Raible Designs

AppFuse Light 1.8 Beta Released

AppFuse Light 1.8 Beta adds CSS Framework integration, as well as support for Stripes (1.4.2) and Wicket (1.2.6). This is a beta release so we can work out some kinks before the final 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 [email protected].java.net. You can also post questions in a forum-like fashion using Nabble: http://appfuse.org/forums.

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

Update: Based on Martin's blog post, I've added the version numbers for Stripes and Wicket (1.4.2 and 1.2.6, respectively). While the Wicket guys recommended I use Wicket 1.3.0, I was already knee deep in 1.2.6 when I read their recommendation. If 1.3.0 really is that much better than 1.2.6, it should be a pleasure to upgrade (and a good learning experience too boot!).

Maven Book and Flex Open Sourced

From Andrew Williams:

Thats right, there is a new guide out there to help all those interested in Maven (or already using it) to get the most out of their build lifecycle. It is indeed the definitive guide and will be regularly updated so it stays that way. This book is produced by my colleges at Sonatype and is a free gift to the Maven community - no registration, no catches

More documentation has never hurt an open source project. Is the book open source too?

In other kick-ass news, Flex was open sourced today. Does this mean the server is open sourced too and we can run a Flex app for free? I see the competition between OpenLaszlo and Flex heating up in the near future. Both are pretty good if you like working with XML. Does your web framework have support for OpenLaszlo and Flex?

What web framework are you using with AppFuse?

As part of my upcoming Comparing Java Web Frameworks talk, I'd like to show some statistics of web framework usage in AppFuse. Please vote for the one you're using by clicking on the link below. I'm mostly looking for current AppFuse users. By that, I mean folks that have used 1.x or 2.x on a project in the last 6 months, or plan on using it in the next month or two.

You'll need to create an account and login to vote. To do this, go to View > Account > Sign Up (after clicking on the link below).

• http://appfuse.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=986

I'll compile the results of this poll on Friday morning (April 27th), so you have until then for your vote to be counted!

On a related note, if anyone knows how to get the monthly posting statistics from Spring MVC's forums, I'd love to hear about it. My "mailing list traffic" slide has excluded them for the past couple of years because I've been unable to get a count of monthly postings.

NOTE: If you vote by adding a comment to this entry, it won't be counted.

Update: Thanks to the 64 of you that voted. Here's the results of the poll:

As I said last time, I find the results interesting because AppFuse lowers the barriers and reduces the learning curve for all of these frameworks.

Chelan Cider to be carried by Hale's Ales

My sister (Kalin) posted some good news last week.

I met with Mike Hale yesterday of Hale's Ales and he is interested in carrying our cider!!

If you haven?t been to Hale's Ales in Seattle, please check them out on the web @ www.halesales.com

If you happen to live in Seattle and like hard cider, you may be able to pick up a bottle of Kalin's "hooch" at Hales in the near future. Congrats sis!

Equinox (a.k.a. AppFuse Light) 1.7.1 Released!

Equinox 1.7.1 contains a number of dependency updates, and not much else. This will be the last release with the Equinox name. This project is changing its name to AppFuse Light and will be referred to by that name going forward. The project will be moving its source code to http://appfuse-light.dev.java.net. The equinox.dev.java.net project will remain because Cool URIs don't change. In addition to the name change, I'd like to try to merge the AppFuse and Equinox user communities. Since the technologies are so similar, and AppFuse 2.x will use some of Equinox's Ant scripts, it makes sense to bring these projects closer together.

In AppFuse Light 1.8, I plan on adding support for Stripes and Wicket as well as integrating the CSS Framework (like AppFuse uses).

50 possible combinations are available for download:

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

All of the frameworks used in Equinox, as well as most of its build/test system is explained in Spring Live. Going forward, documentation will be put on the AppFuse site.

A summary of the changes in this release are below:

• Removed custom JavaScript and CSS for MyFaces Tomahawk's
• Dependent packages upgraded:
  • Ajax4JSF 1.0.6
  • Cargo 0.9
  • Commons Collections 3.2
  • Commons DBCP 1.2.2
  • Commons Lang 2.3
  • Commons Validator 1.3.1
  • DWR 2.0 RC2
  • FreeMarker 2.3.9
  • JPOX 1.1.7
  • JUnit 3.8.2
  • Hibernate 3.2.1
  • iBATIS 2.3.0
  • MyFaces and Tomahawk 1.1.5
  • Spring 2.0.4
  • Spring Modules Validation 0.8
  • Struts 2.0.6
  • Tapestry 4.1.1
  • Velocity 1.5
  • Velocity Tools 1.3
  • WebWork 2.2.5

For more information about installing the various options, see the README.txt file. Live demos (thanks to Contegix!) are available at:

• Spring · Spring + Ajax · Spring + Acegi
• JSF + Facelets
• Struts 1 · Struts 2
• Tapestry
• WebWork

If you have any questions, please read the comments from the 1.7 release or ask them on the AppFuse mailing list.

Spring Web Flow and JSF

Keith Donald has a nice and long writeup on Spring Web Flow 1.0.3's stellar support for JSF:

One important area where our integration is growing is with the Java Server Faces (JSF) community. Beginning with Spring Web Flow 1.0.3, our JSF integration is on-par with what the Spring community expects, and delivers what JSF developers in the trenches need most. This blog will illustrate the integration enhancements to show you the difference Spring Web Flow is making for JSF developers.

One of the most interesting parts of the post is a few paragraphs down:

Basically, Web Flow solves every problem this pour soul experienced with JSF's basic navigation capabilities. As one of our leading users noted, Web Flow can be used as a complete replacement for JSF's default "forward-centric" navigation model.

It's also interesting to note that ideas from SWF could be incorporated into JSF 2.0:

I'd also like to take this opportunity to encourage those already using Spring Web Flow in a JSF environment to speak out about your experience?send me an email, leave a comment here, write an article on JSF central, tell leaders in the JSF community about your experience. Your real world experience can help influence the direction of the JSF 2.0 specification in a time where the specification lead has asked for community feedback. Interface21 has been extended an invitation from Ed Burns, the JSF specification lead, to be a part of the JSF 2.0 expert group, which is a recognition of Web Flow's contribution as an innovative JSF extension. We have accepted that invitation and are excited about helping channel whats proven to work in the area of navigation and state management on a general basis back into JSF 2.0, while continuing to chart new territory and remaining usable in any environment.

Are you using SWF with JSF? If so, have your experiences been good or bad? I'm sure Keith would love to hear about them either way.

I think it's interesting to note that both Interface21 and JBoss are doing a lot to build solutions to JSF's problems. Is there money to be made from supporting JSF? In reality, you have to like what both companies are doing: they're building solutions to overcome the shortcomings of JSF and they're contributing those solutions back to the community for free. Even cooler is the fact that both companies are trying to get their solutions into the next version of JSF. This benefits everyone as far as I'm concerned.

What about those of you using Spring Web Flow with Spring MVC or Struts? How is it working for you?

I recently integrated Spring Web Flow into my current project using the Spring Webflow Plugin. In the past, I've used SWF with Spring MVC and JSF, so the Struts 2 Plugin seemed a bit odd. I guess I'll know more once I start using it more.

This brings up a good question - do you think it's better to create a page flow (i.e. a shopping cart) without Spring Web Flow first, and then refactor? Or do you think it's easier to use SWF from the beginning? My gut feeling is to start w/o it because you may not need it. Then if you do need it, you'll understand the problems it solves. What are your thoughts?

Subversion Hosting

In years past, I never had much of a need for source control outside of open source projects I worked on. Now, as I create more and more training materials and presentations - it's essential. While I could host a Subversion repository myself, it doesn't seem like it's worth the hassle. I'd prefer to have it hosted (and backed up regularly) outside of my house. This week I'm looking to setup svn.raibledesigns.com.

I'm not really looking to get my own Linux box hosted somewhere. I pay around $60/month to KGB Internet for raibledesigns.com, demo.appfuse.org and appfuse.org. To get my own "managed" box is somewhere around $300/month. When I say "managed", I mean Contegix-style where I can say "install this", "do that" and they handle all the sys-admin for you. So all I'm looking for is a reasonable SVN hosting provider that'll give me 1-2 GB for a reasonable price. What's reasonable? I'd say $25-50 per month.

I did some googling and there's a lot of Subversion hosting providers. I e-mailed a few of them with my main question - "can I point my subdomain at your servers?" A few of them have gotten back to me, but now I'm curious to hear from folks using these services. Are you using a Subversion hosting provider for your business? If so, which one?

I'm more interested in bad reviews than good ones - but if you're happy with a service, I'd love to hear about it.

The cheapest one I found is SVNRepository.com. However, it's been an hour since I e-mailed them and I haven't had a response. Nevertheless, $10/month for 5 GB, unlimited repositories, Trac instances, etc. sounds pretty nice.

Update August 2, 2007: I ended up going with SVNRepository.com (Level Two - $6.95/month) and I've been very happy with them. I'm using them for Raible Designs' artifacts (presentations, training materials) so I don't use it on a daily basis - more like monthly.

Upgrading to Ubuntu 7.0.4

You have to love how easy they make this.

The time doesn't seem accurate as it originally told me it'd be about an hour. Regardless, I love how easy it is to upgrade Ubuntu from one version to the next. I wish openSUSE had a similar feature.

Update - 3.5 hours later: This might take a while...

Update - during FAC: It's failed twice now and left my OS in a corrupted state both times. I suspect the MADM (or whatever it's called) prompt at the end of the download. I've entered "all" and "none" and it's failed with both values. VMWare rocks - I'm so glad I didn't ruin a working system. I'll be sticking with 6.10 for a month or so.

... and Country Bry is right - calling it by it's code name vs. the version number is pretty cheesy.

We need to plugin in less, not more

From David Van Couvering's Blog:

I just returned from a week in Mexico, a wonderful time with my family where we lived very simply - food, rest, physical fun. No TV, no movies, no cell phones, no computers. Bright sunshine, beautiful beaches, very friendly people wherever we went.

Then I came home to San Francisco and straight to the Web 2.0 Expo. The contrast has been a bit disorienting. I don't think it's a surprise that my one year old son learned to say "Hi" in Mexico - people actually greeted him there and interacted with him. Here in the conference, on the BART train, on the street, we are all in our own world. We are on our laptops, our phones, our iPods.

The keynote talks at the Expo underscored again and again an undeniable trend: there is an ever growing explosion of the use of consumer devices and connecting to the Internet. The vast scales of data and connections we are looking at are almost impossible to imagine. The whole world is "getting connected." And those of us at the Expo are generally very excited, and see lots of opportunities to make money and and to build things that lots and lots of people will use.

But I feel a sadness when I find myself in this environment. I feel like I am losing something. I watch myself "plug in," and I feel like I am actually losing connection. I crave the open sky, the deep stillness and power of the ocean, of the smiles of people who said "Hi" to my son.

David makes some excellent points in this post. I often find that I get tied up in the virtual world of blogs and technology and forget that the real world is the one that really matters. If my computer died tomorrow and I gave it all up to help Julie remodel houses, I don't think I would lose a whole lot. In fact, I think I would be more in touch with reality and would likely strengthen friendships, rather than confuse people when I talk to them about what I do.

A commentor on David's blog says:

I am glad you discovered, or rediscovered, the beauty of simple things. It happens to many people almost every year, after vacations.

This is why I try to take at least 2 months of vacation each year. I've been doing it for around 5 years and I don't plan on changing that anytime soon. Sure, I have lots of opportunities to work my ass off, make a bunch of money and store it away for later. But that's no way to live - I want to enjoy life now and every day going forward. Sure, I'm saving money for my retirement, but I don't see the point in working like mad in hopes it'll payoff someday. Some folks say "do it while your kids are young." I think that's bullshit - there's no excuse for being a bad parent at any time in their lives.

20 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do With Apache

During my mod_rewrite adventures, I discovered an interesting presentation by Rich Bowen from last year's ApacheCon. It's titled "20 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do With Apache" and you can download the PDF. While writing this post, I found a couple of other interesting presentations that Rich wrote: Introduction to mod_rewrite and Apache 2.2 Rocks! Good stuff Rich - thanks for sharing.