superenvironmentlite
Project home

 Overview

SuperEnvironmentLite is a J2EE tool, Java EE tool, for management and monitor GlobalEnvironment. It is a lite version of SuperEnvironment. The main difference is that SuperEnvironmentLite is for developers without runtime management and monitor.

SuperEnvironmentLite is an open source software. It is written entirely in Java. 

GlobalEnvironment is an open source program from Acelet Corporation. It is a platform neutral and vendor neutral J2EE, Java EE utility program. Both SuperEnvironment and SuperEnvironmentLite are GUI tools (Swing) written entirely in the Java programming language. 

GlobalEnvironment is a global version of java.util.Properties and java.util.Hashtable. Properties and Hashtable are valid within one single Java VM only. GlobalEnvironment is valid across the whole network in distributed computing environment. 

See Environment variables in J2EE world for related information.

SuperEnvironmentLite is platform neutral. it has been tested on the following platforms:

• Linux: RedHat 7.3, server 3
• Linux: SUSE 8 (kernel  2.4.19-4GB) (IBM xSeries)
• Solaris 7, 8 and 9 (Sparc)
• Windows 2000, XP

SuperEnvironmentLite will be ported to IDEs, such as Eclipse and NetBeans, as a plug-in module.

This is an open source project. Contributors are welcome, especially:

• Add help

• Port it to Eclipse as a plug-in.

How to run

NetBeans plug-in version

Click on the icon or SuperEnvironmentLite menu item on the Tools menu.

Standalone version

The released software is a zip file. It contains only one file: superEnvironmentLiteXXX.jar where XXX stand for version number, for example, superEnvironment100.jar. A copy of HypersonicSQL database is embedded with it, as an example. You need to unzip the file and get the jar file superEnvironmentLiteXXX.jar.

It can be run as a jar file, by typing:

   java -jar superEnvironmentLiteXXX.jar

When you need to use your own database, you need:

1. Populate the database using GlobalEnvironment.

2. Put your database driver on the CLASSPATH. For example:

java -classpath myDatabase.jar -jar superEnvironmentLiteXXX.jar

How to use

The main panel

Tabs

There are five tabs at the bottom. They are for:

• Double: GlobalDouble
• Hashtable: GlobalHashtable
• Long: GlobalLong
• Object: GlobalObject
• Properties: GlobalProperties

When you click a tab, the corresponding panel will be the selected panel.

Buttons

There are three groups of buttons at the top. The are separated by bigger spaces.

The first group, Edit and Delete are for highlighted items, on the selected tab. For example, as the above screenshot, The GlobalDouble is selected. If you click on the Edit button, the item be edited will be the one with Key equals One.

The second group, Add is for adding an new item for the selected environment.

The third group, Database, Help and Close are for the system, not for a particular environment.

Edit and Add

Currently, both GlobalObject and GlobalHashtable are not input-able by keyboard.

Database

A copy of HypersonicSQL database is included in the software as an example. The database runs as a in-memory database, which is not shared by other applications. This example database will automatically run until you change database to other database (different URL).

Database change will take effect immediately: all existing panels will be refreshed.

The database parameters will be saved with file name superEnvironmentLite.properties under user's home directory.

If you use other database, the JDBC driver must be on your CLASSPATH.

Copy and paste

Copy: Control-c

Paste: Control-v

Install and uninstall

NetBeans plug-in version: Install

From the main menu > Tools > Update Center >

Select Install Manually Downloaded Modules > Next.

Click on Add button

Then follow the GUI program.

NetBeans plug-in version: Uninstall

From the main menu > Tools > Module Manager

Select SuperEnvironmentLite, the click on Uninstall.

Standalone version: Install

The software comes as a jar file. Do not need to install.

Standalone version: Uninstall

Remove the jar file. Note: the file superEnvironmentLite.properties will be stored under your home directory. You can delete it if it is not needed. But, it is a very small ASCII file, if you do not delete it, there will be no harm to any application.

Other plug-ins

Other plug-ins for IDEs are:

• SuperTracerLite. It is free. It is an open source software.

Note for porting

SuperEnvironmentLite is a self-contained, modular application.

See the source file com.acelet.opensource.superenvironmentlite.SuperEnvironmentLite.java. The method main will tell you how to call it from outside.

Frequently Asked Questions

The downloaded source file is much smaller than the binary file. Is the source file package complete?

The downloaded source file is a complete source package. The binary file is bigger because it includes binary code from GlobalEnvironment and HypersonicSQL database.

Author

Wei Jiang