Summary

We've established that the production of data access code for enterprise-level software can be a laborious, time-consuming task. Thankfully, due to the metadata maintained by the database on the information it holds, data access code is ideally suited to code generation techniques.

To demonstrate this, we examined how the code generation tool Middlegen can be combined with the O/R mapping tool Hibernate to offer a powerful framework for generating an object-based view of a system's relational database entities.

One area of database development highlighted is the importance that organizations attach to enterprise data. Databases often contain critical and sensitive information, so they are carefully controlled corporate resources. Sensitivities surrounding access to this type of data can be detrimental to rapid development. This issue is a political consideration for the project and one that is best addressed through careful project management.

The next chapter focuses on Model-Driven Architecture, an approach to systems development that combines design, modeling tools, and code generation. If the protagonists of MDA are to be believed, this technology is the proverbial silver bullet for rapid development.

Additional Information

For more information on entity beans, visit Sun Microsystems' J2EE site at http://java.sun.com/j2ee.

The latest news and developer information on JDO can be accessed at http://www.jdocentral.com.

For a side-by-side comparison of O/R mapping products, see http://c2.com/cgi-bin/wiki?ObjectRelationalToolComparison.