Raible Designs

Sunday May 11, 2008

AppFuse 2.0.2 Released The AppFuse Team is pleased to announce the release of AppFuse 2.0.2. This release includes upgrades to Spring Security 2.0, jMock 2.4, the ability to customize code generation templates and many bug fixes.

For information on upgrading from 2.0.1, see the Release Notes or changelog. AppFuse 2.0.2 is available as a Maven archetype. For information on creating a new project using AppFuse, please see the QuickStart Guide or the demos and videos.

To learn more about AppFuse, please read Ryan Withers' Igniting your applications with AppFuse.

The 2.0 series of AppFuse has a minimum requirement of the following specification versions:

• Java Servlet 2.4 and JSP 2.0 (2.1 for JSF)
• Java 5+

If you've used AppFuse 1.x, but not 2.x, you'll want to read the FAQ. Join the user mailing list if you have any questions.

Thanks to everyone for their help contributing code, writing documentation, posting to the mailing lists, and logging issues.

Please post any issues you have with this release to the mailing list.

Posted in Java at May 11 2008, 11:25:40 PM MDT 3 Comments

AppFuse Light 1.8.2 Released AppFuse Light 1.8.2 is a bug fixes release that includes upgrades for Spring, Spring Security, Hibernate, Wicket, Tapestry and many others. In addition, Spring bean definitions were replaced with annotations (@Repository, @Service and @Controller). See the Release Notes for more information on what's changed since the last release.

AppFuse Light now offers 60 possible combinations for download:

• Web Frameworks: JSF (MyFaces), Spring MVC (with Ajax, Acegi Security, JSP, FreeMarker or Velocity), Stripes, Struts 1.x, Struts 2.x, Tapestry, WebWork, Wicket
• Persistence Frameworks: Hibernate, iBATIS, JDO (JPOX), OJB, Spring JDBC

If you have any questions about this release, please subscribe to the AppFuse user mailing list by sending a blank e-mail to users-subscribe@appfuse.dev.java.net. You can also post questions in a forum-like fashion using Nabble: http://appfuse.org/forum/user. Posted in Java at May 11 2008, 10:16:17 PM MDT Add a Comment

Thursday November 29, 2007

AppFuse Light 1.8.1 Released: includes upgrades to Spring 2.5 and Wicket 1.3 AppFuse Light 1.8.1 is a bug fixes release that includes an upgrade to Spring 2.5 and Wicket 1.3 RC1. See the Release Notes for more information on what's changed since the last release.

What is AppFuse Light? Click here to find out.

AppFuse Light is a lightweight version of AppFuse. I was inspired to create it while writing Spring Live and looking at the struts-blank and webapp-minimal applications that ship with Struts and Spring, respectively. These "starter" apps were not robust enough for me, and I wanted something like AppFuse, only simpler.

AppFuse Light is designed to show Java Web Developers how to start a bare-bones webapp using a Spring-managed middle-tier backend and Hibernate for persistence. By default, AppFuse Light uses Spring for its MVC framework, but you can change it to JSF/MyFaces, Stripes, Struts 1.x, Struts 2.x, WebWork, Tapestry or Wicket. In addition, there's a number of extras for Spring MVC, including Velocity and FreeMarker versions, Ajax support and Acegi Security support.

This project was formerly named Equinox and has been under development since April 2004.

AppFuse Light now offers 60 possible combinations for download:

• Web Frameworks: JSF (MyFaces), Spring MVC (with Ajax, Acegi Security, JSP, FreeMarker or Velocity), Stripes, Struts 1.x, Struts 2.x, Tapestry, WebWork, Wicket
• Persistence Frameworks: Hibernate, iBATIS, JDO (JPOX), OJB, Spring JDBC

If you have any questions about this release, please subscribe to the AppFuse user mailing list by sending a blank e-mail to users-subscribe@appfuse.dev.java.net. You can also post questions in a forum-like fashion using Nabble: http://appfuse.org/forum/user.

If you're a developer of one of the frameworks that AppFuse Light uses - I'd love a code review to make sure I'm "up to snuff" on how to use your framework. I'm also more than willing to give commit rights if you'd like to improve the implementation of your framework.

