Plugging In
In creating services, plug-ins, to service development environments like Eclipse, create an organized environment for development, deployment and testing of converged applications. Implementing plug-ins allows the developer to leverage a plethora of third-party tools and wizards to develop and deploy applications.

A prime example of an Eclipse plug-in that provides such enhanced functionality is Avaya's Ubiquity Developer Studio (UDS). As a developer you get the building blocks to create services, SIP servlets, and access to wizards to create these elements all of which can be fully integrated with the Eclipse environment and leverages Eclipse and third party plug-ins.

UDS tools help you to produce, integrate, test and deploy code faster and reduce the time it takes to introduce new solutions that improve the communications and productivity of your business. You can reduce coding time via visual or graphical composition, pre-built components and UDS tools, and since UDS is integrated with the Ubiquity Developer Environment, you can go on to build, deploy, test and debug your applications directly from the familiar Eclipse environment.

Another plug-in, Graphical Editing Framework, provides the tools for allowing you to visually compose applications and services. Plug-in Graphical Editing Framework to Eclipse and you get a visual representation on screen of the applications you develop. You can drag and drop and wire components together. Plus if a wiring fails or requires additional information, the request pops up in a dialog box. For example, if a connection you made isn't allowed, Eclipse will tell you.

Findbugs™ is another Eclipse plug-in that looks for bugs in Java code and uses static analysis to identify errors. Findbugs can be used in a number of ways and is leveraged within UDS to provide debugging tools. FindBugs analyzes Java byte code, then searches for bugs or poor Java development practices. FindBugs comes with an extensive set of bug detectors that should work with most Java applications. For example, the FindBugs plug-in for UDS contains detectors that flag any use of code in which an object cannot be serialized.

Avaya's Dialog Designer IDE also is an Eclipse plug-in that provides a simulator environment for designing, deploying and testing converged applications. You can create applications that combine advanced telephony capabilities and business applications and then test them in real time through the simulator before deploying it to a test environment. You can see your application in action before it even makes it to Quality Assurance.

The Way Forward
The way Web services and converged applications are created isn't about writing low-level code, but reusing building blocks of components and bringing business processes and telecommunications processes together in a familiar environment. Now you can mix and match these conventional data-oriented apps into a solution with communications applications via service development environments that are part of your familiar IDE by utilizing plug-ins.

Now that you've been familiarized with service development environments and plug-ins, stay tuned for the next Avaya portal article in which we delve into the concept of shared services, as well as high-availability application development using a service development environment.