I'd agree with Michael, except that I'd say people are starting to
switch to EclipseLink rather than Hibernate since EL is now the
reference implementation for JPA 2.0.
I also agree that JPA has no modeler and nothing equivalent to
ObjectContext (unless you consider manually managing nested
transactions an object context). My primary client is now using JPA,
and these things are painfully obvious to me after using it.
On Mon, Apr 6, 2009 at 12:10 PM, Michael Gentry <mgentr..asslight.net> wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 6, 2009 at 3:55 AM, Andrus Adamchik <andru..bjectstyle.org> wrote:
>> Comments?
>
> I fear this will be a bit long-winded, but I hope it will be coherent.
>
> Having JPA in Cayenne has never been a selling point for me
> personally. Chasing the JPA specification feels like a distraction
> and almost like an admission that Cayenne classic (the "real" Cayenne
> -- Cayenne's strength) isn't worthwhile. We may never get there and
> the cost of chasing the JPA specification is that Cayenne classic
> suffers. For people that want JPA, they'll almost always choose
> Hibernate because it is popular and/or because it is driving the
> specification. Even if Cayenne could satisfy someone's JPA checklist
> requirement, they'd most likely find another reason to not use
> Cayenne. That's fine. You can't appeal to everyone. Besides, the
> J2EE world seems to chase a different silver bullet every few years
> and JPA may evaporate as trends change.
>
> I think Cayenne should focus on what separates it from Hibernate/JPA
> and, in my mind, makes it better, plus add new features that make
> sense within the Cayenne world. Apple isn't gaining market share from
> Microsoft by trying to be more like Microsoft.
>
> Some examples:
>
> Improve Cayenne Modeler. This is a huge advantage of Cayenne over
> Hibernate. It is very useful as-is, but has some weaknesses, such as:
> can't open multiple models at the same time, related DbEntity and
> ObjEntity get too spread out in large models (too much scrolling),
> relationship mapping could be easier, no way to browse the database
> (I'm still working on my DBEdit clone, but it isn't close to finished
> yet), getting rid of HSQLDB for the preferences, etc. The better the
> modeler, the better the image of Cayenne -- especially to new users.
> From Gavin King's comments in the past, he thinks GUIs are for wimps
> and I don't think Hibernate will ever have one (in the core
> distribution) as long as he is the driving force behind Hibernate.
> This is a key distinguishing feature of Cayenne and should be
> leveraged. Even Apple has dropped their EOModeler support in OS X
> 10.5.
>
> Hibernate/JPA has nothing like an ObjectContext. This feature should
> be emphasized more. I doubt Hibernate/JPA will incorporate one
> anytime in the near future, either. This is another key
> distinguishing feature.
>
> Enhance ROP. I've been looking at Cappuccino lately and am intrigued
> by the idea of a robust web-based GUI that retrieves and saves all
> data by JSON. (Yes, there are other Web 2.0 apps that make heavy use
> of JSON, too.) If the Cayenne Web Service could vend data through
> JSON instead of Hessian, it might appeal to more people looking to go
> into Web 2.0.
>
> Better integration with Apache projects. The Click framework is now
> in the Apache Incubator and includes Cayenne support. It would also
> be nice to see Tapestry and Wicket include it, too. There aren't
> really robust installers (like what Apple did with WebObjects), but at
> a minimum it would be nice if there were Maven archetypes for various
> frameworks that could configure Cayenne support automatically. Google
> Summer of Code task, possibly?
>
> There are many other things (better marketing by having papers
> published, providing support for larger companies that might be
> willing to invest in it, etc), but I've been long-winded enough. All
> of these things take time and effort, but I think having a clear
> direction and goal would really help that, too.
>
> Thanks,
>
> mrg
>
> PS. I'm hoping for more comments, too ...
>
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