Web Service » Programming

11 – Welcome To Azzyzt JEE Tools

May 222011

I have already hinted at it in the answers to comments, but now it is official.

Azzyzt JEE Tools are available as open source.

Azzyzt JEE Tools are based on my Eclipse / GlassFish / Java EE 6 Tutorial and on a subsequent internal class that I held in October/November 2010 and that was based on the tutorial as well. The code generated by Azzyzt JEE Tools is basically a refinement of the code presented in the tutorial, with some very interesting features added.

For your convenience, here is the announcement again:

Version 1.0.0 has been available since end of March, but I had not announced it. Thus 1.1.0 is the first version that’s really open to the public.

Azzyzt JEE Tools is a collection of software tools helping software developers to create software using Java Enterprise Edition 6. It is designed to be integrated into popular Java IDEs, and at the moment this means it is an Eclipse plugin.

Azzyzt JEE Tools is a set of Eclipse plugins for creating a so-called azzyzted project, and for creating code from a model. Azzyzt uses Java JPA entities as a model, and from that model it creates an enterprise application, ready to be deployed in a Java EE 6 application server like GlassFish 3.1, ready to be accessed via CORBA, SOAP and REST. Thus the generated application is a set of web services, providing all that you need in a typical CRUD application.
Generated enterprise applications have separate source folders for generated and developer-supplied content. Add your own functionality to a well-engineered base project.
Azzyzt JEE Tools is not about user interfaces. It is expected that the generated application is accessed by a RIA frontend (Flex/Flash, Silverlight, Java FX, …) or by a fat client.

If you just want to use Azzyzt JEE Tools (as opposed to modify and build them), the recommended way to install the software is via an Eclipse update site. As of release 1.1.0, there are two update site URLs, one for the edition used by the Municipiality of Vienna, Austria, the other a generic version. The URLs are

http://azzyzt.manessinger.com/azzyzt_generic/

http://azzyzt.manessinger.com/azzyzt_magwien/

If you want to look into the source code, modify Azzyzt JEE Tools for your own use or if you even want to contribute, then you can fork the project from GitHub under the URL

https://github.com/amanessinger/azzyzt_jee_tools

So far the project lacks reference documentation, though a tutorial under

http://azzyzt.manessinger.com/doc/using_azzyzt.html

should give you a fairly good impression of what Azzyzt JEE Tools are about, how to get started and how to go on. The process of building/modifying the tools and of how to contribute to the code base currently lacks documentation.

All announcements of new versions will be published on

http://www.azzyzt.org

Discussion of the architecture, of interesting details of the implementation, and in general of things I’ve learned in the process, will happen on my programming blog

http://programming.manessinger.com/

If you want to be kept up-to-date, I suggest that you subscribe to the feeds of both sites, azzyzt.org and programming.manessinger.com, in the feed reader of your choice.

The next post will give you an overview of how the code generated by Azzyzt JEE Tools differs from the Eclipse / GlassFish / Java EE 6 Tutorial. Until then I suggest you have a look at the new tutorial Using Azzyzt JEE Tools.

6 – An Eclipse / GlassFish / Java EE 6 Cookbook

Advice, Featured, Regular Post, Tutorial Comments Off

Apr 062010

Version 1.4, last updated May 23, 2011 – 11:10

The content of this tutorial is still relevant, but you may also consider my new open source Azzyzt JEE Tools, a set of Eclipse plugins that greatly simplify the process of creating a Java Enterprise application using the patterns outlined in this tutorial. See the Azzyzt JEE Tools home page and especially the tutorial “Using Azzyzt JEE Tools“.

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.