TOTD #75: Getting Started with Grails using GlassFish v3 Embedded

For a change, this blog entry is talking about something that exists for a while now :)

Basically, I wanted to setup a demo environment for Grails and GlassFish v3 Prelude on my machine and so decided to dcument the steps along the process. More detailed steps with explanation are available on GlassFish/Grails Getting Started Wiki.

1. Download and unzip GlassFish v3 Prelude.
2. Run GlassFish Update Center to install the Grails module as shown:
   
   

   ~/demos/glassfishv3-prelude >./bin/updatetool The software needed for this command (updatetool) is not installed. If you choose to install Update Tool, your system will be automatically configured to periodically check for software updates. If you would like to configure the tool to not check for updates, you can override the default behavior via the tool's Preferences facility. When this tool interacts with package repositories, some system information such as your system's IP address and operating system type and version is sent to the repository server. For more information please see: http://wiki.updatecenter.java.net/Wiki.jsp?page=UsageMetricsUC2 Once installation is complete you may re-run this command. Would you like to install Update Tool now (y/n): y Install image: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/bin/.. Installing pkg packages. Installing: [pkg:/pkg@1.0.7,0-15.1269:20081008T212532Z, pkg:/python2.4-minimal@2.4.5.0,0-15.1269:20081008T212544Z] Installing updatetool packages. Installing: [pkg:/updatetool@2.0.0,0-15.1269:20081008T212613Z, pkg:/wxpython2.8-minimal@2.8.8,0-15.1269:20081008T212630Z] Registering notifier: Already registered. Initialization complete. Software successfully installed. You may now re-run this command (updatetool).

3. Now run the Update Center again to see a screen as shown below:
   
   

Select "GlassFish support for Grails Framework" and click on "Install" to install the module locally. This creates a new directory "grails" in your GlassFish v3 Prelude directory and install Grails 1.0.4 there.

4. Set environment variables as:
   
   

   ~/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails >export GRAILS_HOME=~/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails ~/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails >export PATH=$GRAILS_HOME/bin:$PATH

   
   
5. Create a template application as:
   
   

   ~/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples >grails create-app bookstore Welcome to Grails 1.0.4 - http://grails.org/ Licensed under Apache Standard License 2.0 Grails home is set to: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails Base Directory: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples Note: No plugin scripts found Running script /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/scripts/CreateApp.groovy Environment set to development     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/src     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/src/java     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/src/groovy     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/grails-app     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/grails-app/controllers     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/grails-app/services     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/grails-app/domain     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/grails-app/taglib     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/grails-app/utils     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/grails-app/views     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/grails-app/views/layouts     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/grails-app/i18n     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/grails-app/conf     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/test     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/test/unit     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/test/integration     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/scripts     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/web-app     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/web-app/js     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/web-app/css     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/web-app/images     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/web-app/META-INF     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/lib     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/grails-app/conf/spring     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/grails-app/conf/hibernate [propertyfile] Creating new property file: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/application.properties      [copy] Copying 2 files to /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore      [copy] Copied 1 empty directory to 1 empty directory under /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore      [copy] Copying 2 files to /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/web-app/WEB-INF      [copy] Copying 5 files to /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/web-app/WEB-INF/tld      [copy] Copying 28 files to /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/web-app      [copy] Copying 18 files to /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/grails-app      [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore      [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore      [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore      [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore [propertyfile] Updating property file: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/application.properties Created Grails Application at /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore

   
   
6. Create a domain specific class as:
   
   

   ~/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore >grails create-domain-class book Welcome to Grails 1.0.4 - http://grails.org/ Licensed under Apache Standard License 2.0 Grails home is set to: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails Base Directory: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore Note: No plugin scripts found Running script /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/scripts/CreateDomainClass.groovy Environment set to development      [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/grails-app/domain Created Domain Class for Book      [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/test/integration Created Tests for Book

   
   
7. Add attributes to the domain class by editing "grails-app/domain/Book.groovy" such that it looks like:
   
   

   class Book {   String title   String author }

   
   
8. Create a new controller as:
   
   

   ~/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore >grails create-controller Book Welcome to Grails 1.0.4 - http://grails.org/ Licensed under Apache Standard License 2.0 Grails home is set to: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails Base Directory: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore Note: No plugin scripts found Running script /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/scripts/CreateController.groovy Environment set to development      [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/grails-app/controllers Created Controller for Book     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/grails-app/views/book      [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/test/integration Created ControllerTests for Book

9. Edit the generated controller in "grails-app/controller/BookController.groovy" to specify scaffold for the domain class. It looks like:
   
   

   class BookController {     def scaffold = Book }

10. Run the app as shown below:
    
    

