Helma 1.6.0-rc2

In case you missed it: The second release candidate for Helma 1.6 is out for your testing pleasure.

Using H2 with Helma

Maksim Lin shows how easy it is to use H2 together with Helma , even as an embedded database in the same JVM:

..."just drop the h2.jar into helmas lib/ext folder, restart helma, pop the connection details into my applications db.properties and hey presto!"

Then, just change the connection URL in your helma apps db.properties to...

jdbc:h2:/data/h2/col

..."and bam! your H2 db is now running in the same JVM process as helma"

Helma warped around existing db schemas

Generating auto-updating Helma prototypes that are mapped on-the-fly to an existing database schema:

" Warp repository is a repository providing virtual prototype directories and type.properties files based on existing database schemas. You need to have correct primary and foreign keys set in your database for this to work.

Put your database settings in db.properties as always, add a warp repository with the name of the db.properties's db source and there you go."

Rocket the Super Rabbit

Samuel Oey's effort to enhance Tobi's Rabbit code brings us Rocket the Super Rabbit , featuring...

• Metadata for Hop Object prototypes
• Automatic form/input generation
• DB/Table generation (MySql)
• Creation of the model from existing source
• Creation of folders/type.properties from the model
• Basic permission management/access control
• Basic List / Object viewer

Bootstrap is out of the bag

Although I haven't seen a proper announcement by Jürg yet, only some hinting on the Rhino and Helma mailing lists that there will soon be an announcement, the link to the Bootstrap Javascript library site is obviously no secret anymore.

The last mention of Microsoft

A few days ago, Paul Graham suddenly realized that Microsoft is dead .

Amen.

Of course Microsoft isn't literally "dead", but their era is over. Not that I noticed much of it anyway, since I staid away from "it" all the way through.

I'm sure Microsoft as a company and as a brand will be fine. Although, like Paul Graham says, "Microsoft's biggest weakness is that they still don't realize how much they suck", they have an almost infinite amount of time to figure out how they want to reinvent themselves. Or if they can't manage to reinvent themselves, they by default will become the obvious: a large enterprise OEM solution wholesaler.

For the punchline of the story, read the first two comments, where Brett replies by pointing out "You bring up a hilarious caveat to 'No one is even afraid of Microsoft anymore': The people now afraid of MSFT are not their competitors but instead their customers ."

Helma 1.6.0-rc1

" We are pleased to announce the availability of Helma 1.6.0 release candidate 1 . This release brings a wealth of new features, both in the skin rendering framework and in the scripting department where we updated to Rhino 1.6. Check out the change log for details and download now! "

>>> Introducing Planet Helma