News

JNBridgePro 8.0 Enables Cross-Platform Overrides for Extending Frameworks

• By John K. Waters
• December 6, 2016

Java/.NET interoperability solutions provider JNBridge today released a new version of its flagship product. JNBridgePro 8.0 is a major release with a new interface and new capabilities that allow developers to take a framework written in Java (or .NET), and extend it in .NET (or Java).

JNBridgePro is a general purpose Java/.NET interoperability tool designed to bridge anything Java to .NET, and vice versa. The tool allows developers to access the entire API from either platform. It connects Java and .NET Framework-based components and applications with simple-to-use Visual Studio and Eclipse plug-ins that remove the complexities of cross-platform interoperability.

With the new release, users can now, for the first time, extend framework-supplied scaffolding code through cross-platform overrides and cross-platform inheritance from abstract classes. This was not possible in previous versions of the tool. Previously, without a workaround, a Java-side InstantiationException (or a .NET-side MemberAccessException) would be thrown. With JNBridgePro 8.0, .NET classes can now inherit from proxies of Java abstract classes, and vice versa. The extended class can override behaviors using .NET code (or Java code). Even when a given framework is running, the other framework overrides are recognized and are executed.

"A framework is essentially a block of code and a lot of scaffolding that more or less runs the show," said Wayne Citrin, JNBridge CTO and co-founder. "You can't change the framework code; you just add your own code to specify particular behaviors. But a lot of our customers want to extend their frameworks, and now they can do that without complicated workarounds. It's very straightforward, and it just works."

This is the first version of the Boulder, Colo.-based company's namesake product to support a cross-platform override. "This is almost a holy grail for me," Citrin told ADTmag. "From the beginning of the company, it has been our goal to make Java/.NET interoperability a non-issue. And it has always bothered me that this basic aspect of object oriented languages -- this override behavior -- didn't work cross platform. It works now, and I expect it to reduce frustration for a lot of developers."

JNBridgePro 8.0 also comes with a new user interface, featuring redesigned icons and controls in a GUI-based proxy generation tool and plugins, providing "a flatter and more modern look," the company said.

JNBridgePro 8.0 is available now. Complete technical details are available on the company's Web site.