Apple WebObjects 5 - Manual (Page 93)

C H A P T E R 8
Choosing Your Approach
Rapid Development Considerations 93
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Apple Computer, Inc. January 2002
interface’s flexibility. Direct to Web is highly customizable, but you need to have a
strong understanding of WebObjects before you can effectively customize the flow
of a Direct to Web application.
Your decision is similar if your application needs the rich and fast user interface the
Java Client approaches offer. If the user interface has specific layout and flow
requirements, you should use the Java Client approach over the Direct to Java
Client approach.
Keep in mind that the Direct to Java Client approach—including the user interface
it generates—is designed expressly for viewing and editing databases, especially
large ones. If your application requires this capability, you will probably find Direct
to Java Client’s user interface extremely well-suited for the task.
Rapid Development Considerations
Using the Direct to Web and Direct to Java Client approaches, you can build an
application with far less time and effort than the WebObjects HTML and Java Client
approaches. You only need to provide the database-to-enterprise objects mapping
(the model) and WebObjects creates your application from it. However, the rapid
development approaches also impose a user interface on your application and you
must be adept at WebObjects and Direct to Web to override it.
There are several types of applications at which the rapid development approaches
excel because their user interface limitations aren’t an issue:
■ Database maintenance tools. These approaches create user interfaces optimized
for administering databases and are therefore well-suited for this type of
application.
■ Prototypes. You can quickly and easily test a model by creating a Direct to Web
or Direct to Java Client application based on the model. Using this application,
you can test whether the relationships and database integrity rules are correct.
■ Internal data driven applications. Direct to Web has been used to develop
in-house applications for bug and feature tracking, customer account
management, and writing online help. Direct to Java Client can be used for such