Borland Launches Design Tool For .Net

Borland Together Edition for Microsoft Visual Studio .Net is an integrated design, modeling and code environment written in C# for developers modeling applications in the .Net environment.

A Borland spokesman said Borland Together Edition for .Net is the first environment for visually assembling applications in .Net written in the platform's native language, C#, which in and of itself is conducive to modeling applications.

Borland and Microsoft demonstrated the product at a keynote at the show Wednesday.

Borland Together Edition for .Net contains a Borland technology called LiveSource, which helps to keep models and code synchronized, according to Borland, Scotts Valley, Calif.

In LiveSource, changes made to models are simultaneously replicated in code and vice versa to ensure that developers are aligned in the development process. The Borland spokesman said this reduces the costs associated with software rework and replaces traditional engineering methods, which can result in models and code being unsynchronized when changes are made, he said.

A full version of Borland Together Edition for .Net is available for free download with time-limited usage beginning Wednesday and ending Nov. 30.

For more information on future availability, developers can visit http://www.borland.com/together/index.html.

Microsoft is working on its own C#-based modeling and design tool for .Net, code-named Whitehorse, CRN has reported.

Sources have told CRN Whitehorse will be similar to BEA Systems' WebLogic Workshop tool, which uses visual workflows to model applications. BEA's tool is for Java, however, while Microsoft's tool will be for modeling applications in .Net.

A Microsoft spokeswoman declined to comment on how the company's plans to develop Whitehorse would affect Microsoft's partnership with Borland. She added that Microsoft, Redmond, Wash., will discuss its tools strategy further at its Professional Developers Conference in October.