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Sofia Forum
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Click the link below to access the Sofia Forum
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Sofia Forum
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SOFIA FAQ
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Here you can find all the answers to people's most frequently asked questions about SOFIA
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| Q: How did SOFIA start? |
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A: Not unlike most competent software consulting companies, Salmon LLC embarked on Servlet and JSP development and began to build a “bag of tricks.” From the very early stages we realized the value of formalizing these objects and set about building a foundation layer that would drive all of our consulting assignments. As each new project was completed, we invariably had added another set of objects into our foundation layer. Before long we realized that we had something of value, not only for ourselves but for our clients and ultimately the J2EE development community. |
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| Q: SOFIA started as a foundation layer? How did it evolve into an end-to-end development solution? |
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A: When JSP Custom Tags were first offered, we knew two things immediately: 1) Building JSP pages using NotePad was not going to be fun—all of the Salmon developers come from a background of using IDEs, and the thought of using NotePad as a development tool was ludicrous to us. Hence the beginning of the Dreamweaver-SOFIA component that allows a developer to drag-and-drop custom tags in a WYSIWYG environment. 2) Embedding Java into the JSP pages was simply not acceptable—we wanted to use a best-of-breed Java IDE with color coding, code completion, object encapsulation and re-use, clear organization, and debugging capabilities. Why would anyone code their Java business rules right into the JSP's? Hence the beginning of IDE-SOFIA component that allows a developer to leverage the capabilities of the IDE and have access to automated tools that can generate sub Java classes (controllers and models). |
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| Q: Why not use Struts? |
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A: Several months ago, after being asked by some of our clients, “Why aren't you using Struts?” we decided to undertake a formal evaluation. Our initial thoughts were more along the lines of adopting Struts as our standard foundation layer. After all, why fight against the industry standard? Much to our surprise, Struts turned out to be a very lightweight version of SOFIA. This is not to knock Struts, as its intent is very clear —and lightweight. But as a consulting company with project deadlines looming daily, we need a foundation layer that increases productivity, not just helps out some. In a nutshell: 1) SOFIA is a more comprehensive foundation layer with an integrated Data Connector—with Struts you would need to integrate another component, such as Jexpresso. 2) SOFIA offers IDE and GUI integration components—that's the “end-to-end” part of our solution—not just the middle. Within the SOFIA “Documentation” section there is a more comprehensive feature-by-feature comparison. |
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| Q: Do any of your clients use SOFIA? |
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A: Yes. From the very beginning we have included the SOFIA source code as part of our delivered solution. Some of our clients have been so impressed, they have adopted the framework and successfully built their own applications using SOFIA. We have always been more than happy to educate, advise, and encourage our clients on their further use of SOFIA. |
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| Q: Why should I download SOFIA? |
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A: It's the only proven battle-tested, end-to-end solution integrated with the best-of-breed J2EE development tools. |
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