AppGen

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By default, AppGen will generate only Actions/Controllers, Action/Controller Tests, test data, i18n keys and JSPs. It will also configure Actions/Controllers for you. It uses the generic BaseManager and BaseDaoHibernate classes (configured as "manager" and "dao") to reduce the number of files that are generated. However, I realize that sometimes you will want to generate all the DAO and Manager classes (as well as their tests), so I've added that option too.

To use the AppGen tool (after installing your web framework), perform the following steps:

1. Create your POJO (in the model directory) and configure the mapping file in applicationContext-hibernate.xml.
2. cd into the extras/appgen directory and run ant -Dobject.name=Person -Dappgen.type=pojo. In this example, the Person class should exist in your model package. This generates all the files you create in the tutorials on this site (for your chosen web framework).
3. To install the generated files, run ant install. You can run ant install -Dmodel.name=Person -Dmodel.name.lowercase=person if you want to do everything in one fell swoop. WARNING: You might want to backup your project before you do this - or at least make sure it's checked into a source code repository. I've tested this code, and I think it works well - but it is modifying your source tree for you.

The reason for the "lowercase" parameter is to rename the JSPs to begin with a lowercase letter. If I tried to rename them and change the filename programmatically, it took 1MB worth of BSF and Rhino JARs (+5 lines of code) and this just seemed easier. Speaking of JSPs - it's up to you to modify the *Form.jsp and make it look pretty. This is covered in Step 5 of each respective web framework's "Create Action/Controller" tutorial: Struts, Spring, WebWork, JSF and Tapestry.

I encourage you to read the tutorials before using AppGen. That way you'll understand what's being generated for you and you'll only need to mailing list for asking smart questions. ;-) Hopefully this tool will remove the pain of writing simple CRUD code and let you concentrate on developing your business logic and fancy UIs!

Related Tools

AppGen requires that you create a POJO before generating your code. If you want to generate code straight from your database tables, you might take a look at AppFuse Generator.