Sunday, August 31, 2008

Tutorial: Sample RCP application using Spring, Spring Dynamic Modules for OSGi Service Platforms and AgileRCP (1/3)

In this article you will learn how to create an RCP application that makes use of Spring, Spring-DM and AgileRCP. You will create a simple user manager that returns a list of names and an action that uses this user manager. The tutorial will show you how to use the ApplicationContextTracker of AgileRCP.
  1. Install Eclipse IDE, Spring IDE and AgileRCP as described in this post.

  2. Create a new plug-in project for the RCP application:
    • Switch to the Plug-in Development perspective.
    • New -> Other... -> Plug-in Development / Plug-in Project
    • Choose a proper project name, e.g. "org.digitalcure.hellospring.app"
    • Generate an activator: yes, This plug-in will make contributions to the UI: yes, Would you like to create a rich client application? yes
    • Create a plug-in using one of the templates: yes, select: RCP application with a view

  3. Create a second plug-in project for the service interface definition:
    • New -> Other... -> Plug-in Development / Plug-in Project
    • Choose a proper project name, e.g. "org.digitalcure.hellospring.common"
    • Generate an activator: yes, This plug-in will make contributions to the UI: no, Would you like to create a rich client application? no
    • Create a plug-in using one of the templates: no

  4. Create a new interface inside the package "org.digitalcure.hellospring.common":
    • New -> Interface
    • Choose an interface name: IUserManager
    • Add a single method:
    /**
    * Returns the names of all users.
    * @return list of user names, never null
    */
    List<String> getUserNames();

  5. Edit the MANIFEST.MF file and add the package "org.digitalcure.hellospring.common" to the list of exported packages (Runtime tab).

  6. Switch back to the first project (the "app" project). Edit the MANIFEST.MF file and import the package "org.digitalcure.hellospring.common" (Dependencies tab).

  7. Create a default implementation of a user manager. Create a new class inside the "org.digitalcure.hellospring.app" package:
    • New -> Class
    • Choose a class name: DefaultUserManager
    • Interfaces: org.digitalcure.hellospring.common.IUserManager

  8. Implement the getUserNames() method, so that it returns two names, e.g.:
    public List<String> getUserNames() {
    final List<String> list = new ArrayList<String>(2);
    list.add("Adam");
    list.add("Berti");
    return list;
    }

  9. Create an action that lists all user names of a user manager. Create a new class inside the "org.digitalcure.hellospring.app" package:
    • Choose a class name: ListUserAction
    • Superclass: org.eclipse.jface.action.Action

  10. Add a default constructor to the class that calls the super-constructor with a single string argument:
    public ListUserAction() {
    super("List Users");
    }

  11. Add a member that holds a user manager plus a setter method:
    private IUserManager userManager;

    public void setUserManager(final IUserManager usrManager) {
    userManager = usrManager;
    }

  12. Implement the run() method, so that all users are printed in the console:
    @Override
    public void run() {
    if (userManager == null) {
    System.out.println("User manager unset!");
    } else {
    System.out.println("All user names:");
    final List<String> names = userManager.getUserNames();
    for (final String name : names) {
    System.out.println("name = " + name);
    }
    }
    }

  13. The action has to provide a valid ID:
    private static final String ID = "org.digitalcure.hellospring.app.listalluser";

    @Override
    public String getId() {
    return ID;
    }

  14. Now you are ready to create the Spring configuration files. Create a folder named "spring" inside the META-INF folder.

