# The WebLogic Workshop Development Environment

WebLogic Workshop is an integrated development environment for building enterprise-class J2EE applications on the WebLogic Platform. WebLogic Workshop provides an intuitive programming model that enables you to focus on building the business logic of your application rather than on complex implementation details. Whether you are an application developer with a business problem to solve or a J2EE expert building business infrastructure, WebLogic Workshop makes it easy to design, test, and deploy enterprise-class applications.

WebLogic Workshop consists of two parts: an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and a standards-based runtime environment. The purpose of the IDE is to remove the complexity in building applications for the entire WebLogic platform. Applications you build in the IDE are constructed from high-level components rather than low-level API calls. Best practices and productivity are built into both the IDE and runtime.

WebLogic Workshop is available in two editions:

- WebLogic Workshop Application Developer Edition includes the basic features required by application developers to build web services, web applications, custom controls and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs). All editions of WebLogic Workshop also include ubiquitous support for XMLBeans, BEA's technology for seamless, natural manipulation of XML in Java.
- WebLogic Workshop Platform Edition includes additional extensions to the IDE and runtime framework that let you build portal applications and business processes in conjunction with the WebLogic Portal and WebLogic Integration products, respectively.

WebLogic Workshop's intuitive user interface lets you design your application visually. Controls make it simple to encapsulate business logic and connect to enterprise resources, like databases and Enterprise JavaBeans, without writing a lot of code. Conversations handle the job of keeping track of application state. And WebLogic Workshop's support for asynchronous processes makes it easy to build highly reliable applications for the enterprise.

The following topics provide information on working with the WebLogic Workshop integrated development environment.

Developing Applications with WebLogic Workshop

Covers basic concepts you need to understand to build applications in WebLogic Workshop.

Getting Started with WebLogic Workshop

Directs you to hands-on tutorials and samples to help you get started with WebLogic Workshop.