JavaSoft Introduces New Programmer Tools for Commerce

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Lisa Stapleton, JavaSoft
(April 1997)

In a move that could have profound implications for everything, from credit-card applications, to personal finance, to large-scale commercial banking, JavaSoft has created a new set of tools that will help Java developers write a wide variety of secure commercial applications that can run on almost any platform, including Wintel and legacy machines.

Code written for one application can also interact with other authorized Java applications. For instance, a Java-based home banking application could be set up to tell a separate tax-preparation application to report the annual interest earned, so that the tax application can figure out taxable interest income, even though the programs are running on different platforms, and are created by totally separate companies. (The companies that produced each application would have to agree that their programs should cooperate.) End users could then use both applications, and data could be automatically passed between the two programs without extra work on the part of the users.

The full Java Electronic Commerce Framework (JECF) is expected to be explained in detail at the Java Commerce Developer Days and released in alpha format the week of April 7th, but was previewed at JavaOne. JavaSoft hopes its developers will use the JECF to write and sell a new technology called "cassettes," which handle specific commerce tasks.

The JavaSoft electronic commerce team's Jonathan Brown also demonstrated JavaSoft's Java Wallet, which is the first application built using the JECF. It's a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that can be used to shop on the Web and make online payments. Developers are free to extend the Java Wallet by adding capabilities to it, or to create other types of user interfaces using the JECF.

For Developers Only

Cassettes are signed JAR files (consisting of packages) that have controlled entry points. They also contain version information, and are automatically installed and updated. "They're a lot like applets in that they're downloaded dynamically to the client machine. But they stick around," says Brown. "They've been compared to Marimba channels, and could even be Marimba channels. They can be downloaded and their functionality added to the Java wallet."

The JavaSoft commerce team has implemented a variety of security measures, including encryption and digital signatures, to make sure that transactions happen securely and only when authorized. The following structures are central to security in the JECF:

1. Authentication methods, called gates.
2. Permits, which are objects returned by the gate.
3. Digital signatures, called roles.
4. A ticket, which is a non-reusable token that lets a piece of code do something that it is authorized to do.

To build a cassette, you'd follow these steps:

1. Implement a CassetteControl class and an "Install Java Commerce Message" file.
2. Specify protocols, operations, and instruments. (The instrument is any set of data specific to a particular user, such as a credit card or account number to debit. The protocol is a procedure, such as payment, that acts upon an instrument and a Java Commerce Message, which is the method of communication specified by the JECF. Operations could be a purchase or a credit.)
3. Create roles, then add gates and permits.
4. Create a cassette JAR file with the JAR utility.

The future

Next week, the JDC will start publishing articles and code describing how to use the JECF, which will go into alpha release. No date for the release of the Java Wallet has yet been announced.