[vwnc] [ANN] JNIPort is going to be on the VisualWorks CD

Good news for developers who want to use Java class libraries in
VisualWorks: JNIPort will be in the "contributed" directory of VisualWorks
7.7, making it easier than ever to use Java classes in Smalltalk!

JNIPort is also available in Cincom's Public Store Repository and on the
JNIPort wiki at http://jniport.wikispaces.com.

What is it?
===========

JNIPort is a Smalltalk library which allows Java code to be invoked from
Smalltalk. It acts as a bridge between the world of Smalltalk objects and a
Java Virtual Machine where Java code is executing.

What's new?
===========

- JNIPort is ready for the upcoming VisualWorks 7.7 and will be one of the
contributions included in the VisualWorks distribution.

- The latest version available in the Cincom Public Store Repository and at
    http://jniport.wikispaces.com/Downloads
fixes two bugs which made their way into JNIPort 1.0.

- The downloads of JNIPort for Dolphin Smalltalk have been repackaged. The
Zip files for Dolphin Smalltalk 5 and Dolphin Smalltalk 6 both contain all
of the files needed for the respective version of Dolphin Smalltalk. It is
no longer necessary to combine files from three separate archives for
Dolphin Smalltalk 6.

Enjoy!
Joachim Geidel


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Is there a comparison available, explaining the differences between  
JNIPort and JavaConnect? Is JC still maintained and under improvement?

THX! Steffen


Am 09.08.2009, 11:34 Uhr, schrieb Joachim Geidel  
<[hidden email]>:


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Am 09.08.09 12:23 schrieb Steffen Märcker:
> Is there a comparison available, explaining the differences between
> JNIPort and JavaConnect? Is JC still maintained and under improvement?
>
> THX! Steffen

Have a look at
http://astares.blogspot.com/2008/04/javaconnect-java-assmalltalkvalue.html
for a comparison.

Two more differences: In JNIPort, you have fine-grained control about which
methods are generated (public, private, etc.), and you can generate regular
wrapper classes for Java classes, which can be extended like any other
class. Also, while it is a nice feature of JavaConnect that one can
reference a Java class simply by using its name like a Smalltalk class name,
this caused problems in the development tools last time I checked (menu
entries causing Exceptions etc.). That's not a serious problem though - just
don't try to publish Java classes to Store. ;-)

I don't know about the current plans for JavaConnect, but have read that it
is supposed to be ported to Pharo, too. You will have to contact Johan
Brichau for information about the future of JavaConnect. JavaConnect has
been submitted to the ESUG Innovation Awards. I was approached concerning a
submission of JNIPort, but as JNIPort is mostly Chris Uppal's work, I can't
do that.

Joachim Geidel



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Holger Kleinsorgen pointed out that there was a method missing, and that the
file attachments of the bundle JNIPort could not be downloaded from the
public repository. Thanks!

The problems have been fixed. Choose JNIPort 1.4 and JNIPort Tools 1.2 if
you download JNIPort from the public repository. The parcels at
http://jniport.wikispaces.com have been updated, too.

Best regards,
Joachim Geidel

Am 09.08.09 11:34 schrieb Joachim Geidel:


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On 09 Aug 2009, at 12:23, Steffen Märcker wrote:

> Is there a comparison available, explaining the differences between
> JNIPort and JavaConnect? Is JC still maintained and under improvement?

Hi,

JavaConnect is still under active development. In fact, we will  
release version 2.0 in a couple of days now.

Here are a couple of the highlights in the upcoming release of  
JavaConnect:
- running JVM in separate OS thread (necessary to use Java AWT/Swing  
on Mac OS X)
- improved mechanism to extend Java classes with Smalltalk methods  
(basically, just using Class extensions)
- browsing (decompiled) java source code from loaded Java classes in  
the refactoring browser
- automatic translation of Java methods to Smalltalk methods
- callbacks from Java to Smalltalk objects already work (since a long  
time ago) for Smalltalk objects that can be 'typed' by a Java  
interface. For such objects, no Java wrapper must be implemented  
manually (we use Java dynamic proxies for that). We are now also  
looking into doing the same for Smalltalk objects that cannot be  
'typed' by a Java interface (i.e. only by a Java Class). If these two  
last sentences do not make much sense, I will write up a better  
description asap ;-)

JavaConnect works in VW7.6 but I have not yet tested it in VW7.7.

All info is on http://www.info.ucl.ac.be/~jbrichau/javaconnect.html
The info should be updated with the new stuff soon. I will also try to  
give an overview of the differences with JNIPort at that time.

----------------------------
Johan Brichau
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