Does anyone have any experience with a really good RIA platform. I'm going to begin developing an application, and I intend to use Netbeans RCP for the thick client. I'd also like to create a RIA version of the same app. I've looked around for a RIA framework that rivals what you can get with the Netbeans RCP, and really haven't found one. My requirements are as follows.
Modular - I would like to be able to add and remove features without recompiling
Out of the box features - I'd like to have feature out of the box that are similar to Netbeans RCP (or most any other RCP), such as a menu system built in, a windowing system (allowing docking and remembering where windows were between sessions), Authentication and Authorization support out of the box, as well as the "Options' pane support (I really like how I can add amodule, and have that module expose options through the standard "options" dialog).
Actions and commands - I'd like to be able to handle actions from other modules without needing to couple the action to the other module.
I would like to deploy the app through GlassFish, but that's not a deal breaker.
Modern - the framework should use the latest standards, and I'm planning on moving to J2EE7 as soon as I can, so the platform must be actively updated to support such a migration.
I'm willing to pay, but the license must not be "per server" or "per instance"
Java isn't a must but I'm planning on using java for the rest of the app (services layer) and the Netbeans RCP front end.
I've been a .net developer for the last 6 years, and have just recently looked into the world of java, and I'm really amazed at the rich community, I thought .net had a large open source community, but the java one is orders of magnitude bigger. I don't know of anything even close to the Netbeans RCP in the .net community, let alone a RIA version.
I've looked at a few frameworks, but most of them seem to be mostly libraries that you can use to build applications, I really don't want to spend the time and maintanance cost to build the infrastructure listed above. Things I've looked at are....
Tepestry
"SmartClient"
GWT
Wicket
These all seem to be good building block, but I want an out of the box solution. The application will be mostly CRUD operations, but I will also be streaming video through the app, as well as handling alerts and events from the server.
Thanks for any advice
Joshua
Eclipse with the GWT plugin is fairly easy to get running out of the box. Step through the GWT tutorial first and you'll be ready to go. I realize you've already looked at GWT but the Eclipse plugin simplifies a lot of grunt work.
Indeed. GWT Eclipse plugin simplifies compilation, depoloying and running them (Jetty). It also has App Engine support.
Related
I am a full time rubyist, really enjoying rails, Sinatra, etc. Currently, however, I find myself working on a Java/TomCat/JSP project.
I was hoping someone could help me find tools, articles, books, and any other resources that will make me more comfortable?
I'm aware that Java is very different from Ruby, and the communities, likewise, are very different. That being said, all of the documentation around Java (that I have found) is a mess, and discovery is very difficult in this community.
Things I'm specifically looking for:
development environment setup tips
logger, logging, colorful output, best practice, etc
library resources and documentation
easy to navigate documentation for Java SE 6
anything you have found that makes your daily life better
Thanks!
If you are joining an existing Java project then you probably want to take a look at the tools already in use and get an existing developer / co-worker to bring you up to speed with them as a first port of call.
Having said that, here are my top tips:
Get comfortable with one of the main Java IDEs. Eclipse (my personal choice), Netbeans or IntelliJ are all excellent and very powerful tools once you get to know them. The refactoring / code navigation tools are probably better than anything you are used to in the Ruby world, they will help you a lot. Java is a lot less painful with a good IDE setup.
Learn Maven - this will take some time investment but it is extremely powerful for automating your dependency management and build process. Once you get it working you will save a huge amount of time on project / build management. Maven also provides automated access to the equivalent of Ruby gems through the various public Maven repositories.
And here are some particularly useful resources:
Java tutorials - good to get an introductory feel for the core Java libraries.
Java 6 API - useful as a reference resource for all the classes and functionality available in core Java (a lot of this is also provided via the IDEs)
JSP Documentation - for the JSP / Java EE aspects
As a little side note don't forget to learn about JSTL and Expression Language.
first of all you are on the right road to discover how elegant Java EE is. since you adressed various topics i will divide my answer into different parts :
Development environment:
Without further talk i will advise you to directly go and pick your eclipse Java EE Juno (last release) version, however if you'd like to have a look at other IDEs you can either check NetBeans 7.2 (last release) or IntelliJIDEA 11.2 Ultimate (last release i know of and that I have). Basically Eclipse has tons of plugins and features and backed up by a very great, large and passionate community.
[ i personally tried NetBeans, and IntellijIDEA, but felt more comfortable with Eclipse because of its look, features, cool color theme etc]
For JSP and HTML, CSS ,JS stuff, i however recommend the great IDE of Jetbrains Webstorm it has zen coding as well as many many other things like fast auto completion and support for many frameworks.
