News
Teamprise Readies Java SDK for TFS
Teamprise makes Microsoft’s Team Foundation Server accessible to Java developers with new software development kit
Teamprise is building a software development kit (SDK) for Microsoft's Team Foundation Server (TFS) that will allow developers to create custom apps in Java. The SDK will be designed with access to the full set of features in TFS, including source-code control and work-item tracking.
Teamprise is a popular cross-platform application suite designed to give Java developers access to TFS from within the Eclipse IDE and on Unix-based operating systems. The new SDK will be built using much of the underlying technology in the Teamprise Client Suite, explains Teamprise Senior Software Engineer Shaw Terwilliger.
Terwilliger, who is the project lead on the SDK product, says Teamprise is an appropriate party to offer this SDK. "We have a lot of experience with Microsoft's Team Foundation Server platform," he says. "Our existing products use a lot of the libraries that connect, using just Java code, to TFS."
TFS is deployed in many organizations with heterogeneous environments, Terwilliger points out. These companies need to deliver solutions on a range of platforms; the Teamprise clients currently allow them to use these different platforms, but the Java SDK will provide an additional level of integration.
"We've had a lot of requests from customers who want extensive integration," Terwilliger says. "They're using our tools already, but they're looking for a way to do their own custom integration with TFS."
Microsoft welcomed the arrival of the new SDK. Ian Knox, group product manager of the Visual Studio team, said in a statement that the company would expand the TFS ecosystem by providing Java developers with an API for creating new applications that access TFS.
"There's a real, ongoing need to integrate all of these different platforms inside a company," Terwilliger says. "The right glue will just make TFS a much more attractive solution."
Teamprise will release the new SDK in the fourth quarter. The company will ramp up to that release with betas, Terwilliger says. No details on pricing were available at press time.
Teamprise is a division of SourceGear LLC, which makes products specifically for Team Foundation Server. The company announced the Java SDK at the annual JavaOne developer conference in San Francisco.
About the Author
John K. Waters is the editor in chief of a number of Converge360.com sites, with a focus on high-end development, AI and future tech. He's been writing about cutting-edge technologies and culture of Silicon Valley for more than two decades, and he's written more than a dozen books. He also co-scripted the documentary film Silicon Valley: A 100 Year Renaissance, which aired on PBS. He can be reached at [email protected].