Sample Application using JSF, Spring 2.5, and Java Persistence APIs with Netbeans 6.1 and Glassfish v2

A Summary of the Technologies and Frameworks in the Sample Application

If you're not familiar with JavaServerFaces technology, the Java Persistence API, or Spring, here are brief descriptions:

• JavaServer Faces Technology (often referred to as JSF) is a server-side user interface (UI) component framework for web applications. It simplifies the development of sophisticated interactive web UIs by providing configurable, reusable, extendable UI components, support for event handling, input converters and validators, a navigation model, a component rendering model, and a managed bean model for translating input events to server-side behavior.
  
  
• The Java Persistence API provides a (plain old Java object) POJO-based persistence model for Java EE and Java SE applications. It handles the details of how relational data is mapped to Java objects, and it standardizes Object/Relational (O/R) mapping.
  
  
• Spring is a lightweight, POJO-oriented, open source framework for developing Java enterprise applications. Spring does not reinvent application server functionality such as connection pooling, or provide an object-relational mapping layer. Instead it provides support for Inversion of Control (IoC), dependency injection, Aspect Oriented Programming (AOP), and an abstraction/services layer designed to make existing Java Enterprise application server technologies easier and more transparent to use.

Explanation of the usage of JSF, Spring 2.5 , and Java Persistence APIs in a sample Store Catalog Application

 <context:annotation-config/>
 <context:component-scan base-package="service" />

Using the Java Persistence API (JPA) with Spring 2.5

The createQuery method creates an instance of a Query class for executing a Java Persistence query language statement. The setMaxResults() method in Query sets the maximum number of results to retrieve, and the setFirstResult method sets the position of the first result to retrieve.

Item is an Entity class -- a typical Java Persistence entity object -- which maps to an ITEM table that stores the item instances. If you examine the source code for Item, you'll see that it meets the two requirements for an entity:

• The class is annotated with an @Entity annotation.
• The primary key identifier is annotated with an @Id annotation.

   

Running the Sample Code

The sample code for this tip is available as a NetBeans project. You can build and run the sample code using the NetBeans IDE.

Set up the Development Environment: (these directions are also here with screenshots)

1. Download and install NetBeans 6.1 . Get the full distribution with Java EE and Glassfish v2.
2. Install the Spring Framework Plug-in into the NetBeans IDE:
   • Select Tools from the NetBeans menu bar and select Plugins.
   • Select Available Plugins tab and then select Spring Framework Support and then click the Install button.
3. Open the Admin Console of the GlassFish V2 application server in order to create the JDBC Connection pool and JDBC resource:
   
   1. Select the NetBeans Services tab window.
   2. Expand Servers.
   3. Right click GlassFish V2 and select View Admin Console.
   4. Enter values to User Name and Password fields - the default is admin for User Name and adminadmin for the Password
4. Create a connection pool using the Admin Console:
   
   1. Expand Resources->JDBC.
   2. Click Connection Pools.
   3. Click New on the right of the page.
   4. For the Name field, enter PETCatalogPool.
   5. For Resource Type, select javax.sql.DataSource from the drop-down menu.
   6. For Database Vendor field, select JavaDB from the drop-down menu.
   7. Click Next.
   8. Scroll down to the end of the page to see the Additional Properties section.
   9. For Connection Attributes field, enter ;create=true.
   10. For DatabaseName field, enter pet-catalog.
   11. For Password field, enter app.
   12. For User field, enter app.
   13. Click Finish.
   14. Remove the SecurityMechanism property from the PETCatalogPool:.
       
       1. Select PetCatalogPool under Connection Pools node on the left.
       2. Select Additional Properties tab on the right and observe that the Edit Connection Pool Properties are displayed.
       3. Check Security Mechanism and click Delete Properties.Click Save.
5. Start the Java DB server using NetBeans:
   
   1. Select Tools from the NetBeans top-level menu bar and select Java DB Database->Start Server.
6. Make sure the PetCatalogPool is operational using the Admin Console:
   1. Start the Java DB server (if it is not started already)
      
   2. Select the Admin Console General tab window.
   3. Click Ping button.
   4. Make sure that the Ping Succeeded message is displayed on the top.
7. Create a JDBC resource using the Admin Console:
   1. Select JDBC Resources under JDBC on the left of the Admin Console .
   2. Click New button on the right.
   3. For JNDI Name field, enter jdbc/PETCatalogDB.
   4. For Pool Name field, select PETCatalogPool from the drop-down menu.
   5. Click OK.
8. Create a Database connection using NetBeans:
   
   1. Select the NetBeans Services tab window.
   2. Right click Database and select New Connection.
   3. Observe that the New Database Connection dialog box appears.
   4. For the Database URL field, enter jdbc:derby://localhost:1527/pet-catalog.
   5. For User Name field, enter app.
   6. For Password field, enter app.
   7. Click OK.
9. Create a database using NetBeans:
   Select Tools from the NetBeans top-level menu bar and select Java DB Database->Create Database.
   1. Observe that the Create Java DB Database dialog appears.
   2. For the Database Name field, enter pet-catalog.
   3. For User Name field, enter app.
   4. For Password field, enter app.
   5. Click OK.
10. Populate the database tables  in the pet-catalog database as follows:
    1. Under Databases, select the connection pet-catalog that you just created.
    2. Right mouse click on pet-catalog and select Excecute Command.
       