Lastly, pick up Sublime Text 2 as a text editor for quick edits or to just check a source file, it has a very beautiful layout and support for many languages as well as tons of plugins.
Ressources and documentations :
All the Java API specifications are available for offline viewing for free in Oracle's website and come packaged with the various SDK that are available there.
The easy to navigate documentation :
Eclipse IDE makes it very easy to attach JavaDoc and Source to the different jar files that make up a JDK, that said, your learning and coding experience will be greatly increased once you've set that up.So when you type Connection for example in IDE, you can simple hold Ctrl command then right click on it and the source code of the class implementation would be opened in a different tab. yes yes it's the power of the open source world :)
Concerning tips and tricks :
I'll recommend you use //TODO comments as Eclipse has support for them and you can setup your own TODO comments in settings, also you can use TASK comments, you've Mylyn too to manage your bugs, tasks either locally or connect to your favorite bug and issue tracker through a connector since many connectors are available for such purpose. Add to this list the possibility to configure bookmarks to help you manage your source files when they become full of lines.
About Tomcat:
Well if your goal is to make Java EE applications that do not require the advanced features of the Java EE specification, then you can use the sweet Tomcat, it's easy to use and configure and a well known web container.
However if that's not the case, and you wanna specialize in Java and spend lots of time to try to understand the ins and outs of this huge specification, you are likely to need a certified Application Server that supports all Java EE components. There are lot of them available, but since you asked for advise and I am here giving my modest suggestions I would advise you to pick the GlassFish Application Server, it's Open Source, and once you install it on Eclipse IDE for example, it will be bundled with both Java EE 5 and Java EE 6 API doc. This means no time to be wasted on browsing different tools and tabs, you will have everything grouped inside your Eclipse IDE so that you are 100% on the tasks at hand.
p.s: if you've any more questions please feel free to ping me.
Any good tip or trick :
Have fun with Java, because you will be learning everyday something new :)
p.s: i didn't mention any framework, because by the time you get used to Java EE you will be in position to pick the one that suits your needs. Also forgot to mention JUnit (Testing Framework) and a great eclipse plugin EClemma for code coverage (much better than Cobertura/eCobertura and easier to use), and of course you can try Maven as the other post mentioned, or try Apache Ant as build tool.
If you're coming from a Rails background, I'd be prepared for some initial frustration. Setting up projects in an IDE can be time consuming, and generally it's going to be more painful to get things like a basic web+app server up and running using Tomcat than using Ruby.
For a REPL, I would recommend Groovy (and indeed it comes pre-installed on Intellij) but you can also use BeanShell. Grails, or groovy on rails, is probably the closest thing we have to a Rails-like environment.
As others have said, with Java, using an IDE is really best. I like Intellij IDEA, but eclipse and NetBeans are also good.
For build and dependency management, Maven is probably as close as we have to standard, although I have heard nice things about Gradle.
There are entirely too many logging frameworks in java, use whatever your project currently uses, probably log4j or SLF4J. learn how to change log levels across the board, and also at a package level.
In terms of libraries, Google's Guava makes my life better on a daily basis.
The best "tips, tricks and general best practices" book on java is Josh Bloch's Effective Java. For documentation, the Javadoc is the authoritative source. Learn to read and write good javadocs.
For Test Driven Development, jUnit is probably the most widely used library, a very popular library is mockito, which also happens to be my favorite.
i am planning to develop desktop application using java code, and wanted to use any ready
made framework and then i got know about eclipse RCP / eclipse scout but i am in doubt that which framework should i use whether eclipse rcp or eclipse scout ? could somebody suggest me please.
first of all I'd like to add another option: Eclipse Riena.
Eclipse Riena is comparable to Eclipse Scout as it is based on Eclipse RCP and provides some useful abstractions. You should have a look at it.
But to give you some help deciding which one to use:
If you are doing your first steps in Eclipse RCP, I would suggest that you first get your hands dirty with a little bit of plain Eclipse RCP. There is some complexity which will get back to you if just start with a higher level framework like Scout/Riena.
Depending on plans with your desktop application, this might already be good enough.
Scout/Riena do help you with more advanced topics like reuse/standardization, remoting, proven application architecture. But like most frameworks, you lose some flexibility.
What I especially like about Eclipse Riena:
Focus on easy to use GUI (will not fit for every project)
Abstraction over SWT/JFace (Ridgets) provides nice facility for controller tests, rendering the need for GUI tests to a minimum
Nice API to (dynamically ) structure and validate your application
Simplify remoting (no Java EE container dependencies on the client)
You can use parts of Riena independently. Say you can use the ridgets without adding the whole bunch of other perhaps not needed stuff.
What I like about Eclipse Scout
Strong focus on integration in Java EE environment
Wizards all over: Quite simple to create a first and second shot of your GUI
Supports swap of your GUI technology: You can move from SWT to Swing quite swiftly, though I wouldn't bet that is easy for a large application. ;)
HTH
Regards,
Holger
I can't comment/judge about your comments regarding Riena. However, I'd like to add some comments/clarifications regarding Scout
The fact that Scout comes with the Scout SDK tooling is a big help to beginners. This makes it ideal to get started with writing desktop applications. As the output of all the wizards is only Java code and some needed wiring in plugin.xml etc. it means that you're free to do Scout applications without using the Scout SDK (you can even have mixed teams working on the same code). This is possible as the Scout application model is just a bunch of Java classes.
Holger rightly mentions that you can swap the UI technology with Scout applications. This is possible as the programmers writes the model of the UI. For each supported UI technology (currently Swing, SWT, RAP (for web applications)) a specific plugin will actually draw the UI depending on the available UI model. This is a very clean separation of the UI technology and the application model. Therefore swapping works even for very large applications (Of course there are some exceptions to this rule: If your desktop application has some Microsoft Office integration part on the client side you will find it hard to support that in a web application).
Try some of the Scout tutorials and let us know what you think in the forum.
Best regards
Matthias
One of the strongest selling points of play framework is it's development cycle, just fix the code, go back to your browse, hit reload, and go one, all without the write, compile, deploy, hassle typical of j2ee web development.
Nevertheless, for web developers coming from php, ruby or python this is hardly surprissing, moreover it's considered the natural way to develop web apps.
Moreover, many of the advantages of play, (efficient template system, resolve errors quickly, stateless, fun & productive) are taken for granted in those frameworks...
So I'd like to know what do you think are the main advatages that play framework brings to web developer coming from dynamic languages.
From my point of view these are the main advantages
it's java, so if you don't feel confortable with java, and you are not willing to learn it, that might not be an advantage. On the other hand, if you HAVE to use java, coming from php or rails you will feel right at home with play
it's static (except for templates and routes, that's about to change on the next version), so you have compiler checks and safe refactoring.
tool support: IDE support (eclipse, intellij, netbeans)
endless collection of libraries to do everything you want, well, it's just java
runs on the jvm, which has years of experience and optimizations
it's compiled, so you may expect better performance
it's really fullstack: it comes with everything you need to develop a web app, compiler, web server, in memory db server, offline documentation, integrated database manager, local and distributed cache management, fixtures, evolutions, dependency management, lots of utility libraries, unit tests, selenium tests, ide support. You need no apache or mysql setup to get up and running
it has advanced features, like asynchronous requests, web sockets, asynchronous jobs
zero development environment setup: just unzip play.zip, play new my app, play run myapp
excellent documentation
great and fast growing community
scala is firmly in it's horizon, if you come from a dynamic language you might feel more comfortable with a language like scala, even though it's static
can be deployed to any servlet container, like tomcat, but also comes with it's own lightweight server
it's got an ever growing collection of community contributed modules
it's cloud friendly, works on gae, heroku, playapps, cloudbee, dotcloud, etc... (see this question)
source code: this is one of it's main advantages, even though it's often neglected. The source code is pretty readable, understandable and not over engineered. Even without much java knowledge, it's possible to have a look at the code, understand it, and begin contributing to the project
In my particular case, coming from a php & classic asp background, play allowed me get a web application up and running while learning java at the same time. it really let me enjoy my transition from dynamic languages to java...
Play has some advantages compared to other dynamic web frameworks, but I think that if you are proficient in codeignter, rails, django, etc, and if you are not willing to benefit from java's (or scala) ecosystem, you should stick to what you know...
A similar debate has been running on Google Groups recently, but more specifically comparing Play and Ruby (on Rails). I have tried to collate some of the feedback the community has provided on this topic, rather than just give me personal view. Hopefully this will make for a more rounded answer!
statically types business logic layer (and using the new templating engine, even your views will be statically typed). This has therefore the advantage of better IDE support as well.
Can use Java as well as Scala, so you are not restricted to a single technology stack.
Play just works out of the box, but is also highly configurable, so does not force you to work in a particular method.
In memory DB. Great for new developers, who just want to get started. No need to go through setting up WAMP/LAMP server etc, just to get started. Just download play, and you are ready to go!
Its Java (or Scala)! I got hooked on Play because I used PHP begrudgingly because it was the easiest way to host a personal website, but hated that I was building software in a way that I did not feel was well structured. Play allowed me to use Java without the bulk of a J2EE application.
Play framework. Play is heavily inspired by Ruby on Rails and Django. A developer familiar with any of these frameworks will feel at home.
1) Play leverages the power of Java to build web applications,By lifting away the Java EE constraints, Play provides developers with an easy-to-develop and elegant stack aimed at productivity.
2) It focuses on developer productivity and targets RESTful architectures. Play is a perfect companion to agile software development.
3) Folder structure of the play mostly match with the Rails.
4) Play loads the code dynamically. Just fix the bug in Java file and hit reload, the change will get reflected instantly on webpage. No need to go through those sluggish rebuild / deployment / server restart.
5) No configuration: No configuration required just download, unpack and start development.
6) Error discovery is very easy, When an error occurs, play shows the error message, the file path, line number, and relevant code snippet right in the browser.
We are starting a new Desktop application and considering using javafx but we are a bit confused given the recent announcement by oracle that javafx scripting is not going to be developed further.
Since we cannot wait for javafx 2.0, is it a good idea to use the version 1.3 (which) or should we look at a different technology?
Your opinion will be very much appreciated.
JavaFX 2.0 has been released General Availability http://javafx.com
and http://javafx.com/downloads/all.jsp
and the roadmap has been updated http://javafx.com/roadmap/
You should have a close look at the license for JavaFX, particularly the provisions for distribution if you are developing a desktop application.
My understanding of the current 1.3 license is that distribution of the run-time is prohibited, except through Java Web Start. This is pretty much a deal-breaker for us on the desktop.
There has been an ever increasing trend away from desktop applications to web applications recently, and the advantages are large. Browsers are becoming more sophisticated, so you can do many desktop like features via a browser (and if you are considering JavaFX, then HTML based technologies may give you everything you need).
Also, a web application gives you the flexibility to update your code without having the user update it for you. Most browsers also allow you to launch in application mode (e.g the Chrome -app switch), which locks down the browser to specifically only point at your application.
If you truely want a real desktop experience though, then Swing or SWT should be sufficient for your needs.
Another alternative is Pivot.
Rumors of JavaFX script's death have been greatly exaggerated. It lives on, and is now called Visage.
While development is not incredibly active, over the last 30 days there have been 9 check-ins from 4 different people.
"Wounded"? Sure. "Dead"? Nope.
You could also use adobe flex. This is the technology that appears to be winning this war right now. I really liked the idea of using JavaFX with existing java work. I scrapped the idea because it would be really irresponsible to a) use a dead technology that looks like Oracle will not support in the future b) waiting on vaporware is not a good strategy (their JavaFX 2.0 future api).
Someone also mentioned apache pivot. Not sure how mainstream that is or what it's future support will be. According to their about it is a mainstream project:
"Pivot joined the Apache Incubator in January 2009 and graduated as a top-level Apache project in December 2009. It is currently driven entirely by the software development community."
I would run, not walk, away from JavaFX 1.3...
JMHO
Java FX2 allows you to leverage existing Java technology. I don't know how you would manage file access etc with html5-javascript. I am using JavaFX2 currently for my project and am happy with it.
No doubt that the javafx is improving further and oracle is extending functionality of javafx.
recently oracle announced early release of java 8 in which javafx is inbuilt and is having excellent controls.
I have a desktop application . The functionality is complete, but user interface requires a lot of work. I am looking for UI tools.My current operating system is Windows and application is required to run on both Windows and Linux.
Can you guys recommend any?
The software is customized file management application for a specific client, with future plans of web integration.
Thanks in advance :)
Application Environment
Lang : java,
IDE : Eclipse 3.4,
Target Platforms : Windows Vista-OpenSuse 11
SWT is another option. The advantages are a look-and-feel closer to the native platform, and generally faster execution times. The main disadvantage is that you will have to have different distributions for different target platforms, as SWT depends on platform specific libraries.
With an eye toward the web integration, look at GWT. You write your interface in Java but it gets generated into Javascript and can thus be run in a browser. This may make your deployments easier. On the downside, you lose a bit of the rich client UI, but maybe you don't even need that. It all depends on how complex your UI is.
A word of advice: you mentioned future plans of web integration. Take special care to isolate what logic you can from the UI. Keep the UI as clean as possible, and then you may be able to use the same logic in the web UI either on the client or the server.
If you are just looking for a GUI designer you could check out Netbeans IDE which has a built-in Swing user-interface builder.
Alternatively you could build a front-end in JavaFX. There's not much tooling for FX yet but a new tool was recently previewed at JavaOne 09. Not sure when it's being released.
I've used Qt a few times and find it very good at this sort of thing -
Qt Home Page I'm not sure if it's exactly what you're looking for as your application is complete, however, but it may be worth a look.
Found an excellent fix,
UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
SwingUtilities.updateComponentTreeUI(myform);
looks so cool in my vista and suse , its enough for now.
Thanks for everybody for helping out