  15. Create two XML files inside the "spring" folder:
    • bundle-context.xml
    • bundle-context-osgi.xml

  16. bundle-context.xml: Create a Spring bean for the user manager:
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:osgi="http://www.springframework.org/schema/osgi"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/osgi
    http://www.springframework.org/schema/osgi/spring-osgi.xsd
    http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
    http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd">

    <bean id="defaultUserManager" class="org.digitalcure.hellospring.app.DefaultUserManager" />
    </beans>

  17. bundle-context-osgi.xml: No service definitions:
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <beans:beans
    xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/osgi"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:beans="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/osgi
    http://www.springframework.org/schema/osgi/spring-osgi.xsd
    http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
    http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd">
    </beans:beans>

  18. Now you are ready to define the action for listing all users as a Spring bean. This bean uses the default user manager:
    <bean id="listUserAction" class="org.digitalcure.hellospring.app.ListUserAction" >
    <property name="userManager" ref="defaultUserManager" />
    </bean>

  19. Add Spring support to the "app" project: Open the context menu for the project and select "Spring Tools" -> "Add Spring Project Nature". The project itself will be marked with a "S" in the upper right corner of the project icon.

  20. Open the Properties dialog of the project. Go to "Spring" -> "Beans Support" and add the two XML files of the "spring" folder. After closing the dialog, both XML files will be marked with an "S", plus the Java files "DefaultUserManager.java" and "ListUserAction.java".

  21. Now you have to create an instance of the action and add it to the File menu:
    • Edit the class ApplicationActionBarAdvisor
    • Add a member for the action that lists all users and add it to the menu inside the method fillMenuBar(...).
      private IAction listUserAction;

      @Override
      protected void fillMenuBar(final IMenuManager menuBar) {
      final MenuManager fileMenu = new MenuManager(
      "&File", IWorkbenchActionConstants.M_FILE);
      menuBar.add(fileMenu);

      if (listUserAction != null) {
      fileMenu.add(listUserAction);
      }
      fileMenu.add(exitAction);
      }

    • Inside the makeActions(...), get the ApplicationContext from an ApplicationContextTracker. Then an instance of the Spring bean for the action that lists the user is created.
      @Override
      protected void makeActions(final IWorkbenchWindow window) {
      try {
      final Bundle bundle = Activator.getDefault().getBundle();
      final ApplicationContextTracker applicationContextTracker =
      new ApplicationContextTracker(bundle, bundle.getBundleContext());

      ApplicationContext applicationContext = null;
      try {
      applicationContext =
      applicationContextTracker.getApplicationContext();
      } catch (final Throwable t2) {
      t2.printStackTrace();
      } finally {
      applicationContextTracker.close();
      }

      if (applicationContext == null) {
      System.out.println("NO APPLICATION CONTEXT!");
      } else {
      listUserAction = (IAction) applicationContext.getBean("listUserAction");
      register(listUserAction);
      }
      } catch (final Throwable t) {
      t.printStackTrace();
      }

      exitAction = ActionFactory.QUIT.create(window);
      register(exitAction);
      }

  22. The source code is not compile clean, because some packages are missing. Add the following packages to the list of imported packages (MANIFEST.MF, Dependencies tab):
    • "org.eclipse.springframework.util"
    • "org.springframework.beans.factory
    • "org.springframework.context"

  23. Now a product configuration has to be created:
    • New -> Product Configuration
    • Enter or select the parent folder: org.digitalcure.hellospring.app
    • File name: HelloSpringApp.product
    • Create a configuration file with basic settings: yes
    • Press "Finish". The wizard will be closed and the product editor will be opened.
    • Name: Hello Spring Application
    • ID: New...
    • A dialog for the product definition will be displayed. Just press "Finish".
    • Version: 1.0.0
    • Application: org.digitalcure.hellospring.app.application
    • The product configuration is based on: plug-ins
    • Switch to the Configuration tab.
    • Include optional dependencies when computing required plug-ins: no
    • Add the two plug-ins of the workspace: "org.digitalcure.hellospring.app" and "org.digitalcure.hellospring.common".
    • Press "Add Required Plug-ins".
    • Save the editor.

