John wrote...

>Additionally, you will need a tool like "Visual Cafe" (Java Development
>tool) to actually create the front end applications (ie. Order status ...

If price is an issue, it's also possible to use the free JDK for MPE/iX
that's available on Jazz or the free JDK for NT that's available at the
JavaSoft web site (or one of the free JDK's for Linux, ...)

For creating GUI screens/programs/applets, I have used NetBeans from
www.netbeans.com so far, another free download; I believe, it has been
renamed to Forte by now and is also available from JavaSoft/Sun.

Lars

(not intending to say commercial tools or IDE's are a bad idea ;-)