If you use Adobe Flex Web applications that connect to Plain Old Java Objects on the server side, chances are you use a popular, robust, and freely available server called Apache Tomcat. If you use Eclipse-based Flex Builder, you can smoothly debug both Flex and Java code without leaving Eclipse. Flex Builder debugger does not need any special configuration. But we need to add a couple of parameters to the startup routine of Tomcat so it'll engage the Java Platform Debugger Architecture (JPDA), which will allow other applications attach to JVM that runs Tomcat and debug deployed Java classes remotely.

Recently I had a chance to chat with Maher Masri, the CEO of Genuitec, the company that offers the Eclipse-based Java IDE called MyEclipse. My goal was to find out why would I want to purchase this IDE if free Eclipse fits the bill for most of the developers.

Application security - the art of applications defending themselves - represents an important line of defence in an overall in-depth security strategy. Web applications that follow the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture can, and should, have security implemented on all three layers. Normally it's the controller component that handles page authorization in MVC, the view layer that hides controls and information based on user authorization, and the model that enforces the business rules and input validation. However, it's up to the developer, based on an individual security policy and the programming technology used, to decide where to put security. Using pluggable validator components in JavaServer Faces (JSF), for example, developers may decide to verify user input on the view layer as well as on the model layer.

Page navigation requirements become more demanding as Web applications get bigger and more complex. Hard-coded page flow rules make applications less resilient to changes. In this scenario, reusing business logic is one aspect and reusing page flow becomes another aspect. Especially in situations that demand a wizard-kind behavior, it's essential to capture application page flow logic in a declarative fashion.

I was reviewing the Hibernate tutorial at htt p://www.hibernate.org/hib _docs/v3/reference/en/htm l/quickstart.html and am publishing a few minor changes which might help the new initiative to get up and running quickly. This link refers to getting Hibernate 3.x up and running with Tomcat 4.1. I ran it with Tomcat 5.5.2.