Development Overview

Java web applications that typically contain web modules such as Servlets and Java Server Pages (JSPs) are initially written and tested on the developer's machine. The preferred Oracle tool is JDeveloper, which is part of the Oracle Developer Suite. During initial development, the code is often tested via an OC4J standalone instance on the developer's PC. Remember that an OC4J container can exist in standalone mode without being part of 10g AS. Standalone OC4J containers have their own lightweight web listeners that receive HTTP requests so they technically don't need Oracle HTTP Server (OHS). These types of small installations are the perfect development environments for developers. JDeveloper also has autodeployment features within it to make development even faster as code is deployed to the local development environment. These topics were addressed in previous chapters of this book.

Once the initial development of the code is done, the application will need to be deployed to the 10g AS server for further development and testing. Depending on the organization, the developers may or may not have permissions to do this. As you'll see, the developer would need to be in group dba or have the ias_admin password to perform these types of deployments unless some intermediate deployment method is implemented (such as an autodeployment script).

Eventually the code will need to be placed into production, normally after several testing cycles and, hopefully, a code-logic and tuning review. The resulting software, in the form of an EAR or WAR file, should be placed under a Release Management version-control product. Some large organizations have individuals specifically assigned just to manage code before it goes into production. However, even smaller shops should have controls in place. Ultimately, the code will be provided to a deployer (often the administrator) to put into production. This can be via the ASC utility or via dcmctl commands that are often contained in a deployment script. Once the new code has been validated in production, the deployment is complete.