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Comparing Oracle JET, Oracle ADF, Oracle APEX & Oracle MAF

Oracle technologies:
How to choose between
ADF, MAF, JET & APEX

Oracle technologies:
How to choose between
ADF, MAF, JET & APEX

Titleimage

Posted by Ludovic Dessemon on 2019:05:13 16:35:20

The purpose of this article is to provide a thorough overview of Oracle development solutions.

Although Oracle Forms, which has been doomed to disappear for years, continues to evolve (version 12.2.1.3), Oracle offers several modern software infrastructure frameworks, which will be presented.

We will focus on Oracle ADF, MAF, JET and APEX to give you a summary view in the form of a comparative table, functionality by functionality.

General information

Oracle ADF (Application Development Framework)

Oracle ADF is an end-to-end Java EE Framework that simplifies application development by providing ready-to-use infrastructure services and a visual and declarative development experience. Java application development (J2EE) is simplified with ADF.

Current version : 12.2.1.3

Oracle MAF (Mobile Application Framework)

MAF is a hybrid mobile framework that allows you to quickly develop and deploy single source applications on Apple's iOS, Google's Android and Microsoft Windows 10 platforms. Oracle MAF leverages Java, HTML5 and JavaScript to provide a complete MVC infrastructure with a declarative user interface definition, device feature integration and integrated security. Oracle MAF provides a visual and declarative development experience and optimizes code reuse, which accelerates the development of mobile applications..

Oracle JET (JavaScript Extension Toolkit)

Oracle JET is designed for intermediate and advanced JavaScript developers working on client-side applications. JET offers developers a modular open source toolkit based on modern JavaScript, CSS3 and HTML5 design and development principles. Oracle JET is Oracle's official standard for developing user interfaces based on open source standards. Oracle focuses on a toolbox (JET) to create applications that they know will evolve and can be maintained (based on standards). Oracle has several applications used by millions of customers and they use JET in their Oracle Cloud services and must ensure that these services are stable and efficient. Oracle JET is not dependent on Oracle products such as Weblogic, database.

Oracle APEX (Oracle Application Express)

Oracle APEX is a fast development environment for creating web applications. APEX uses PL/SQL logic. The Oracle APEX interface is based on a data-driven model such as Forms. APEX is recommended for the development of simple applications. APEX is dependent on the Oracle database.

 

How to choose between ADF, MAF, JET & APEX?

Several criteria can help

CRITERIA


ADF


MAF


JET


APEX

Required License:


ADF Oracle Weblogic Enterprise Edition + Oracle Database


MAF Oracle Weblogic Enterprise Edition + Oracle Database


JET Open Source - Does not require any paid license (Universal Permissive License - UPL)


APEX Oracle Database

Need for Weblogic expertse:


ADF Deployment of ADF applications only possible in Weblogic


MAF Deployment of MAF applications only possible in Weblogic


JET Can be deployed in Weblogic but the best option is to use a Javascript "backend" such as Node.js. Node has become a standard for large-scale enterprise applications.


APEX APEX does not require Weblogic and runs directly on the Oracle database.

Native Mobile Applications:


ADF Allows you to create Hybrid mobile applications that run in the mobile browser.


MAF Allows you to create native mobile applications 1 single platform, 1 single code for Android, iOS or Windows


JET Allows you to create Hybrid mobile applications that run in the mobile browser. You can use Oracle JET command line tools to create a package of your hybrid mobile application for publication on Google Play, Windows Store or Apple App Store.


APEX Allows you to create Hybrid mobile applications that run in the mobile browser.

Accelerate User Interface development:


ADF Uses declarative custom components for drag and drop development Allows access to device functions such as camera, contacts, GPS, etc. There are additional plug-ins that allow the extension of the application's features


MAF It supports the development of applications that can run offline using the local SQLite database.


JET Provides a set of tools to accelerate the development process. In a constantly evolving JavaScript ecosystem, the real benefits of Oracle JET are the ability to focus on development


APEX Oracle APEX offers a productive solution comparable to Oracle Forms without equal because it offers a development environment. APEX is a "Data Driven" language that facilitates the creation of table-based input screens.

Language popularity:


ADF Java language remains one of the most used languages


MAF Java language remains one of the most used languages


JET JavaScript has become as popular as Java. According to the 2019 edition of HackerRank, JavaScript has just taken 1st place.


APEX APEX is becoming popular but is not used for critical applications unlike Oracle Forms.

Wealth of data providers:


ADF ADF BC, SOAP/REST, Java, JPA/EJB, BAM, BPEL, BI, Portlets


MAF REST


JET REST


APEX Oracle Database, REST

Cloud Deployment:


ADF Java Cloud Service


MAF Mobile Cloud Service


JET Application Container Cloud, Java Cloud, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure


APEX Database Cloud

DevOps on-premise or in the cloud with Developer Cloud Service:


ADF Can be integrated into a DevOps platform (Code version management, collaborative work, task management, Build automation and continuous integration)


MAF Can be integrated into a DevOps platform (Code version management, collaborative work, task management, Build automation and continuous integration)


JET Can be integrated into a DevOps platform (Code version management, collaborative work, task management, Build automation and continuous integration)


APEX APEX and DevOps are not often considered together. There are "DevOps" solutions for APEX, which remain quite far from the solutions for ADF, MAF, JET

Conclusion

This article aims to give you as much information as possible to understand the positioning of each of the 4 Frameworks, with some examples of criteria to help you choose the Framework(s) best suited to your requirements. On the basis of this document, we propose to discuss together to better qualify and understand your business challenges, strategies and priorities.

Posted by Ludovic Dessemon on 2019:05:13 16:35:20

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