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Java Businesses Programming Apple

Java Development Environments for Macintosh? 114

Posted by Cliff from the coffee-and-apples dept.
spacecowboy420 asks: "My company (with my persuasion) has decided to move from a Windows platform to a Macintosh. The issue that is slowing this move is one of software solutions - more specifically a Jave IDE and Sales Contact Management software. We have been using JBuilder and Act!. Jbuilder is available for mac but is pricey, but the real rub is we need an IDE that supports the JClass Libraries (which Jbuilder does, but we would like to consider an alternative). Act! also doesn't have a mac version, so I am in new territory when it comes to mac contact solutions. What solutions have the Slashdot community found to be the best? What are the thoughts on Power Builder (although I know it doesn't support the JClass Libraries)?."
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Java Development Environments for Macintosh? More

Java Development Environments for Macintosh?

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  • Try Onyx (Score:5, Informative)

    by mjpaci ( 33725 ) on Friday September 20, 2002 @02:19PM (#4298756) Homepage Journal
    Can't help you on the JBuilder aspect of your question, but I may be of help on the contact management/sales datatbase side.

    There is a product we use that is web based and very robust called Onyx [onyx.com].

    --Mike

  • Re:Shouldn't you have thought of this first? (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 20, 2002 @02:35PM (#4298890)
    JDK 1.4 for osx is in developer seeds now. Jboss , Bea, and tomcat as well as several other non gui java applications run fine (sometimes better) in the 1.3 enviroment,and many you would not run in the using the 1.4 jdk in production enviroments quite yet.We deploy our apps on several platforms (linux, OSX , windows and solaris) and I find it a joy to program (using netbeans btw.) on OSX.

  • IDE = IntelliJ, CRM = salesforce.com (Score:2, Informative)

    by shodson ( 179450 ) on Friday September 20, 2002 @02:37PM (#4298897) Homepage
    The best Java IDE of any OS is supported on OS X: IntelliJ. Check out their FAQ [intellij.com] about OS X support.

    Try using salesforce.com [salesforce.com], a web-based ASP of CRM software, costs about $60 per user/mo though but they host and operate the software and data for you, so you can access it from any browser wherever you are!

  • netbeans... (Score:3, Informative)

    by jeffy124 ( 453342 ) on Friday September 20, 2002 @02:40PM (#4298915) Homepage Journal
    try a look at NetBeans [netbeans.org]. Opensource'd under the Sun Public License, cross platform IDE that's written in Java and works quite well. Works for 1.3 or better.
  • It's called "Project Builder" it has complete support for java. It's also free and comes on the Developer Tools CD for Mac OS X. It has support for CVS and other niftyy things I'd imagine you'd use. Check it out.

  • Re:Shouldn't you have thought of this first? (Score:2, Informative)

    by spacecowboy420 ( 450426 ) <rcasteen@NOsPam.gmail.com> on Friday September 20, 2002 @02:57PM (#4299062)
    We began development with 1.3, and would like to continue with 1.3 instead of changing to 1.4 in the middle of the development cycle. Our reasoning for migration is one based on avoidance of the draconian EULA of Microsoft and their policy of forced obselescence. We also need to have a platform that is good for the sales staff as well as the engineers - this seems to make the MAC an obvious choice. I would prefer a *nix alternative, but prefer to avoid the hand holding overhead. As far as asking slashdot, I am asking about experiences with software instead of installing, trying them out, then moving on to the next - it seems to me a professional works smarter not harder - which is what I am attempting here.

  • A vote for ProjectBuilder (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 20, 2002 @03:08PM (#4299134)
    Personally, I really like ProjectBuilder for java development. PB is developed by Apple and comes free on the Dev Tools CD with Jaguar. It's primarily used for Cocoa/Carbon/Kernel projects, but also fully supports Java, and does a damn good job of it, IMO. On Windows, I use CodeWarrior for Java development. I like it, but after years of using CodeWarrior, I became a PB convert almost overnight. And Apple runs a PB interest list that the PB developers actually read and respond to on a very regular basis.

    In the interest of full-disclosure, I should mention that PB doesn't have all the whiz-bang features of other Java-specific IDE's, like RAD GUI development, and the like. At least not that I'm aware of. But, personally, I've never had much use for stuff like that anyway. So, I haven't investigated what, if any, "extras" like this PB has for Java development.

    My only real complaint is not with PB itself, but with Apple's slow uptake on new JVM's. I love the way java is just part of the OS. But, I hate how long it takes Apple to catch up to the latest version of the JVM. They've said that this will change. And I know that 1.4 is currently in beta. But still, 1.4 has been out for Windoze/Linux for ages. And 1.4.1 is now available (which has a slightly different class file format, and fixes some memory management issues in 1.4.0). So, when Apple does finally release 1.4, is it going to be 1.4.0 or 1.4.1? I don't know. But I sure hope they can get things more in sync than they are now.

  • Eclipse (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 20, 2002 @03:13PM (#4299172)
    Eclipse is a very nice Java IDE. I think it is much much better than ProjectBuilder, mainly because the latter lacks code-completion. Eclipse works great with CVS, unit-tests, debugger, you name it.

    Furthermore it is:
    - 100% Free
    - 100% Open Source

    Although there are no builds available for macosX I know it can be done, a colleague of mine had it running on his ibook a few months ago.

  • IntelliJ IDEA (Score:2, Informative)

    by PierceLabs ( 549351 ) on Friday September 20, 2002 @04:08PM (#4299505)
    This is the best IDE around for a reasonable amount of money. You can get to it at http://www.intellij.com. I used to use Eclipse on the Windows platform before switching to this because it works everywhere - it supports refactoring, and its fast ... damn fast. The moment I saw it refactor a filename all the way into CVS and fix other files in CVS that imported it, I knew I'd found the right product for me.

