCOM. Audiere is published under the LGPL.
XORM beta 2 is an open source, "extensible object-relational mapping layer for Java applications. It provides interface-based persistence to RDBMSs using the Java Data Objects (JDO) API while allowing developers to focus on the object model, not the physical layer." XOTRM is published under the GPL.
JUnitEE 1.5 is "a simple extension to JUnit which allows standard test cases to be run from within a J2EE application server. It is composed primarily of a servlet which outputs the test results as html."
RefactorIT 1.2.1 can read Java source code and rewrite it by means of automated refactorings such as Rename Field/Method/Variable/Class/Package, Extract Method or Move Type. Version 1.2.1 adds "Pull up" and "Push down" actions to move fields between sub and superclasses, and respects code formatting preferences in the host IDE RefactorIT may be used as a standalone tool or installed as an add-in to IDEs like NetBeans, Forte, JDeveloper, and JBuilder. RefactorIT is $200 payware.
Ron Breukelaar's KutttPech 0.4 is an open source MPEG-1 player written in Java that can run in an applet.
The Jakarta Apache Project has released
Commons Lang 1.0, a "set of Java libraries which enhance the standard Java core of java.lang and A These packages provide assistance for
creating good equals(), toString(), hashCode(), and compareTo() methods,
enumerations, nested exceptions prior to Java 1.4,
object serialization and more.
Classes include:
CharRange CharSet CharSetUtils CompareToBuilder EnumEnum.Entry EnumUtils EqualsBuilder ExceptionUtils HashCodeBuilder Nestable NestableDelegate NestableError NestableException NestableRuntimeException NumberRange NumberUtils ObjectUtils ObjectUtils.Null RandomStringUtils SerializationException SerializationUtils StandardToStringStyle StringUtils SystemUtils ToStringBuilder ToStringStyle ToStringStyle.DefaultToStringStyle ToStringStyle.MultiLineToStringStyle ToStringStyle.NoFieldNameToStringStyle ToStringStyle.SimpleToStringStyle ValuedEnum There's a lot of good stuff here. Everyone should check it out, at least for the ideas even if you don't want to use the library. I've already used some of their enum ideas (though not the actual code) in XOM.
The Jakarta Apache Project has released the String
JSP custom tag library 1.0. This Java Server Page
library defines many tags for
manipulating java.lang.String objects including:
capitalizeuncapitalizeupperCaselowerCasetrimchopchopNewlineescapereverseswapCasesoundexmetaphonequoteRegexpcapitalizeAllWordsremoveXmlencodeUrldecodeUrlcountdeletesqueezecenterrightPadleftPadchompgetChompprechompgetPrechompstripstripEndstripStartreverseDelimitedStringoverlaysubstringrepeatwordWrapnestedStringcountMatchesdefaultreplacerandomStringleftrightmidtruncateNicelyThe Jakarta Apache Project has also released version 1.2.7 of log4j, the open source logging tollkit for Java. This release adds support for XML-format properties files.
IBM's alphaWorks has released Documentation Enhancer for Java, a "tool that enhances Javadoc documentation files with semantic information gathered by analyzing the corresponding class files." Features include:
IBM's alphaWorks has updated the Interface Tool for Java, a program based on the Java Native Interface and COM that allows Java programs to communicate with ActiveX objects. The tool "creates Java proxies from the ActiveX controls's typelib. These proxies can then be used to allow a Java program to communicate with the ActiveX object." This release fixes various bugs.
TriActive Java Data Objects 2.0 (Beta) is an open source implementation of the Java Data Objects (JDO) 1.0 specification published under the Apache license.
ACPLT/KS's Remote Tea 1.0.0 is a pure Java, open source implementation of the ONC/RPC protocol (RFC 1831) published under the LGPL.
JFCUnit 1.02 is a tool for building JUnit test cases for Java Swing-based applications. It can obtain references to windows opened by your program, locate particular components, and submit events to them. JFCUnit is published under the LGPL.
Version 0.8.0 of the Abbot GUI testing framework has been released. New features in this release include:
In addition, various bugs were fixed.
Mike's Java Profiler (current version 00.03) collects statistics about the accumulated time used by each method in the profiled application and presents the data in a hierarchical GUI. Mike's Java Profiler is released under the GNU Public License.
Two quick questions for anyone who happens to know the answers:
Is there any equivalent for C#/.Net to the Sun Java API documentation? that is, a publicly accessible web site providing complete lists of all standard methods and classes in the .Net class library? If so, what's the URL? Hunting around with Google and on msdn.microsoft.com did not show anything obvious, but perhaps I just don't know the right .Net jargon to phrase my queries appropriately.
Update: this URL appears to do the trick http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpref/html/cpref_start.asp, though annoyingly the page wouldn't load in IE on my Mac. I had to use Mozilla on Linux instead.
