FAQ

From jVantage

What is the default login ID and password for a fresh jVantage installation? 

login ID: admin, password: 7.

Your documentation indicates that jVantage is not a framework, yet it is listed under frameworks on SourceForge, why? 

Although we do not consider jVantage to be a framework, it could be argued that it is. Since jVantage does possess several characteristics that resemble frameworks, we listed jVantage under the frameworks category simply to make it easier to find.

How is enterprise software different from other software? 

One misconception is that, because a software system is large or handles a large volume of traffic, it is enterprise software. When technology professionals talk about enterprise software, they are most often referring to its architectural makeup.

From an architectural design standpoint, enterprise systems employ an approach to solving business problems through the use of reusable business and tactical-level components; and are designed from the ground up with extensibility and forward compatibility in mind. One way of looking at this is that non-enterprise systems can be viewed as plaster in a mold, where a business problem space is the mold itself and the application is the plaster. In this scenario, although the application addresses all of the functional requirements of the problem space, the application becomes a direct reflection of the problem it is designed to solve. In this case, changes to the problem space cannot be easily retrofitted to the application. Furthermore, because the application so closely resembles the problem space it was designed to address, none of its capabilities can be leveraged in other potential problems spaces without intrusively modifying the application or dismantling it in some way.

jVantage utilizes an underlying service oriented architecture (SOA) that breaks apart potentially reusable components such that none of the applications you build are too closely knitted to their target problem space. Furthermore, jVantage takes an approach to integrating with external software assets in a loosely coupled manner that brings a fluidity to your application design.

What is a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)? 

A Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a component model that allows functional units, representing well-defined sets of behaviors that are specified through implementation independent interfaces, called services, to be exposed and utilized across an enterprise or wide processing system. An SOA allows loose coupling between services and the applications that use them. This loose coupling provides an agile systems environment that is tolerant of change and allows development of component-based functional assets that can be leveraged effectively, and can continuously evolve with the needs of the enterprise.

Technologies such as Web Services can provide additional facilities that aid in the use and flexibility of Service Oriented Architectures, such as by providing service registries and formalizing the data structures by which communication occurs between these services and client applications.

What is J2EE (Java EE)? 

J2EE (now called Java EE) is an acronym for Java 2 Enterprise Edition. It is a set of related technologies pioneered by Sun Microsystems that, together, provide a standardized set of specifications and practices for developing and managing multi-tiered, server-centric enterprise applications. J2EE has become widely accepted as the standard for large scale, enterprise software systems.

What is Rapid Application Development (RAD)? 

RAD is simply an approach for reducing the start-to-finish time required to develop applications. There are as many approaches to RAD as there are technologies. Often, RAD development involves using tools that allow visual and/or interactive definition of application behaviors or functionality. Many times, RAD tools can provide time savings at the cost of loss of flexibility and vendor lock-in. jVantage takes an open approach to RAD that focuses on reducing or eliminating the common aspects of application development while providing virtually all the infrastructure needed from the start. This allows developers to focus on the functional aspects of their applications without the distractions of dealing with access control, scalability, and many other troublesome software development challenges.