  • the IDE issue. (Score:5, Informative)

    by GOD_ALMIGHTY ( 17678 ) <curt DOT johnson AT gmail DOT com> on Friday September 20, 2002 @04:37PM (#4299724) Homepage
    I don't know anything about Act! or how you were planning on using it with or without Java. I also can't really comment on a CRM system for Mac.

    As far as JClass and an IDE go. Take your pick. I personally prefer Intellij's IDEA. You could use VIM, WebSphere Studio or NetBeans if you want. The JClass stuff is pure JavaBeans, which means you get to do drag and drop programming in any IDE's GUI builder.

    Since neither IntelliJ or VIM have GUI designer's it looks like you prolly want NetBeans or JBuilder.(IntelliJ's beta releases also require JDK 1.4, so that may not work on Mac for a while.)
    I personally don't like the way NetBeans works, but if your looking for a cheap solution that will allow you to use JClass in a GUI designer it's the way to go.

    Quite frankly, you don't sound incredibly knowledgable about developing Java solutions. Don't take that as an insult, just an observation since you left out a lot of information pertinent to your question. Do some more research using Google next time. Most of your questions can be answered if you better understand your problem.

    You can use JClass in anything you want. Import the Jar's, make sure they're on the classpath, then write the code by hand that accesses the classes and methods in your own code. The fact that they're JavaBeans allows the GUI designer to automagically load up the properties and provide you with a visual way of laying out the components and hooking them up together. Read more about JavaBeans if your interested in this. You should be writing your own JavaBeans to speed your internal development. BTW, XDoclet now supports JavaBeans, so you can generate all the extraneous classes required by IDE's from the actual Beans source code. It's pretty slick.

    Stay away from Powerbuilder. I'm currently developing a J2EE solution in a Powerbuilder shop. It's a nice self-contained environment, but it doesn't integrate well with others. I have no personal experience try to do this, but the other developers on this project have been writing Powerbuilder apps around here for the past 8 years. If you don't think you'll ever have to integrate your powerbuilder apps with anything else, it's a fast and easy solution. It's also pretty powerful for data entry and reporting. Just keep in mind that after 8 years of Powerbuilder, these guys chose J2EE.

    Good Luck

  • Re:netbeans... (Score:2, Informative)

    by Zaaf ( 190878 ) on Friday September 20, 2002 @04:43PM (#4299773) Homepage
    Well I have to agree to that. At work we use both Windows nt4 machines and TiBooks. We have a local cvs server on the windows network. And it's completely transparent to checkout netbeans' .java and .form file on both machine types. Or, to go with the apple motto: It just works.

    The new release of netbeans (3.4) can autofill any code from any .jar file or directory. So, although I must confess that I do not know anything about JClass, I presume that this is a Useful Feature to you.
    Beans can be treated as components and added to the component toolbar, from which they can be dropped onto your form.

    HTH

  • Use CodeWarrior (Score:2, Informative)

    by kuwan ( 443684 ) on Friday September 20, 2002 @05:30PM (#4300091) Homepage
    If you want to use a program that lives and breathes Mac, then you should use CodeWarrior by Metrowerks. It's quite a bit cheaper than JBuilder and also features C/C++ and ObjectiveC compilers along with Java. Most Mac applications have been written in CodeWarrior and it has been the defacto standart development environment on the Mac since forever. I've been using it for 6 years for everything I ever do. It have Java RAD tools (though I think JBuilders are better) that are OK and get the job done. It also has code completion that includes a JavaDoc explanation of each method/class that are available, something that I JBuilder doesn't have. CodeWarrior is also a native Mac application (as opposed to Java) so it's quite a bit faster than pure Java IDEs.

    I use both JBuilder and CodeWarrior at work (JBuilder for laying out the GUI and CodeWarrior for everything else) and I spend 90% of my time in CodeWarrior. I think it's just much more polished than anything else.

    As far as a JClass alternative, try out PopChart [corda.com] by CORDA Technologies. [corda.com]

  • The IDE's of Mac (Score:4, Informative)

    by wazzzup ( 172351 ) <astromacNO@SPAMfastmail.fm> on Friday September 20, 2002 @05:45PM (#4300154)
    Check out the O'Reilly Network here:

    http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2002/04/16 /o sx_java.html

    It's a quick overview of the Java IDE's available for OS X, namely IntelliJ's IDEA, Borland's JBuilder, Apple's Project Builder, the open source NetBeans/Sun's Forte, Eclipse from OTI and Jedit. The article was written in April so it may not be entirely current as to what's available but it should get you going.

  • TogetherSoft (Score:2, Informative)

    by DoenerMord ( 21821 ) on Friday September 20, 2002 @06:18PM (#4300313)
    http://www.togethersoft.com/ [togethersoft.com]

    TogetherSoft has a Mac OS X version of their Control Center product. I believe there's a free trial if you wanna check it out. Developers here are using it now for Java work, albeit on Windows and Linux.

  • some actual help (as opposed to bitching) (Score:2, Informative)

    by wilseven ( 610336 ) on Friday September 20, 2002 @07:28PM (#4300729)
    this product called daylight looks kinda cool... http://www.marketcircle.com/daylite/index.html also saw this when I was trying to find their site: http://osx.hyperjeff.net/Apps/Business.html good luck.

  • Net beans (Score:2, Informative)

    by gumbi west ( 610122 ) on Friday September 20, 2002 @09:28PM (#4301265) Journal
    I use NetBeans [netbeans.org] and it works great. They claim OS X is ready to run it on their site.

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