JBuilder 2 has a fine pedigree, following long line of development software from Borland. Over the years they have built a fine reputation for building the fastest, slickest compilers available and version 2 of JBuilder is certainly no exception.
We ran the Standard version of JBuilder 2 two issues ago. The Professional version is aimed at business, bringing you the power of JDBC database connectivity and DataExpress for drag-and-drop database applications, local InterBase server and over 200 Beans, including dbSwing with source code.
Features
JBuilder 2 Pro is a visual tool. Firstly this means that you can design a good deal of your application by dragging and dropping components from the palette straight into the UI designer. Secondly (and more importantly) it means that any changes you make to your source are instantly reflected in the designer.
In addition to the usual source code and image browsers, it also has a built-in web browser and can even open up compiled class files to give you declaration information.
It has a very fast Just-in-time compiler built upon a compatible version of the 1.1.6 JDK called "1.1.6_Borland". Borland claim this is completely compatible with the standard, but if there ever are any differences then the IDE can use external versions of the Java Development Kit to ensure that you get a fully compatible product.
There is even a code obfuscator that will stop hackers decompiling you class files.
Using JBuilder
You can use JBuilder to build any kind of Java application or applet, but it is especially good for creating database applications. In many ways it is very similar to Visual Basic. Data sources can be dragged onto the designer and individual "data-aware" components can be connected to it. Navigation between records, field population and database updates are then handled automatically. It can even create automatic master-detail relationships between record groups without writing a single line of source code.
But if JBuilder has one forte, it is creating JavaBeans. New ones can be created on the fly within a project and their properties, BeanInfo objects and events can be inserted without writing any source code. BeanInsight will also check the validity of any Beans you create.
There are also features that Borland refer to as "wizards". Some of these are traditional wizards, like the Deployment Wizard, that take you through a process step by step, but some of the others simply remove a lot of tedious work. Perhaps the neatest one is the Resource Wizard, which writes ResourceBundle Java classes to contain locale-specific objects. In this way it can switch objects depending upon the locale of a particular user, so German users would see an application with labels written in German, Indian users in Hindi and so on.
Component Libraries
JBuilder comes with far more components than is really decent. As well as the ones you'd expect (the AWT and Swing components) it also has a number of "value-added" libraries that can greatly increase the functionality of your application with very little effort.
The first of these are the JBCL libraries. If you've ever used Borland products before then some of these controls (such as the OK button with a green tick) will look very familiar to you. Borland is very proud of its component set and has apparently re-written them as extensions of the main Swing libraries.
The DataExpress and dbSwing components are very impressive. They allow you to connect to back-end databases and include some quite advanced functions for creating master-detail relationships. Taken together with the Data Module wizard, these components turn JBuilder into a pretty useful database front-end tool.
The KL Group components are quite nice, but perhaps a little old: for instance, they don't fire property change events, which is a rather hefty shortcoming. But they do plug a few gaps in the Swing set and so are worth a look.
Tips and Gotchas
To keep the source code more open, click the "Use only core JDK & Swing classes" option when running the applet/application wizard.
If a component ever appears in the designer as a "red bean" this means that JBuilder 2 Pro was unable to load it. This may be because of a bug in the component or because some relevant classes are missing.
Avoid putting spaces inside the path names of your project files. There appears to be a bug that will prevent your applications and applets running properly.
The debugger has problems using breakpoints inside inner-classes.
"About" boxes always show the date as 1998.
These are only minor grumbles. The excellent visual interface and full-integration of JavaBeans throughout the product make this is an extremely powerful tool with many more features than can be described here. All in all Java IDEs don't really come much better than this.
Limitations: Personal use only. For full details, please see the License Agreement.
Minimum System Requirements: Pentium 90 MHz or higher, Windows 95 or Windows NT4 (SP2 or higher), 48Mb RAM (Win95), 50Mb hard disk space, SVGA 800x600 (or higher) resolution monitor, 256 colours. Networks supported: Windows 95 or NT 4.0 or higher.
Uninstall: Yes - Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel.
Installation
Serial Number: 2000014104 Key: 75-0-0-0
When you install Interbase Server the serial number will appear in a dialog box before the installation starts.
Write down the Serial Number and Key above, then click the icon to the left to install JBuilder 2 Pro.
Update
An update for JBuilder 2 Professional has recently been released. You can install it by clicking the button below. See the Readme for more information. Note: this update will not work with any other version of JBuilder.
Click the icon to the left to install the JBuilder 2 Pro update.
Contact: Borland UK