JSF 2.0 with Spring 3 and Spring Security 3 on Google Application Engine

In this post I'm going to show a simple fully integrated CRUD style application working on Google Application Engine.

The technologies used are :

• JSF 2.0 - Mojarra 2.0.2
• Spring 3.0.0.RELEASE
• Spring Security 3.0.0.RELEASE
• Hibernate Validator 4.0.2.GA as reference implementation of JSR 303: Bean Validation
• AspectJ 1.6.7
• Groovy and the gmaven-plugin

You can see a live demo at : http://sandcode.appspot.com
UPDATE(22 August 2010)
You can compare with : http://deltaset-demo.appspot.com
and see the project created based on the ideas in that post : http://www.deltaset.org


The application is build with Maven 2.2.1
For local execution you would need Google App Engine SDK 1.3.0 1.3.1

The archetype was updated on 11 February 2010, so that works for latest Google App Engine - 1.3.1

If you want to play and customize it you would need to have installed and configured Java, Maven and Google App Engine SDK

Choose gae-archetype after running :

mvn archetype:generate -DarchetypeCatalog=http://sandcode.googlecode.com/svn/maven2/ 

build the application :

mvn install

run it :

dev_appserver target/YOUR_ARTIFACT_ID

type in your browser: http://localhost:8080

enjoy :)

If you want to extend the application you can use the small generation utility coming with it :

mvn -Pcrud -Ddomain=Book -Dfields=title,author,remarks

The generator will create for you :

src/main/java/YOUR_EXAMPLE_PACKAGE_NAME/app/domain/Book.java
src/main/java/YOUR_EXAMPLE_PACKAGE_NAME/app/repository/BookRepository.java
src/main/java/YOUR_EXAMPLE_PACKAGE_NAME/app/web/BookController.java
src/main/webapp/secured/book/list.xhtml
src/main/webapp/secured/book/detail.xhtml
src/main/webapp/secured/book/form.xhtml

It will also extend the menu :

src/main/webapp/resources/app/menu.xhtml

with :

<app:menu-group groupname="GEN ADDED - Book ">
   <app:menu-item itemoutcome="/secured/book/list" itemvalue="#{msg['book.view.list']}">
   <app:menu-item itemoutcome="/secured/book/form" itemvalue="#{msg['book.view.form']}">
</app:menu-item>

Extend the application default Messages bundle :

src/main/resources/Messages.properties

with:

#labels generated for Book
book.view.detail=GEN Book detail
book.view.form=GEN Book form
book.view.list=GEN Book list
book.title=GEN Title
book.author=GEN Author
book.remarks=GEN Remarks

This was the 2 min intro.. depending on your internet connection you can have a nicely running GAE application for about 2-5 min :)

If you want to deploy it on your account of Google Application Engine you will have to edit by hand :

src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/appengine-web.xml

and then type :

appcfg update target/YOUR_ARTIFACT_ID

And... Some more... :

The application is having the following features :
layerd architecture - domain, service, controller
'request' based crud for JSF
localized - currently supports English and Bulgarian. To add another language you need to :
1. create a translated copy of Message.properties
2. edit faces-config.xml
3. download from http://www.famfamfam.com/lab/icons/flags/ the correct flag ;) and add it to src/main/webapp/resources/img/flag with the right name.
4. create a translated copy of ValidationMessages.properties (needed by Bean Validation)

Basic UI customization - the user can change the preffered language, the position of the menu and the colors of the application.
Using of JSF 2.0 custom components, templating.
Using of "JSR 303: Bean Validation".
Using of "JSR 330: Dependency Injection for Java" annotations with Spring 3 ( javax.annotation.ManagedBean , @Inject, @Named ).
Using of Java Config style for Spring 3 ( @Configuration ).
Using of @Bean annotation with inplace implementation of an interface, directly in the @Configuration bean.
Using of @RolesAllowed (javax.annotation.security.RolesAllowed) with Spring Security 3 for securing your application.
Using of 2 distinct roles ROLE_USER and ROLE_ADMIN, securing of methods called with h:commandLink (or h:commandButton)
'Native' integration between Spring Security and JSF : app/web/LoginBean.java ; src/main/webapp/login.xhtml
Almost NO xml configuration for spring : src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/applicationContext.xml
AspectJ for logging app/aspect/TimeExecutionLoggingAspect.java (well.. by default it is swithced off, but you can take a look in the pom.xml )
AspectJ and the Spring stereotype annotations (Repository, Service, etc..) can help you easy log only what you need : app/aspect/SystemArchitecture.java
AspectJ for static weaving of 3rd party jar files (in our case this is jsf-impl , because of a bug in the local Google App SDK ) : common/aspect/FixWebConfigurationAspect.java
Groovy gmaven-plugin and Groovy Templates for generation of files..
Using of box-shadow and border-radius css properties for IE : src/main/webapp/resources/css/gray.css

Enjoy :)
And I'm definitly waiting for your feedback, questions and proposals ;)