Version 1.4, last updated May 23, 2011 – 11:10
In “4 – Equipment” I have committed myself to using Eclipse and the Java Enterprise Edition as my tools, while in “5 – Patterns And Languages” I’ve declared my high-level goals for implementing a next step of design pattern-based tools. Now, for a deeper understanding of design patterns, you first have to use them. This post in the form of a tutorial shows some very basic project setups using Eclipse and GlassFish.
I am no expert in this field, some important things may be missing, so just take the following as a set of things that work for me.
As I am not immune to learning, and as I am going the use these things a lot, it is inevitable that my understanding of certain aspects will change. I suppose that means, I will have to make changes to this post whenever it happens. If I ever do so, I will post a short notice.
Applicability
This is a tutorial about using Eclipse and the GlassFish v3 Java application server to implement Java EE 6 applications. I will show how to use different Eclipse project types for different purposes, will show how to do manual tests and how to implement automatic unit tests. We will not create a complete application, but more a vertical slice through an application. The idea is to just touch all relevant areas, not to finish a project.
The tutorial assumes the existence of a relational database, and it concentrates on the Java application used as a backend. Using JSF or another server-based GUI framework is definitely out of scope.
Where’s the beef?
At an equivalent of approximately 80 printed pages, the full tutorial is much too long for a regular blog post. It would break the size limit of feeds syndicated via Google’s Feedburner server. In fact it did. I had no choice but to move the text to a separate page. On the other hand, that’s quite OK, I want my tutorials (this won’t be the last) to be available as pages from a tutorial menu anyway.
Unfortunately I noticed the feed problems only after I had already published the URL of this post a few times. Thus, if you arrive here from a link, please go on to the actual page containing the full Eclipse / GlassFish / Java EE 6 tutorial. Sorry for the inconvenience.