TopLink

In computing, TopLink is an object-relational mapping (ORM) package for Java developers. It provides a framework for storing Java objects in a relational database or for converting Java objects to XML documents.

EclipseLink (which is based on work made for TopLink) is the reference implementation of the EJB 3.0 Java Persistence API (JPA) and a product of Oracle.

The Object People company (that's the "TOP" in the Name) originally developed TopLink in Smalltalk in the 1990s. Between 1996 and 1998 a Java version of the product was created named TopLink for Java.

After the joint acquisition of The Object People in April 2000 by BEA Systems and WebGain, the TopLink product-line became the property of WebGain.

In 2002 Oracle Corporation acquired BEA Systems and TopLink, in order to merge it with its Oracle Fusion Middleware product.

In 2006, Oracle donated source code from the TopLink product and development resources to the open-source Sun Microsystems java.net GlassFish project. It became the Java EE EJB 3.0 JPA reference implementation.

In 2007, part of the TopLink source code was donated to the Eclipse Foundation and the EclipseLink project was born.

In March 2008 the Eclipse Foundation announced that Sun Microsystems had selected the EclipseLink project as the reference implementation for the JPA 2.0, JSR 317 standard.

As well as functioning as an object-relational mapping tool, TopLink has other features including: