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Introduction to BEA WebLogic Server 5.1: Previous topic | Next topic | Contents

WebLogic Server Developer APIs

WebLogic Server provides developers with a comprehensive set of Java APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) and a powerful deployment environment.

BEA is an enthusiastic supporter and participant in Sun's Java Community Process, the open specification development process that has produced several standard Java technologies implemented in WebLogic Server. BEA has committed to ongoing full support for these Java standards, including Sun's J2EE (Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition) announced in June 1999. WebLogic Server offers the most complete and mature J2EE support available.

The next several chapters introduce the WebLogic Server development APIs in a tutorial format. Our online documentation includes a detailed Developers Guide for each of the APIs described here. Javadoc references for WebLogic APIs are also available online. The Javadoc references for Sun APIs are available on the Sun web site.

Developing Applications for WebLogic Server

Typical WebLogic Server applications are Java classes running on the server, using Servlets and JSP pages to interact with web browser clients. Business logic executes on WebLogic Server and only HTTP passes over the network. Servlets and JSP pages can call other Java classes and WebLogic Server facilities to accomplish their work. Except for HTML, the code you write is intended to run on WebLogic Server.

If you write a Java client instead of a web-based client, it is good practice to keep your business logic on WebLogic Server and concentrate on user interface and presentation in the client. RMI provides a nearly transparent distributed programming framework, so some application code that runs on WebLogic Server could also run in a Java client. Executing classes remotely adds overhead and has performance implications, so it is best to avoid programming business logic in Java clients.

About the Examples in this Document

You can find the source code for the examples in the following chapters in the examples/intro directory of your WebLogic Server installation.

To access and run the examples, first install WebLogic Server, following instructions in Installing and Setting up WebLogic Server. The WebLogic Server distribution includes scripts to set up your environment for running WebLogic Server and building examples to use with WebLogic Server. See Setting up Your Development Environment to learn how to edit and execute these scripts before you try the examples in this chapter.

The example code presented in this document assumes that you are using a Java Developers Kit that is compatible with the JavaSoft JDK. The Java compiler is named javac, the JVM is named java, and options are provided to these utilities as defined by the JavaSoft JDK. You can use another Java development environment if it is certified for use with WebLogic Server. (See our Platform Support Page for a list of certified JDKs.) If you use a non-JavaSoft JDK, you may have to translate the instructions in this chapter to work with your tools.

The Enterprise JavaBean example requires the jar tool to package the bean for deployment on WebLogic Server. The Microsoft Developers Kit does not provide a jar command. To try this example, and the JMS example that uses the bean, you need the JavaSoft JDK.

What's Next?

The remaining chapters provide a tutorial for developing WebLogic Server applications. Each chapter describes a development API and gives an example, including instructions for compiling the code, configuring WebLogic Server for the example, and executing the example:

- Servlets

- JSP (JavaServer Pages)

- JDBC (Java Database Connectivity)

- EJB (Enterprise JavaBeans)

- JMS (Java Message Service)

If you are looking for instructions on building and running specific examples, you will find them here:

- Servlets: Running the SqlServlet example

- JavaServer Pages: Running the Calendar.jsp Example

- Java Database Connectivity: Running the booksPool Example

- Enterprise JavaBeans: Running the Emp Example

- Java Messaging Service: Running the EmpTrans Example

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