Avalon Project - Features

Features

The Avalon project is so large and broad in scope that it is not easy to provide a simple list of features in the form of "Avalon provides Component X which will fulfill role Y in your project Z perfectly".

Most of Avalon is oriented towards server development (though many parts can be, and are, used in other software domains). As such, it delivers all those features server applications require (stability, performance, etc), and does so very well.

Avalon Framework

At the very core of our project is the Avalon Framework subproject. This framework is very stable and in daily use in many applications, from straightforward desktop products to large scale enterprise applications.

After an initial difficult learning curve, this framework will help you create a better software architecture. In this way, it's role is as fundamental as, say Object-Oriented Programming or Design Patterns.

All other avalon subprojects make use of the framework. This has allowed us to provide truly pluggable components which can be used in any programming environment without requiring gargantuan supporting applications.

Avalon Excalibur

Avalon Excalibur provides you reusable components. Because our framework has been thought out so well, it becomes very easy to create quality components quickly. While many of the components in Excalibur are oriented towards server development (like a generic pooling implementation), others are very useful in other contexts as well (like utilities to help with internationalization).

Instead of listing the features of every single package here, I suggest you look at the Excalibur project page for more information.

Avalon LogKit

Avalon LogKit is a feature-rich logging package. It can be used as an Alternative to other logging packages like Jakarta's Log4J or the (massively inferior) Logging API included in JDK 1.4.

Please see the Logkit Features document for more information.

Avalon Phoenix

Phoenix is a micro-kernel. It takes care of low level application details so you can focus on your unique requirments. While this may sound to you like a servlet or EJB container, phoenix has a very different scope. Where you can use EJBs to connect to a database, phoenix is the basis on which to run that database.

With that said, you may now start to see the phoenix edge: it provides all of the features that make you love Servlet Engines so much (and several more), without restricting you to the specific servlet use case. You can use Avalon Phoenix to run your servlet engine, database, and other server components, as well as your java-enabled desktop.

Take a look at the Phoenix project page to learn how it manages to do all of this.

Avalon Applications

Avalon Applications is a repository for Phoenix-enabled Applications. It contains a JDBC-compliant database, a Macromedia Flash-compatible XML socket server, and more. You'll also find a list of applications elsewhere on the web that run on phoenix. Go to the Applications project page to find out all about them.