Java Reference
In-Depth Information
Of course, other data could be employed for defining useful policies for software deployment.
We will get back to these issues in the remainder of the topic.
Client Environment
Defining the client environment involves a whole branch of Computer Science, the so-called
Software Configuration Management
discipline, and even other specialization fields. We will
see what it means throughout the rest of this topic, for developers, particularly in relation with
the Java techniques already developed. Given the potential vastness of the topic, we will be
concise and intuitive.
2
To be specific, we can view the client environment as being made up of properties. We will see
the main (and more common) groups of client properties, but it is clear that they could be even
more diverse, and trying to list all the possible groups is of little help now. Another thing to
say is that sometimes properties are evident to us as
humans
,but not to our software that must
use them. As we will see at the end of this chapter, the type of connection is one-way in a
satellite communication with consumer clients. This is apparent to Developers, but must be
formally represented by means of a property belonging to the connection group. Formally and
exhaustively defining the client environment is not only a theoretical matter, it also becomes
useful during analysis when modeling the domain in object-oriented fashion.
•
End-User Data
Properties related with the user and its role, plus license information
and other items. It is often secured.
•
Connection Properties
Va rious data about the kind of connections supported by the
given client.
•
Installed Java Libraries
Third-party and “
javax.*
” libraries already installed on the
given platform.
•
Installed Java Extensions
Eventually installed Java 2 standard extensions.
•
Installed Java Runtime Environments and Other Java-Related Installations
Naturally,
JREs present on the client platform with their exact version and eventually other Java-
related material (such as installed JNLP client, and so on) need to be known when
resolving resources to download.
•
Installed Application Resources Configuration
The exact version of each piece that
compose the whole application that has been previously installed.
•
Recovery Data
To ensure various reliability techniques, data about lost connections,
abruptly terminated downloads, and the like.
•
AH Management Data
Needed also for administering and configuring the AH.
•
Installed Application Business Data
Resolution can depend on business data as well,
depending on the particular application domain.
