News

JNBridge Adds Support for VS 2017, Turns 15

• By John K. Waters
• March 8, 2017

JNBridge has added support for the new version of Microsoft's Visual Studio tool suite to the latest version of its flagship Java/.NET interoperability solution.

JNBridgePro 8.0, announced in December, was a major release that included a new interface and new capabilities designed to allow developers to 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. With the JNBridgePro 8.0 release, .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.

JNBridgePro 8.1, announced this week, ensures compatibility with Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 -- which was also announced this week. The move "reflects the company's long-standing commitment to its customers by supporting the latest versions of the underlying software," the company said in a statement.

The Boulder, Colo.-based company's namesake product 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.

The announcement coincides with the 15-year anniversary of the founding of JNBridge and the 20th birthday of Visual Studio. And .NET turned 15 in February.

"Fifteen years ago, concurrent with Microsoft's introduction of .NET, JNBridgePro emerged as an industry leading solution to bridge Java and .NET, and cost effectively ensure interoperability between the two frameworks," said Wayne Citrin, CTO, JNBridge, in a statement. "Now, with support for Visual Studio 2017, JNBridgePro 8.1 continues to make cross-platform communication simple and cost-effective."

"Cross-platform interoperability is a key challenge for developers today, especially with the deluge of new technologies and languages that must work seamlessly with existing ones," said Shawn Nandi, Senior Director of the Cloud App Dev and Data Marketing group at Microsoft. "JNBridgePro 8.1, and its support for Visual Studio 2017, is a solid solution for developers charged with improving Java-and .NET compatibility."

JNBridgePro 8.1 is available now for download from the company's Web site. (There's a free trial.) Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 is also available for download.