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Oracle retools for thin clients

Oracle will on Monday announce an update aimed at generating thin-client applications to its flagship toolset Developer/2000.

Mike Ricciuti Staff writer, CNET News
Mike Ricciuti joined CNET in 1996. He is now CNET News' Boston-based executive editor and east coast bureau chief, serving as department editor for business technology and software covered by CNET News, Reviews, and Download.com. E-mail Mike.
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Attempting to complete a transition of its toolset from client-server to Web-based development, Oracle (ORCL) will on Monday announce an update aimed at generating thin-client applications to its flagship toolset.

Developer/2000 version 1.5 completes Oracle's plan to fully enable the tool for building thin clients, which are network computer-based applications.

A previous version of the tool, 1.4W, included features that allowed developers to repackage existing client applications, written with Developer/2000, as Java applets. Those applets are deployed and managed through a component called Developer/2000 Server.

With version 1.5, Oracle has tackled the problem of how to run custom reports from thin-client machines that lack local storage.

Oracle has added Web-based reporting and graphics capabilities to Developer/2000, through a new component called Developer/2000 Report Server, so that users with thin-client systems can generate database reports and charts by way of server-based software.

The Report Server can be reached from both PC and thin-client systems, and can generate reports in both HTML and Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF).

Another new component, the Graphics Server, builds charts and data graphics, and generates HTML pages with embedded GIF images.

Also included in the new set is a tool, called Translation Builder, for creating multilingual applications. The tool translates Developer/2000 applications into more than 40 languages, according to Oracle.

Version 1.5 will be posted to Oracle's Web site on Monday. The upgrade is free for current licensees of any version of Developer/2000.