Live demos are available at:

• Spring · Spring + Ajax · Spring + Acegi
• MyFaces + Facelets
• Stripes
• Struts 1 · Struts 2
• Tapestry
• WebWork
• Wicket

What's on tap for AppFuse Light 2.0? Here's what I'm hoping to do:

1. Drop the seldom-used persistence frameworks: JDBC, JDO and OJB.
2. Drop Struts 1.x and WebWork as web frameworks (replaced by Struts 2).
3. Support the same persistence frameworks as AppFuse: Hibernate, iBATIS and JPA.
4. Re-use appfuse-service, appfuse-hibernate, appfuse-ibatis and appfuse-jpa in AppFuse Light. I'll likely include the core classes (User, Role) since AppFuse Light is more "raw" than AppFuse.
5. Require Java 5.

Let me know if you disagree with any of these items or would like to see other enhancements. Posted in Java at Nov 29 2007, 09:28:06 AM MST 3 Comments

Monday November 26, 2007

AppFuse 2.0.1 Released The AppFuse Team is pleased to announce the release of AppFuse 2.0.1. This release squashes a number of bugs and includes an upgrade to Spring 2.5. To learn more about Spring 2.5's features, see InfoQ's What's New in Spring 2.5: Part 1 article.

For information on upgrading from 2.0, see the 2.0.1 Release Notes or changelog. AppFuse 2.0.1 is available as a Maven archetype. For information on creating a new project using AppFuse, please see the QuickStart Guide or the demos and videos.

What is AppFuse? Click here to find out.

AppFuse is an open source project and application that uses open source tools built on the Java platform to help you develop Web applications quickly and efficiently. It was originally developed to eliminate the ramp-up time found when building new web applications for customers. At its core, AppFuse is a project skeleton, similar to the one that's created by your IDE when you click through a wizard to create a new web project.

AppFuse 1.x uses Ant to create your project, as well as build/test/deploy it. AppFuse 2.0 uses Maven 2 to create your project as well as build/test/deploy it. IDE support is much better in 2.0 because you can generate the IDE project files with Maven plugins. AppFuse 1.x uses XDoclet and JDK 1.4+.

This project was started in April 2003.

The 2.0 series of AppFuse has a minimum requirement of the following specification versions:

• Java Servlet 2.4 and JSP 2.0 (2.1 for JSF)
• Java 5+

If you've used AppFuse 1.x, but not 2.x, you'll want to read the FAQ. Join the user mailing list if you have any questions.

Thanks to everyone for their help contributing code, writing documentation, posting to the mailing lists, and logging issues.

We greatly appreciate the help from our sponsors, particularly Atlassian, Contegix, JetBrains, and Java.net. Atlassian and Contegix are especially awesome: Atlassian has donated licenses to all its products and Contegix has donated an entire server to the AppFuse project. Thanks guys - you rock!

Please post any issues you have with this release to the mailing list.

Posted in Java at Nov 26 2007, 09:29:43 AM MST 4 Comments

Tuesday September 18, 2007

AppFuse 2.0 Released! I'm extremely happy to announce we've finally finished developing AppFuse 2.0. The road to AppFuse 2.0 has been a long journey through Mavenland, annotations and generics. Thanks to all the developers, contributors and users for helping test, polish and prove that AppFuse 2 is an excellent solution for developing Java-based applications. Your time, patience and usage of AppFuse has made it the strong foundation it is today. Last but certainly not least, thanks to all the great Java developers who wrote the frameworks that AppFuse uses - we're truly standing on the shoulders of giants.

What is AppFuse? Click here to find out.

AppFuse is an open source project and application that uses open source tools built on the Java platform to help you develop Web applications quickly and efficiently. It was originally developed to eliminate the ramp-up time found when building new web applications for customers. At its core, AppFuse is a project skeleton, similar to the one that's created by your IDE when you click through a wizard to create a new web project.

AppFuse 1.x uses Ant to create your project, as well as build/test/deploy it. AppFuse 2.0 uses Maven 2 to create your project as well as build/test/deploy it. IDE support is much better in 2.0 because you can generate the IDE project files with Maven plugins. AppFuse 1.x uses XDoclet and JDK 1.4+.

This project was started in April 2003.

AppFuse 2.0 is available as a Maven archetype. For information on creating a new project using this release, please see the QuickStart Guide or the demos and videos.

If you've used AppFuse 1.x, but not 2.x, you'll might want to read our Frequently Asked Questions. If you have any questions or issues, please post them to the user mailing list. The Maven Reference Guide has a map of Ant » Maven commands. Maven for Newbies might also be useful if you've never used Maven before. There is some support for Ant in this release.

AppFuse 2.0 contains over 200 pages of documentation, downloadable as a PDF (3 MB). You can also download all its dependencies and install them in your local repository if you want to work offline.

For more information, please see the 2.0 Release Notes. The 2.0 series of AppFuse has a minimum requirement of the following specification versions:

• Java Servlet 2.4 and JSP 2.0 (2.1 for JSF)
• Java 5+

New features in AppFuse 2.0 include:

• Maven 2 Integration
• Upgraded WebWork to Struts 2
• JDK 5, Annotations, JSP 2.0, Servlet 2.4
• JPA Support
• Generic CRUD backend
• Full Eclipse, IDEA and NetBeans support
• Fast startup and no deploy with Maven Jetty Plugin
• Testable on multiple appservers and databases with Cargo and profiles

We appreciate the time and effort everyone has put toward contributing code and documentation, posting to the mailing lists, and logging issues.

We're also grateful for the help from our sponsors, particularly Atlassian, Contegix, JetBrains, and Java.net. Atlassian and Contegix are especially awesome: Atlassian has donated licenses to all its products and Contegix has donated an entire server to the AppFuse project. Thanks guys - you rock!

Comments and issues should be posted to the mailing list.

Posted in Java at Sep 18 2007, 03:22:20 PM MDT 7 Comments

Friday September 14, 2007

AppFuse Light 1.8 Released AppFuse Light 1.8 adds CSS Framework integration, as well as support for Stripes (1.4.2) and Wicket (1.2.6). It also has significant upgrades for JSF and Tapestry; to versions 1.2 and 4.1.3 respectively. See the Release Notes for more information on what's changed since the the beta release of 1.8.

What is AppFuse Light? Click here to find out.

AppFuse Light is a lightweight version of AppFuse. I was inspired to create it while writing Spring Live and looking at the struts-blank and webapp-minimal applications that ship with Struts and Spring, respectively. These "starter" apps were not robust enough for me, and I wanted something like AppFuse, only simpler.

AppFuse Light is designed to show Java Web Developers how to start a bare-bones webapp using a Spring-managed middle-tier backend and Hibernate for persistence. By default, AppFuse Light uses Spring for its MVC framework, but you can change it to JSF/MyFaces, Stripes, Struts 1.x, Struts 2.x, WebWork, Tapestry or Wicket. In addition, there's a number of extras for Spring MVC, including Velocity and FreeMarker versions, Ajax support and Acegi Security support.

This project was formerly named Equinox and has been under development since April 2004.

AppFuse Light now offers 60 possible combinations for download:

• Web Frameworks: JSF (MyFaces), Spring MVC (with Ajax, Acegi Security, JSP, FreeMarker or Velocity), Stripes, Struts 1.x, Struts 2.x, Tapestry, WebWork, Wicket
• Persistence Frameworks: Hibernate, iBATIS, JDO (JPOX), OJB, Spring JDBC

If you have any questions about this release, please subscribe to the AppFuse user mailing list by sending a blank e-mail to users-subscribe@appfuse.dev.java.net. You can also post questions in a forum-like fashion using Nabble: http://appfuse.org/forum/user.

If you're a developer of one of the frameworks that AppFuse Light uses - I'd love a code review to make sure I'm "up to snuff" on how to use your framework. I'm also more than willing to give commit rights if you'd like to improve the implementation of your framework.

Live demos are available at:

• Spring · Spring + Ajax · Spring + Acegi
• MyFaces + Facelets
• Stripes
• Struts 1 · Struts 2
• Tapestry
• WebWork
• Wicket

Yes, I realize that 60 combinations is ridiculous. I didn't create the frameworks, I'm just integrating them so you don't have to.

Unfortunately, it's a real pain to create Maven archetypes or they'd all be as easy as mvn archetype:create. Rumor is that the archetype plugin will allow you to create-from-project in the future. When that happens, I'll make sure all the combinations are available as archetypes.

Posted in Java at Sep 14 2007, 11:01:46 AM MDT 2 Comments

Thursday July 26, 2007

Open Source Web Frameworks' Mailing List Traffic - June 2007 Who knows if these stats mean anything, but it does make a pretty graph. Current mailing list traffic leaders in the web framework space: Rails, Flex and GWT. For those frameworks with dev and users lists, these stats are from the users lists. If you find these numbers to be inaccurate, please let me know.

Here's the numbers in case you want to create your own graphs:

• Rails: 4056
• Flex: 3558
• GWT: 2305
• Django: 1951
• Wicket: 1718
• Struts: 1689
• Grails: 1307
• MyFaces: 1283
• Tapestry: 1268
• TurbyGears: 797
• Stripes: 206
• OpenLaszlo: 189

Posted in Open Source at Jul 26 2007, 02:12:29 PM MDT 10 Comments

Wednesday July 25, 2007

OSCON 2007: Comparing Java Web Frameworks This afternoon I delivered my Comparing Java Web Frameworks talk at OSCON in Portland. I told attendees I'd post it here afterwards, so here it is:Download Comparing Java Web Frameworks Presentation (5.1 MB)

For comments on this presentation from earlier this year, see related postings from ApacheCon EU and JA-SIG. This presentation is pretty much the same as the one from ApacheCon and JA-SIG, except it has a different theme and I chopped out the Sweetspots section (due to time constraints).

Portland is great this time of year, but unfortunately I won't be sticking around. I'm heading down to Salem to work remotely for a couple of days, returning for the Oregon Brewers Festival on Friday and heading back to Denver on Saturday. I'll be glad when July is over - I've traveled to a new state every week. Posted in Java at Jul 25 2007, 04:50:55 PM MDT 9 Comments

Thursday July 19, 2007

Thoughts on MyFaces 1.2 vs. JSF RI Yesterday, MyFaces 1.2 was released. I took the opportunity to upgrade AppFuse Light and found it surprisingly easy to do so. The only issue I ran into is my testing logic no longer works. I haven't had a chance to dive deeper into trying to fix the problem, but I did check the code in.

Since I'm using Facelets with MyFaces, I figured it should be possible to run my app on Tomcat 5.x. No dice. I tried replacing MyFaces with Sun's RI (version 1.2_04) and voila! - it works.

From what I learned yesterday, it appears that MyFaces 1.2 will only run on a container that supports JSP 2.1. Sun's RI, on the other hand, will run on a Servlet 2.4/JSP 2.0 container. I don't know if Sun's RI is doing things properly, but it doesn't seem like Servlet 2.5 is required (which is kinda nice IMO).

You might ask why I care about JSP 2.0 vs. JSP 2.1? In reality, I don't. However, if I were to mix and match Struts 2 and JSF in the same application (using the Struts 2 JSF Plugin), I'd like to do it on a JSP 2.0 container. Why? Because OGNL (the EL in Struts 2) uses the pound sign (#) for expressions and JSP 2.1 hijacked that. Until the Struts team fixes that, I'm stuck on JSP 2.0. The workaround (disabling EL for all JSPs) doesn't seem like a good option to me. Posted in Java at Jul 19 2007, 11:32:18 AM MDT 7 Comments

Friday July 13, 2007

How popular is your web framework? From the Struts user mailing list:

Since its release in June 2001, Apache Struts has become the most popular web framework for Java. Six years later, by any objective measure, Struts is still Java's most popular web framework.

In February and March 2007, the group released both Struts 1.3.8 and Struts 2.0.6 to the general public, and Struts downloads zoomed to over 340,000 a month from the Apache site alone. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Most copies of Struts are downloaded from an network of mirrors or obtained from Maven repositories.

So how popular is Struts compared to the other heavy hitters like Spring and Hibernate? Spring has about 1/2 as many (80K) downloads in the same period and so does Hibernate. How do MyFaces, Wicket and Tapestry stack up? Here's their best download numbers in the past few months:

• MyFaces: ~12K (and that's only because of a rate 3-times-normal spike)
• Tapestry: ~12K
• Wicket: ~10K

Sorry JSF, you appear to be losing. Badly. This is an incorrect statement as pointed out by commentors. Thanks for keeping me honest guys.

Disclaimer: Yes, I realize that these statistics are not very accurate, especially considering Maven. Unfortunately, until Maven has repository download stats, this information is the best we've got. Posted in Java at Jul 13 2007, 11:43:29 AM MDT 25 Comments