Built on top of the Eclipse software development kit, the preview version is dubbed a Milestone 2 release. It will have most of the new functionality to be featured in the general release of MyEclipse 5.0, due in August. MyEclipse 5.0 offers users multiple ways to build Web applications, with support for technologies such as AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), JavaServer Pages, and Struts.
A highlight of version 5.0 is inclusion of Matisse4MyEclipse, an interface builder based on the NetBeans Matisse technology.
"We're taking the Eclipse plug-in environment and we're adopting the best-of-breed solutions regardless of where they come from. Matisse happens to come from NetBeans," said Maher Masri, president of Genuitec.
Also in version 5.0 is a framework for rapidly developing Web services through a series of wizards and interfaces. The framework is based on the XFire (http://xfire.codehaus.org/) SOAP framework.
AJAX extensions in the product enable developers to more easily build rich, dynamic Web applications, Genuitec said. Also, the Struts 1.2.X framework, with Tiles technology, is supported in version 5.0. Tiles is a component of Struts for building user interfaces, Masri said.
Integration with the Eclipse Web Tools Platform includes support of the "Facets" concept, which involves relating entities based on relationships, Masri said.
Other features include:
* Expanded support for the Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase databases, including the ability to utilize triggers and stored procedures.
* Direct table data editing, through which multiple tables can be edited at the same time.
* Support of the MyEclipse visual Web designer tools on Linux and Mac OS X clients.
MyEclipse 5.0 is priced at US$31.75 for an annual subscription to the standard edition and $52 for a professional edition subscription. The professional edition features Matisse support and other technologies, such as a JavaScript debugger and UML capabilities.
Genuitec boasts about 270,000 users of MyEclipse and competes with offerings such as Borland JBuilder and IBM's WebSphere environment.