The problem is that WTP needed to interact with databases before DTP was available, so its database interface mirrors the functionality in DTP. Although plans exist to merge the two, the timeline for that drags into next year, targeting the yet-to-be-started Eclipse 3.3.

So we’re stuck with both database interfaces, which don’t interact with each other, and don’t share JDBC connection setups. To summarize, DTP offers the more generic Data Source Explorer view. The BIRT reporting tool seems to be the main user of DTP. You can set up a database connection in Data Source Explorer, but it won’t be accessible to any J2EE development you’re doing with the WTP tools.

With WTP, which you need for JSP, JSF, and EJB development, you’ll need to use the Database Explorer view. For example, to set up a MySQL connection, you would open the Database Explorer view, right-click (or Ctrl-click on Mac) the Connections icon and choose New Connection; then select a MySQL database manager on the left. Since no MySQL presets exist yet, go with a JDBC Driver of “Other”. Fill in your MySQL database name, “com.mysql.jdbc.Driver” for the JDBC driver class, point Class location to your mysql-connector-java-3.1.x-bin.jar file, and set the Connection URL to something like “jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/mydb”. With that, your database connection should be available to all your WTP tools, like JSF, Dali, and so on.

In a later post, I’ll dive into the Dali JPA plugin.

On the other hand, as soon as you start digging into Java and J2EE, you hit a maelstrom of boilerplate java code and XML config files — all the cumbersome repetition that Rails works hard to minimize. In this department, Eclipse does a good job. It offers top notch code completion (which TextMate as a more general purpose text editor isn’t equipped to handle), graphical editors and a huge selection of plugins.

Finally with this release, the J2EE platform is looking healthy and strong, including brand new support for JavaServer Faces and EJB 3.0-style persistence code generation with the new Dali. The Callisto Project is a worthy effort to gather 10 big Eclipse projects together, test them as a unit, and release them in a single rollout. Eclipse also has a nice upgrade feature that lets you pull the entire Callisto plugin codebase with a few easy clicks. Well done guys!

While Rails will always be more sane and fun than J2EE web development, at least JSF and Facelets is a step in the right direction, removing a lot of the complexity and gritty low-level hackery typically required for Java web sites.