  24. Edit the plugins.xml file:
    • Go to the Extensions tab and select "org.eclipse.core.runtime.products".
    • ID: HelloSpringApp.product

  25. Now you are ready to run the application:
    • Open the Run Configurations dialog using the menu item "Run" -> "Run Configurations...".
    • Create a new launch configuration under OSGi Framework.
    • Name: HelloSpringApp
    • Framework: Equinox, Default Start Level: 4, Default Auto-Start: true
    • Select the two plug-ins inside the workspace.
    • Remove the selection from all plug-ins of the target platform.
    • Include optional dependencies when computing required bundles: no
    • Add new workspace bundles to this launch configuration automatically: no
    • Validate bundles automatically prior to launch: yes
    • Press the button "Add Required Bundles".
    • Press "Apply" and change to the Arguments tab.
    • Add the following program arguments right after the existing arguments: -consoleLog -product HelloSpringApp.product
    • Remove any existing VM arguments.
    • Change to the Settings tab and select "Clear the configuration area before launching".
    • Press "Run".

  26. The application will run. Take care of the logger messages in the Console view. When the application frame appears, select the menu item "File" -> "List Users". You should see the two user names in the Console view.

You may download the source code of the tutorial from here.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Tutorial: Installation of an Eclipse IDE for using Spring, Spring Dynamic Modules for OSGi Service Platforms and AgileRCP

In this tutorial you will install an Eclipse IDE that supports the development using Spring, Spring-DM and AgileRCP. I've written this article because the installation procedure is a kind of cumbersome and hard to discover for beginners.
  1. Download the Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers from the Eclipse homepage. Note: When writing this article the current Eclipse IDE version was 3.4 (Ganymede).

  2. Extract the downloaded ZIP file on your hard disk. When using Windows you would probably create a new folder under "C:\Program Files\" called "Eclipse_SpringDM" and extract the archive there. Optional: Create a shortcut to the Eclipse executable on your desktop.

  3. Run the Eclipse IDE. Don't worry because the very first startup will take a while. Then choose a folder for your workspace.

  4. Install the Spring IDE: Open the Software Update dialog and add a new update site: http://springide.org/updatesite_nightly
    Select the following features from that site and start the installation:
    • Spring IDE Core
    • Spring IDE AOP Extension
    • Spring IDE Autowire Extension
    • Spring IDE JavaConfig Extension
    • Spring IDE OSGi Extension
    • Spring IDE AOP Developer Resources
    • Spring IDE Autowire Extension Developer Resource
    • Spring IDE Core Developer Resources
    • Spring IDE JavaConfig Extension Developer Resources
    • Spring IDE OSGi Extension Developer Resources
    Note: When writing this article the installed version of Spring IDE was 2.1.0.

  5. Restart Eclipse when the installation has finished.

  6. Update the installed Spring IDE features and restart Eclipse when the update has finished. If there are no updates available, skip this step. Note: When writing this article the current Spring IDE version was 2.1.1.

  7. Install AgileRCP: Download the latest release of AgileRCP from SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/agilercp/
    Extract the downloaded ZIP file in a temporary folder, e.g. "C:\Temp\". Open the Software Update dialog and add a new local update site pointing to your temporary folder. Select the following features from that site and start the installation:
    • Agile RCP Tooling / Ide Feature
    • Framework / Agilercp Feature
    Note #1: When writing this article the current AgileRCP version was 1.0.0 RC2.
    Note #2: If the installation using the Software Update dialog does not work because of unresolved dependencies, install the features and plug-ins using the "wild west" approach: just copy the extracted files directly into your Eclipse installation. Warning: The Eclipse documentation states that this is not recommended, see here.

  8. Quit Eclipse when the installation has finished.

  9. Update to the lastest version of Spring-DM: Download Spring-DM from the homepage. Extract the downloaded ZIP file into a temporary folder, e.g. "C:\Temp\". Copy the following files into the "plugins" folder of your Eclipse installation:
    • spring-osgi-core-[version].jar
    • spring-osgi-extender-[version].jar
    • spring-osgi-io-[version].jar
    Note: When writing this article the current Spring DM version was 1.1.1.

  10. Run Eclipse once again. Now the installation is finished.

Resources: