Last Modified: Sept 24, 2004

TaskBean - Simple Components for Java

SourceForge Project JavaDocs

The goal of the TaskBean Project is to define a simple and general purpose API by which modular and reusable server-side Java software can be developed, packaged, deployed, customized, and executed. The essential building block of this concept is the TaskBean. A TaskBean can be virtually anything, from one line of code to ten thousand lines of code performing JDBC, RMI, Web Services, and any other server-side function desired.

The vision of component software has long been promised. On the GUI side, technologies such as OLE, OpenDoc and JavaBeans have attempted to deliver on this with varying levels of success. On the server-side, technologies such as EJB and related J2EE specifications have approached the concept, but are primarily focused on such things as persistence and transactions. What is missing, is a more general purpose solution that allows developers to define software that performs a specific targeted task, with well defined inputs and outputs. Less technical users should then be able to take these components to customize and run within an execution environment.

TaskBean draws on some of the design principles from UNIX command-line utility programs. UNIX utility programs perform specific well defined tasks and allow the user to customize by passing in arguments and command line options. These programs can be chained together, with the output of one program piped to the input of another. For example:

       > ps -elf | grep foo | more

TaskBeans follow a similar philosophy, where a TaskBean can be used by itself to perform a specific function, and can be chained with other TaskBeans to perform more complex functions. These TaskBeans do not, necessary, have to have prior knowledge of each other to be used together.

TaskBean design philosophy:
Specific project goals:

If you have read this far it means we've gotten your curiosity. Read here for more details on these goals and design concepts. If you are new to TaskBeans, read the get started document. You can also read through the tutorial if want to get hands on knowledge of what TaskBeans are all about.

There are two related sub projects that build on the TaskBean API: Other Resouces:
JobServer is a commercial implementation of a TaskBean Container. A developer version is available for free download. JobServer provides tools for managing and running TaskBeans and Jobs.

Echo is an open source framework for building web application. TaskBean leverages echo to define its Customizer and input/output Viewers. Developers should get familiar with this framework to build more advanced TaskBeans.

EchoPoint is an open source collection of advanced widgets for use with Echo web applications. It builds on the components in Echo.