Monday, April 18, 2011

XML Feature Pack Tech Preview Available

Just in time for IBM Impact, the IBM XML team cranked out an updated tech preview of the XML Feature Pack with three key new features.

First - XQuery modules is a way to break up larger XQuery based programs into modular units. This was the last optional feature of XQuery not yet supported and rounds out the XQuery 1.0 support. Not only does this feature help you break up your own XQuery programs, but it also allows you to use open source XQuery libraries such as FunctX.

Next is support for easier to bind Java functions. In previous releases you could binding to existing Java logic and data, but now binding to existing Java logic is even easier. The support is common across both XSLT 2.0 and XQuery and supports invocation of both instance and static methods. Here is an example that I showed at Impact:


package org.company;

public class Calculator {
public static int sqrt(int val) {
return (int)Math.sqrt(val);
}
}



<xsl:stylesheet version="2.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:xltxe="http://www.ibm.com/xmlns/prod/xltxe-j"
xmlns:calc="http://com.example/myApp/calculator">

<xltxe:java-extension prefix="calc“ class="org.company.Calculator"/>

<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:value-of select=“calc:sqrt(64) "/>
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>


You can see in the XSLT that using our extention, we were able to map any functions starting with calc to Java calls to org.company.Calculator. Specifically the function sqrt was called in this example. With this support, no Java code is needed to link existing Java logic to an XSLT or XQuery program.

Finally, we spent alot of time on runtime error messages. We have made sure that error messages now include line and column numbers that help you track back to the error that caused execution to fail.

You can read more about these features on developerWorks and download the tech preview from the IBM download site.

Announcing the IBM WebSphere Application Server Migration Toolkit V3.0 Beta

The IBM WebSphere Application Server development team is pleased to announce the availability of the IBM WebSphere Application Server Migration Toolkit V3.0 Beta.

The V3.0 Beta builds upon the capabilities delivered in the V2.1 release, expanding support for migrating your Java Enterprise Edition applications to WebSphere Application Server. 
The V3.0 Beta continues to enhance the developer's migration experience with new support for migration to WebSphere Application Server V8.0 Beta. Simple remediation tools utilize Rational® source code scanning technology to identify and resolve known application migration issues. This enables developers to quickly identify changes required to migrate from previous product versions or from competitor's Application Server platforms. 

More details on the new features and beta program can be found on the IBM WebSphere Application Server V8.0 Beta home page. Just look under Integrated tooling
You can directly Download IBM® WebSphere® Application Server Migration Toolkit v3.0 Beta. 

We're excited to continue learning about your experiences with the Beta in the WebSphere Application Server 8 beta forum


Tuesday, April 5, 2011

WebSphere Application Server V8 Announced

Planned availability date
Bottom rule

  • June 17, 2011 - electronic delivery
  • July 22, 2011 - media packs

The formal announcement letter is available here.

V8 contains, as you may recall from previous blog posts, integrated versions of SCA, OSGi, XML, and CEA feature packs.

Please continue to enjoy the beta in the meantime!

--> updated link to remove mid-page jump. :-)