    ~/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore >grails run-app Welcome to Grails 1.0.4 - http://grails.org/ Licensed under Apache Standard License 2.0 Grails home is set to: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails Base Directory: /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore Note: No plugin scripts found Running script /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/scripts/RunApp.groovy Environment set to development Starting GlassFish embedded server...    [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.4/projects/bookstore/classes   [groovyc] Compiling 8 source files to /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.4/projects/bookstore/classes     [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.4/projects/bookstore/resources/grails-app/i18n [native2ascii] Converting 11 files from /Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/grails-app/i18n to /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.4/projects/bookstore/resources/grails-app/i18n      [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.4/projects/bookstore/classes      [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.4/projects/bookstore/resources      [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.4/projects/bookstore Running Grails application.. Application name : bookstore Web App Root :/Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/web-app web.xml:/Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.4/projects/bookstore/resources/web.xml Mar 18, 2009 10:19:09 PM CommonClassLoaderManager Skipping creation of CommonClassLoader as there are no libraries available INFO: urls = [] no resource bundle found for version, using default GlassFish version Mar 18, 2009 10:19:09 PM AppServerStartup run INFO: [Thread[GlassFish Kernel Main Thread,5,main]] started Mar 18, 2009 10:19:09 PM com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.GrizzlyProxy start INFO: Listening on port 8080 Mar 18, 2009 10:19:10 PM org.glassfish.admin.mbeanserver.ConnectorStartupService$ConnectorsStarterThread startConnector INFO: Started JMXConnector, JMXService URL = service:jmx:rmi:///jndi/rmi://192.168.1.145:8686/jmxrmi Mar 18, 2009 10:19:10 PM com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.adapter.AdminEndpointDecider setGuiContextRoot INFO: Admin Console Adapter: context root: /admin Mar 18, 2009 10:19:10 PM com.sun.enterprise.v3.server.AppServerStartup run INFO: GlassFish v3 Prelude startup time : Embedded(418ms) startup services(887ms) total(1305ms) Mar 18, 2009 10:19:10 PM com.sun.enterprise.web.WebContainer createHttpListener INFO: Created HTTP listener http-listener-1 on port 8080 Mar 18, 2009 10:19:10 PM com.sun.enterprise.web.WebContainer createHosts INFO: Created virtual server server Mar 18, 2009 10:19:11 PM org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappLoader setClassPath INFO: Unknown loader org.glassfish.grails.MaskingClassLoader@3b948e75 class org.glassfish.grails.MaskingClassLoader Mar 18, 2009 10:19:12 PM org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappLoader setClassPath INFO: Unknown loader org.glassfish.internal.api.DelegatingClassLoader@191fa2af class org.glassfish.internal.api.DelegatingClassLoader Mar 18, 2009 10:19:12 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log INFO: PWC1412: WebModule[/bookstore] ServletContext.log():Set web app root system property: 'bookstore-development-0.1' = [/Users/arungupta/demos/glassfishv3-prelude/glassfish/grails/samples/bookstore/web-app/] Mar 18, 2009 10:19:12 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log INFO: PWC1412: WebModule[/bookstore] ServletContext.log():Initializing log4j from [file:/Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.4/projects/bookstore/resources/log4j.properties] Mar 18, 2009 10:19:12 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log INFO: PWC1412: WebModule[/bookstore] ServletContext.log():Initializing Spring root WebApplicationContext [0] spring.GrailsWebApplicationContext Refreshing org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.spring.GrailsWebApplicationContext@430b4506: display name [org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.spring.GrailsWebApplicationContext@430b4506]; startup date [Wed Mar 18 22:19:14 PDT 2009]; parent: org.springframework.web.context.support.XmlWebApplicationContext@6ceb51a8 [0] spring.GrailsWebApplicationContext Bean factory for application context [org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.spring.GrailsWebApplicationContext@430b4506]: org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory@1f43243e Mar 18, 2009 10:19:17 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log INFO: PWC1412: WebModule[/bookstore] ServletContext.log():Initializing Spring FrameworkServlet 'grails' Mar 18, 2009 10:19:17 PM com.sun.enterprise.web.WebApplication start INFO: Loading application bookstore at /bookstore Server running. Browse to http://localhost:8080/bookstore

    
    Notice, here GlassFish v3 Embedded Server is used for running the application. It is now accessible at "http://localhost:8080/bookstore" and looks like:
    
    
    
    
11. Clicking on the "BookController" shows:
    
    
    
12. Click on "New Book" to add a new book as:
    
    
13. Each entry can be updated/deleted after clicking on "Create" ...
    
    
    
    or "Book List" as shown below:
    
    
    
    

In a matter of few minutes, we created a simple Grails scaffold that runs using GlassFish v3 Embedded Server.

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