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    About XDEV 3

    XDEV 3 is a freely-available Java development environment for Rapid Application Development (RAD). It lets you develop professional business applications just as quickly and easily as if you were using Access, FoxPro, Oracle Forms, Filemaker or other 4GL tools. However, when you use XDEV 3 the end result is always a real Java Desktop or web application. With XDEV 3 you too can quickly transition to Java and work productively from the very start. XDEV 3 is free of any and all license costs.

    Development environment components
    XDEV 3 is a complete Java development environment that includes a Java Code Editor, Java Compiler, Swing GUI builder and an application framework. In addition to these standard components, optional tools such as XDEV Component Suite, BI Suite and XDEV Enterprise Framework are also available. You can also integrate all of the libraries and frameworks available for Java.

    Differences between XDEV 3 and Eclipse & Co
    What mainly differentiates XDEV 3 from conventional Java development environments such as Eclipse is its comprehensive toolset for Rapid Application Development (RAD). The XDEV 3 RAD concept provides a wide variety of key basic functions for developing database applications and GUIs which Java developers ordinarily have to program themselves, costing both time and money. The XDEV 3 RAD-features streamline and simplify Java application development, thereby saving you a ton of programming work, turbo-charging your development, and drastically cutting your development and maintenance costs. As XDEV 3 works much the same as Access, Oracle Forms and other 4GL tools, it is easy to begin using XDEV 3.

    GUI-Builder
    The XDEV 3 GUI-Builder lets you design Java Swing interfaces as quickly and easily as if you were using a graphics program. Every GUI component can be inserted into the workspace via drag & drop and then positioned exactly where you want it (pixel-exact). The designing of forms takes no time at all and can even be automatically generated from tables. Even complex master-detail views are amazingly easy to generate. The innovative Layout Assistant also makes it easy to use the Layout Manager. The XDEV 3 GUI-Builder can easily be expanded using your own or third-party components. Multilingual user interfaces also do not present a problem. You do not need to know a single thing about Java to develop the user interface with XDEV 3; the GUI-Builder generates all of the Java code for you automatically. You will not have to write a single line of Java code - not even for the most complicated of user interfaces.

    XDEV Application Framework
    The XDEV Application Framework and the GUI-Builder are the main components of the XDEV 3 RAD concept. The framework provides the basic architecture and infrastructure for the GUIs and database applications, thereby freeing you from a wide variety of tasks that every programmer usually has to take care of himself/herself such as data links, processing of query results (result sets), transaction management and data encryption. The framework also has a compact function library (XAPI) which contains a multitude of functions that will make it much easier to access databases, files, internal memory, user interfaces and external applications. The XDEV Application Framework is open source software.

    Java Code-Editor
    When you use XDEV 3, the transition from simple RAD development with drag & drop to conventional Java programming is seamless. You can add features at any time to XDEV 3 that you would like to have - or remove features you don’t want to use - modifying them as you like or implementing them yourself in Java. You can also seamlessly integrate any Java API into your project. For this purpose, XDEV 3 offers all of the key functions of a traditional Java IDE.

    Wide scope of possible projects
    Using XDEV 3 you can develop any conceivable database application such as
    • Cost calculators
    • Administration front-ends and other back-end solutions
    • Cash (point-of-sale) systems
    • Accounting/settlement systems
    • Booking systems
    • Reservation systems
    • Evaluation and reporting solutions
    • Statistical tools
    • B2B platforms
    • Parts and warehouse management
    • Process administration
    • CRM solutions
    • Company intranet solutions
    • ERP modules

     and many more.

     More so than any other Java IDE, XDEV 3 is ideally suitable for quick and easy porting of key business applications to Java.

    Target group
    XDEV 3 is specifically oriented towards
    • Developers using Access, Oracle Forms, FoxPro, Filemaker, Visual Basic, Delphi and other 4GL tools and languages to develop as well as web developers wanting to transition to Java quickly and easily and who would like to start key projects ASAP without having to study Java for months on end
    • IT departments building a Java team looking to quickly and cost-effectively start application development with Java
    • IT departments looking to quickly and easily develop a new Java-based business application or port an existing solution to Java as simply and cheaply as possible
    • Developer teams with Java projects that also want to effectively utilize developers who are not fluent in Java, to develop GUIs for example
    • Universities, academies, schools, other educational institutions and IT-training companies that would like to impart Java know-how in a way that is simple and easy to understand, whereby the aim is to increase the number of potential participants/students