Forte 4GL
Encyclopedia
Forté 4GL is a proprietary application server used for developing scalable, highly-available, enterprise applications.
The first release of Forté 4GL was published in August 1994. After releasing this initial product, Forté Inc. proceeded to build several extensions including:
The company was later bought out by Sun Microsystems
. The modules listed above were bundled together and re-branded as Unified Development Server (UDS) and Integration Server (IS) under the IPlanet
division. The server modules were later bundled together as Enterprise Application Integration (EAI).
Sun has since declared the product's end-of-life, indicating no future plans to continue development of the product. Sun's official support of Forte is scheduled to cease at the end of April, 2009.
systems, including Oracle
, Sybase
, Microsoft SQL Server
, Informix
, and DB2
. These linkages could be via SQL embedded within the TOOL code, or via SQL constructed on the fly.
It also had support for distributed applications: the developer would create an instance of a specific class, which would be placed on a user-specified server. Calls to methods through instance would be sent across the network transparently; the developer would not need to know the underlying details of how the call would be transmitted.
History
Forté 4GL was created as an integrated solution for developing and managing client/server applications. Forté 4GL consists of an application server, tools for deploying and monitoring an application and an object oriented custom language, TOOL (transactional object oriented language). Given that TOOL only runs on the Forté application server, many users simply refer to their "TOOL" applications as "Forté" applications.The first release of Forté 4GL was published in August 1994. After releasing this initial product, Forté Inc. proceeded to build several extensions including:
- Web Enterprise - an HTML-wrapper interface for rich-client applications to publish their screens through web servers.
- Forte Express - a rapid database GUI interface kit, released in July 1995.
- Conductor - a work flow engine capable of choreographing activities, released in March 1997.
- Forté Fusion - an integration backbone to link external systems using XML messaging and tie in with the Conductor engine.
The company was later bought out by Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
. The modules listed above were bundled together and re-branded as Unified Development Server (UDS) and Integration Server (IS) under the IPlanet
IPlanet
iPlanet was a product brand that was used jointly by Sun Microsystems and Netscape Communications Corporation when delivering software and services as part of a non-exclusive cross marketing deal that was also known as "A Sun|Netscape Alliance"....
division. The server modules were later bundled together as Enterprise Application Integration (EAI).
Sun has since declared the product's end-of-life, indicating no future plans to continue development of the product. Sun's official support of Forte is scheduled to cease at the end of April, 2009.
Capabilities
Being an enterprise application development system, Forté 4GL supported close linkage to a number of different relational databaseRelational database
A relational database is a database that conforms to relational model theory. The software used in a relational database is called a relational database management system . Colloquial use of the term "relational database" may refer to the RDBMS software, or the relational database itself...
systems, including Oracle
Oracle database
The Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation....
, Sybase
Sybase
Sybase, an SAP company, is an enterprise software and services company offering software to manage, analyze, and mobilize information, using relational databases, analytics and data warehousing solutions and mobile applications development platforms....
, Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
, Informix
Informix
IBM Informix is a family of relational database management system developed by IBM. It is positioned as IBM's flagship data server for online transaction processing as well as integrated solutions...
, and DB2
IBM DB2
The IBM DB2 Enterprise Server Edition is a relational model database server developed by IBM. It primarily runs on Unix , Linux, IBM i , z/OS and Windows servers. DB2 also powers the different IBM InfoSphere Warehouse editions...
. These linkages could be via SQL embedded within the TOOL code, or via SQL constructed on the fly.
It also had support for distributed applications: the developer would create an instance of a specific class, which would be placed on a user-specified server. Calls to methods through instance would be sent across the network transparently; the developer would not need to know the underlying details of how the call would be transmitted.