Speed The Java-Built Workflow

Q-Link Technologies Inc. has released version 5.0 of its Java development environment, aimed at the midlevel developer who wants to gain the ability to quickly design application logic that incorporates workflow, then build applications using preassembled components.

The development environment includes 20 Q-Pacs, or prebuilt components, that can be used to add a SQL query, an E-mail message, and an IBM MQ Series messaging middleware service or a Web service to an application. Use of the components speeds development of apps that involve several parties in a pre-established workflow, the company says.

Other Q-Pacs may transfer a file over the Internet or generate a piece of script code that performs a certain function, such as double-checking the accuracy of a form entry in a browser window.

In addition, version 5.0 supports the use of Xforms, an XML-based tool for capturing information in a browser form, and XPath, for accessing information in an XML document. A developer, for example, could design a user interface on the Q-Link platform that made use of an Xform to extract information from an underlying Siebel Systems Inc. customer-relationship management application, then bring it back to the user in a format designed for the application.

Once such a set of links and translations has been built, the Q-Link developer can simply drag an icon representing the actions onto the Forms Designer of the User Interface Designer and use it again in another software application or modify it for another purpose, says Greg Wilson, chief technology officer at Q-Link.

Jordan Conley, CTO of Co-Advantage Resources Inc., a personnel administration outsourcing firm, says his company uses the

Q-Pacs components to create a simple workflow application that models each business process. Its payroll and human-resource applications have "a consistent user interface across departments and systems and keep track of every step in the process, making sure nothing is dropped," he says.

Q-Link is priced at $25,000 for a team of developers.

Photo by Photonica