Review: JFactory 1.1
The JFactory is an interesting product. Not only does it include extensions like the Java Workshop, it also has an Visual Basic-like interface like Symmantec's Visual Cafe. Like the Cafe it was trivial to put together the applet. The layout was simple and intuitive. It uses the same floating-panel metaphor that Cafe and VB use which is annoying to some. Like Cafe each object has a property sheet. In addition, each object also has an event sheet on a separate tab along with the properties. Adding the send event to the button was straight-forward. I simply selected the button, chose the event tab, selected the clicked event, and added the source code I needed. This was the first look I got at the source-code that JFactory generates. The generated code is separated from user code by begin and end statements representing blocks. JFactory ignores any code between these markers and leaves it untouched during a generate step. Editor's for the various systems are quite different. JFactory includes a simple notepad like editor, but allows the use of an external editor. This editor is probably the simplest and least useful of the editors included with Java IDEs.
When I went to add the action event to the TextField I found that only gotFocus and lostFocus events were supported in the JFactory. This caused me frustration. Why wasn't this straight-forward event supported for that object? I have no idea. I did check the documentation and it is not my imagination. It is clear in the docs that text fields don't list any other events. So, I loaded up the text editor and inserted the event handling code by hand between the main action block markers within the action event. This worked fine.
At the end of the file I added the private classes I would need to connect to the server. In the user methods section I added a send method that creates a new JSpawnClient object and sends the text. After compiling, voila!, it worked like a charm. Here is the applet, I did not use any of the JFactory specific classes but it does attempt to import from a JFactory directory, hopefully it will still work over the Net.
Is JFactory ready to do real development? I would say the JFactory appears to be an excellent applet generator, although it will suffer in cross-platform environments because of its reliance on absolute coordinates. Hopefully, in future releases of all the products, except Workshop which already supports them, we will see some use of the built in layouts provided by Java.
Sam Pullara
spullara@suba.com