Does the .Net framework include any stream compression classes, roughly like Java's the ones in java.util.zip package such as GZipInputStream and GZipOutputStream? If so, what are the names of these classes? The exact compression algorithm (zip, bzip, gzip, etc.) is not important.
Update: the answer to this one seems to be that there is no such thing included in the .Net framework, but there are a number of third-party options, most notably #ziplib.
If you happen to know the answers to this, please drop me a line at elharo@ibiblio.org. Thanks!
Cewolf 0.8.1 is a Java Server Page tag library based on JFreeChart for embedding charts (line, pie, bar chart, plots, etc.) in web pages. Cewolf is released under the LGPL.
Nathan Fiedler's released version 2.9 of JSwat, a graphical, stand-alone Java debugger built on top of the Java Platform Debugger Architecture. Features include breakpoints, source code viewing, single-stepping, watching variables, viewing stack frames, and printing variables. Version 2.9 adds Japanese translations of most strings, remote attach and detach buttons in the toolbar, and various bug fixes. JSwat is published under the GPL.
phWorks has posted a public beta of PhDataCache, a caching JDBC driver that "sits between Java applications and their databases's native JDBC driver. It intercepts all of an application's JDBC calls and, based on rules which are defined by the system architect, determines whether or not to cache query responses. Designers have complete control over what gets cached and for how long, and because it uses the well defined JDBC interface, there is no need to make any alterations to existing code bases." When released, pricing is expected to start around $199 or $1995 for a distrivution license.
Kevin Herrboldt's Cicerone 1.1 is a simple GUI tool that pops up a window showing total and free heap in the current application. Java 1.2 or later is required.
Sun's released the latest version of the Java Specification Participation Agreement in the Java Community Process. (PDF only)
The Jakarta Apache Project has released version 1.5.1 of Ant, the popular XML based, open source build tool for Java. This is a bug fix release.
Quan Nguyen's VietIME 1.0.1 is a Vietnamese input method editor (IME) that allows uusers to type Vietnamese Unicode text into Java's AWT and Swing text components. Nguyen has also released Vietpad 1.0.3, a Vietnamese Unicode text editor written in Java that can open, edit, convert, print, and save Vietnamese text files in Unicode formats. VietIME and Vietpad are both published under the GPL. Java 1.4 is required.
SolarMetric Inc. has released Kodo JDO 2.3.3, an implementation of Sun's Java Data Objects (JDO) 1.0 specification. JDO permits Java objects to be transparently stored in relational databases. Kodo JDO Standard Edition sells for $600 per developer license, and Kodo JDO Enterprise Edition sells for $3000 per developer license and adds J2EE application server support.
Sun's released version 1.3.1_05 of the Java™ 2 Platform, Standard Edition. This release fixes assorted bugs.
OpenEJB 0.8.3 has been released. This is an open source (BSD license) Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) Container System and EJB Server. It includes EJB Servers for both local and remote access. Version 0.8.3 is a bug fix release.
Sun has posted the Sun Interoperability Prototype based on the Liberty Alliance Specification (IPL) 1.0. Naturally it's written in Java. This is basically Sun's competitor to Microsoft Passport; i.e. a single sign-on for various Internet web sites and services. According to the press release, "This prototype offering is designed for developers -- both enterprise customers and ISV's -- that want to build or test Liberty-enabled applications to manage and maintain their own identity management systems."
Matthew Pekar has released version 0.95 of Pounder, a GUI testing tool for Java. Developers can record scripts that are then run in JUnit. Version 0.95 adds native language support for Spanish, Greek, Japanese, and Portuguese; a pause feature which allows preferences to be changed and assertions to be added during recording and playback, and applet support. Pounder is published under the LGPL.
The JBoss Project has released JBoss 3.0.3, an open source Enterprise JavaBeans application server implemented in pure Java. JBoss provides JBossServer, the basic EJB container and JMX infrastructure, JBossMQ for JMS messaging, JBossMail for mail, JBossTX for JTA/JTS transactions, JBossSX for JAAS based security, JBossCX for JCA connectivity, and JBossCMP for CMP persistence. It integrates with Tomcat Servlet/JSP container and Jetty Web server/servlet container, and enables you to mix and match these components through JMX by replacing any component you wish with a JMX-compliant implementation for the same APIs.
Onion Networks' Java DIME Library implements the Direct Internet Message Encapsulation (DIME) format, a lightweight binary format that can encapsulate multiple payloads of arbitrary types and sizes into a single message. DIME can be used to add binary attachments to XML documents. This is published under the LGPL.
OpenORB 1.3.0 is an open source, Corba 2.4.2-compliant Object Request Broker for Java. OpenORB supports a bushel of acronyms including SSLIOP, GIOP, IIOP, RMI over IIOP, POA, and BOA. Services it provides include Concurrency Control Service, Event Service, Interoperable Naming Service, Notification Service, Persistent State Service, Property Service, Time Service, Trading Service, Transaction Service. Presumably this all means something to CORBA-wonks.