Introduction to Rational Application Developer

You can use IBM® Rational® Application Developer for WebSphere® Software to design, develop, analyze, test, profile, and deploy high-quality web, service-oriented architecture (SOA), Java™, Java EE, Web 2.0, mobile, OSGi, and portal applications.

Rational Application Developer is part of the Rational Software Delivery Platform family of products. Built on Eclipse 4.2, it is an extensible and customizable platform for constructing and integrating software development tools. Each product in the Rational desktop family uses the same integrated development environment (IDE). The differences among these products reflect the optional features that are available and installed in each configuration.

With Rational Application Developer open, click Help > Welcome to access an overview of features, descriptions of new tools, links to tutorials and samples, links to get started, and links to web resources.

The following table lists and describes some of the features that are available in Rational Application Developer:

Feature	Description
Web developer tools	Graphical tools for building powerful server-side web applications that are based on JavaServer Faces, JavaServer Pages, Portals, and Portlets Tools for HTML 5, CSS 3, JavaScript, Dojo (Dojo Toolkit 1.9), and jQuery (jQuery Core 1.9.1, jQuery Mobile 1.3.1) Rich Page Editor, a WYSIWYG and source editor Simulation and testing tools to see how your application looks and test on fixed and mobile devices
Enterprise developer tools	Editors, validators, quick fixes, and many other tools that simplify the development process with complex programming models and help you focus on automating your business Support for Java EE 6, from the web (JSF, JSP) to the middle tier (EJB) and beyond (JPA, JCA) Support for frameworks for building modular, service oriented software (OSGi, SCA)
Rapid development and testing	WebSphere Application Server Liberty profile, a developer-friendly application server that starts in seconds Test tools for Dojo, JSPs, JSFs, REST services, web services, EJBs, and more Server and specification migration wizards Broad, rich integration between Rational Application Developer and several versions of WebSphere Application Server and WebSphere Portal Server
Collaboration, quality, and build	Team collaboration with the Rational Team Concert™ client A multi-language debugger that can transfer debug sessions in real time, or across time zones Code coverage tools that are tied into the editing, check-in, and build phases of the development cycle Static and dynamic analysis tools for finding anti-patterns, performance problems, memory leaks, and misbehaving threads Integration with Apache Maven
Cloud computing	Direct integration between Rational Application Developer and IBM SmartCloud® Enterprise that offloads your WebSphere Application Server from the desktop to the public cloud Tools for developing virtual application pattern workloads for an IBM Workload Deployer or IBM PureApplication® System private cloud

What's new in Version 9.6.1

Tooling support for WebSphere Portal Server V9
The inclusion of the WebSphere Portal Server V9, as a supporting program for use as a local test environment
Support for Windows Server 2016
Support for Oracle 12, as a database that can be targeted with the development tools
Support for installation and execution on Mac OS X Sierra

To see what is new in this version 9.6.1, see Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software, Version 9.6.1 new features and enhancements

What's new in Version 9.6

Eclipse platform and currency updates:
- Support for Eclipse 4.6.1 Neon
- Currency: Eclipse Tools for Bluemix 1.0.8
- Updated Cloud Foundry: bug fixes and the integration of the new CF plugins from Eclipse
WebSphere Application Server updates:
- Tooling support for WebSphere Application Server traditional V9 that includes updated server tools, tools for developing and deploying Java 8 and JEE 7 applications, and support for remote profiling and code coverage for WebSphere Application Server traditional V9, using Rational Agent Controller V9.6.
- Updated tooling support to remain compatible with the most recent version of WebSphere Application Server Liberty Profile.
- Inclusion of a WebSphere Application Server traditional V9 test environment. As Version 9 is added, the WebSphere Application Server V8.0 test environment is removed. A Version 8.5, traditional test environment is still included, and the latest Liberty Profile test environment remains.
Command Line Interface (CLI) integration:
- A new framework for integrating your favorite Command Line Interface tools into the IDE user experience. For the IBM perspective on why this matters, see Why CLI. For details on how to use this new capability, see the Integrating Command-Line tools in Rational Application Developer blog post.
- New and updated, integrated Cordova CLI to Version 6.3.1. See the official announcement from Apache Cordova--Tools Release.
JavaScript improvements and extensions:
- Support for JavaScript 5 and 6 (support was formerly limited to 3).
- Significant improvements to content assist and autocomplete.
- JavaScript unit testing is now more fully integrated into the product. The user experience for JavaScript unit testing is now comparable to the user experience for Java unit testing.
- A new integration with the Blanket.js JavaScript code coverage analysis framework. Similar to Java Code Coverage, these tools help developers assure and measure JavaScript initial code quality by analyzing what code is covered by automated tests. Among other things, you can now:
  - Configure projects and HTML pages to run JavaScript code coverage.
  - Run enabled HTML pages as JavaScript tests.
  - See code coverage results integrated into the JavaScript editors, when covered JavaScript files are opened.
  - View test results in the JavaScript Test results view.
Code coverage updates:
- New capabilities for enhancing and exporting JUnit-level code coverage results, including source, to IBM Application Delivery Intelligence.

To see what is new in this version 9.6, see Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software, Version 9.6 new features and enhancements

Supported servers

Rational Application Developer supports the following versions of WebSphere Application Server:

WebSphere Application Server Version 7.0
WebSphere Application Server Version 7.0 with the Feature Pack for Web 2.0
WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0
WebSphere Application Server Version 8.5
WebSphere Application Server Version 9.0
WebSphere Application Server Version 8.5 Liberty Profile
WebSphere Application Server Version 8.5 Next Beta Liberty Profile
WebSphere Application Server Version 8.5.5 Liberty Core

Getting help

Use the Rational Application Developer documentation to access detailed information for completing your tasks and for samples, tutorials, and web resources.

Type of information	How to access
Browse the high-level overview topics and find quick links to useful tutorials, samples, and web resources.	Click Help > Welcome.
Read the detailed help for completing your tasks. You can search, browse, or use the master index.	Click Help > Help Contents.
View a library of tutorials, which includes movies, tours, and text-based lessons.	Click Help > Help Contents > Tutorials.
Access a collection of samples, including full-scale applications and simple code examples in various technologies.	Click Help > Help Contents > Samples.

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