In the April 5 JavaLobby Newsletter, the editors write:
We have a couple of new sites in development for the Javalobby network, and we have been facing the tough question of whether or not to use Java to build them? After long consideration we're close to deciding not to, at least not for the main core of the sites. Instead, we're thinking we may try out the powerful PHP content management system called Drupal. As far as we know there's nothing quite like this in the Java space, and the effort required to implement the features Drupal offers by default would take us a long time to develop in Java. It just doesn't make sense to start from scratch when there's an active community already growing around Drupal. We have looked at JetNuke, JBoss Portal, and several other Java-powered options, but as far as we can tell they are not superior for our purpose. Even if we do use Drupal, we'll still be able to use Java for back-end services and logic, and we feel the hybrid approach may allow us to get the job done faster and with less heavy lifting.
Bonus points for Drupal, I say. :-)
Comments
language war
if they really would choose a language above functionality, the could have chosen mmbase. It is written in Java, does some things drupal does better (and can do some things drupal lacks), is used a lot by publishers and Dutch govermental agencys and has a nice and active community (but by far not so nice as drupal though :-)
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groets
bertb
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groets
bert boerland
mmbase is cool, but Drupal seems a better fit
I actually used to converse with Daniel about mmbase fairly frequently back in the days 5-6 years ago when it was principally in use at VPRO and just being made open source. I respect it greatly, but mmbase appears to focus more on media management, and there's not clearly as active a community of module developers contributing pieces that we can leverage.
Having read a lot of the forums here, I think it's true that the Drupal community really is nice, in general. That's a big plus when one contemplates using a FOSS product to build a major site. If the replies to most request for help were "just read than manual, stupid" then we'd probably be less enthusiastic.
Rick Ross
PlanetCocoon
I see the guy who set up PlanetCocoon also had the same dilemma, but ended up choosing Drupal as well.
I have a similar choice to make for our companies knowledge base and online user community site. We are Java developers with a J2EE product, although I'm more of a sysadmin with some basic HTML/CSS/PHP/Python/XML/XSLT skills but very little Java apart from supporting JBoss and Tomcat :)
While it looks like Drupal will win out, I'm still a little torn between Drupal and a Cocoon based system eg Lenya or Daisy because we want to do single source publishing of a lot of external XML content (ie DITA - it's a bit like Docbook). I suspect it will be easier to get Drupal to work with external content than it will be to get Cocoon to have all the community site type features.
A Java API to access Drupal data?
I'm both a Drupal module contributor and an avid fan of Java. I've actually given serious thought to building a Java-based API for access to Drupal's back-end database schema. I'm busy on several Drupal contributed modules right now, but I am a member of JavaLobby, and I may contact them when I reach a nice stopping point in my Drupal work to see if they'd like to collaborate on this. If anyone else in the Drupal community would be interested in joining such an effort, please contact me. (Again...this isn't something I have time to do now, but would like to pursue later.)
Keep me posted
I'm a Java fan myself but really don't have the time to work on (yet) another project. I'd like to track such developments though, so keep me posted.
Can only be beneficial
I've already written JavaLobby and offered assistance in porting their site to Drupal. I was a full time Java programmer until a month ago, so while I don't have much time to offer I would also want to take part in discussions etc.
- Robert Douglass
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www.robshouse.net
www.webs4.com
Drupal & Java
I would love to see a complete Drupal system build in Java, but since most people use shared hosting with the typical LAMP environment without java support, the user base would probably be too small.
Bringing both worlds together would also be good. On one of my - not yet online - Drupal sites I plan to integrate some java projects (first I have to find a new provider or set up my own colocation server).
Time is also my problem. I have been announcing some work on Quicktime movie integration here on the forum and just don’t get ahead with it.
dries missed an oppertunity
to beat you doing drupal in java on aprils fool... :-)
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groets
bertb
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groets
bert boerland
Hey, that would be
Hey, that would be great!
And next step a JSP version of Drupal
Then we backport all that to OO PHP :-)
I'd like to help with that, busy right now, but that would be a nice project for the future...
https://reyero.net
nah. i don't see that happening.
Drupal in Haskell is more likely =)
Actually Drupal in RubyOnRails is way more likely.
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The future is so Bryght, I have to wear shades.
I love them both :-)
I am a Java developer going back to about 1998 and Java 1.0 and a long term member and supporter of JavaLobby.
I am a recent convert to Drupal so I am delighted with their choice of technology for the JavaLobby site.
What I would like to see is some easy means for building the framework of an application in Drupal but with bespoke functionality written in Java. Java can't be beat for writing complex systems *oops, I sense flame war* , but Drupal is much easier to build a front end in, even compared to Struts or Turbine.
Some integration tools would be good... if I have any ideas I'll post them up
Java API for Drupal
Hi, I was just wondering if there is a status on the moving forward of a Java API for Drupal? If so I am available to help in the effort. Let me know
Brian