Day 20. Other Tools Supported by WebLogic

The different tools that are available in WebLogic Server were the focus of your lesson yesterday. The tools in WebLogic Server are organized on the lines of the functions that they perform. The primary categorization of the tools is on the lines of development (Integrated Development Environment IDE), deployment, administration, packaging, and so on. You already covered development tools, such as BEA Workshop and JBuilder; compilers, such as ejbc, jspc, and so on; deployment tools, such as the BEA XML editor, webLogic.Deployer; and administration tools, such as the Administration Console, and so on. Using the tools gave you a better perspective and understanding of how you can leverage these tools to improve productivity and efficiency in the various stages of a project involving WebLogic Server.

Today you will cover the two main technologies that are part of the WebLogic Server technology suite. Even though these technologies may or may not find widespread use, they do serve to demonstrate the wide integration reach of WebLogic Server as well as WebLogic Server's ability to support new technologies. The first technology that you will study today is the jCOM bridge software, which is an integration solution provided by WebLogic Server that enables the integration of Microsoft Component Object Mode (COM) applications with Java objects or components deployed in the WebLogic Server. The other technology that finds widespread use in WebLogic Server itself is the Extended Markup Language (XML). You will not only be studying some brief concepts of each technology, that is, jCOM and XML, but you will also walk through some scenarios to understand how this technology can effectively be used.