    3. In the SQL command window copy paste all the sql text from the file <sample_install_dir>/SpringJPA/setup/sql/javadb/catalog.sql,
       
    4. At the top of the window click on the icon for Run SQL. This will create all of the tables and data for the application.

Open and Run the Sample code:

1. Download the sample code and extract its contents. You should now see the newly extracted directory as <sample_install_dir>/SpringJPA, where <sample_install_dir> is the directory where you installed the sample package. For example, if you extracted the contents to C:\ on a Windows machine, then your newly created directory should be at C:\SpringJPA.
   
   
2. Start the NetBeans IDE. Click Open Project in the File menu and select the SpringJPA directory you just unzipped.
   
3. You will see a Reference Problems dialog when you open the project. That's because you need to add the Spring Framework to the project.   click Close in the dialog.
   
4. Right click the SpringJPA project libraries node and select add Library, then select Spring Framework 2.5  (the Spring Framework Plug-in which you installed earlier), then click Add Library.
   
   
5. Build the project as follows:
   
   
   • Right click the SpringJPA node in the Projects window.
     
   • Select Clean and Build Project.
     
     
6. Run the project as follows:
   
   
   • Right click the SpringJPA node in the Projects window.
     
   • Select Run Project.
     

When you run the project, your browser should display the opening page of the JSF, Java Persistence API, and Spring 2.5 Sample Application (at http://localhost:8080/SpringJPA/).

Creating your own Netbeans Project with Spring 2.5 & Glassfish  :

1. If you want to create your own application, Create a new Netbeans Web Application:
   
   1. In Netbeans  select File New Project, then select Web ..Web Application, on the New Web Application Window, for Server select Sun Java System Applicaton server,  Java EE 5 Version,  set a project name and context path  and click Next .
   2. on the frameworks window select Spring Framework 2.5, click Finish.
      
2. To Generate Entity classes from database tables: In the project window, right click on the project, select new File..Persistence Entity classes from database.  Click next, then select your datasource, tables and create your persistence unit. For more info on how to do this try out the following Hands On Lab: Java EE 5, EJB 3.0, Java Persistence API (JPA)
3. Configuration of the XML files for Spring 2.5, JSF, and JPA, running on Glassfish. For Spring configuration modify the applicationConfiguration.xml and modify the web.xml and faces-config.xml as described below.
   1.  modify the file /WEB-INF/applicationContext.xml to the war WEB-INF directory.  This file is where you define your Spring service beans, and resources. Below is the applicationContext.xml for the sample app.  For more information about configuring the Spring applicationContext.xml for JPA see this article: Using the Java Persistence API (JPA) with Spring 2.5

      Code Sample from: applicationContext.xml

      <bean id="propertyConfigurer"           class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer"           p:location="/WEB-INF/jdbc.properties" />                 <bean id="entityManagerFactory"           class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean"           p:dataSource-ref="dataSource">         <property name="jpaVendorAdapter">             <bean class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.vendor.TopLinkJpaVendorAdapter"                   p:databasePlatform="${jpa.databasePlatform}"                   p:showSql="${jpa.showSql}"/>                   </property>         <property name="loadTimeWeaver">             <bean class="org.springframework.instrument.classloading.glassfish.GlassFishLoadTimeWeaver"/>         </property>     </bean>             <bean id="dataSource"           class="org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.DriverManagerDataSource"           p:driverClassName="${jdbc.driverClassName}"           p:url="${jdbc.url}"           p:username="${jdbc.username}"           p:password="${jdbc.password}" />         <bean class="org.springframework.dao.annotation.PersistenceExceptionTranslationPostProcessor"/>        <bean class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.support.PersistenceAnnotationBeanPostProcessor"/>        <bean id="transactionManager" class="org.springframework.transaction.jta.JtaTransactionManager" />     <tx:annotation-driven />     <context:annotation-config/>     <context:component-scan base-package="controller" />     <context:component-scan base-package="service" />     <aop:aspectj-autoproxy/>     </beans>

   2. Add the spring framework ContextLoaderListener and context parameter to your application's web.xml as shown below. For more information on configuring Spring see these references: Using Spring 2 with JSF , Spring - Java/J2EE Application Framework Integrating with JavaServer Faces,  Advanced Configuration of the Spring MVC Framework
      

      Code Sample from: web.xml

      <context-param>         <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>         <param-value>/WEB-INF/applicationContext.xml</param-value>     </context-param>     <listener>         <listener-class>             org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener         </listener-class>     </listener>     <listener>         <listener-class>               org.springframework.web.context.request.RequestContextListener              </listener-class>     </listener>

   3. Add the SpringBeanFacesELResolver to the faces-config.xml : 

      Code Sample from: faces-config.xml

      <application>     <el-resolver>    org.springframework.web.jsf.el.SpringBeanFacesELResolver     </el-resolver>  </application>

      
      
      

For additional information see:

• What's New in Spring 2.5
• Intro to Spring 2.5
• Spring 2.5 framework samples (in download zip)
  
• Using the Java Persistence API (JPA) with Spring 2.0
• Data Access with Spring and JPA on Glassfish
• Using JPA in Spring without referencing Spring
• Spring - Java/J2EE Application Framework Integrating with JavaServer Faces
• Using Spring 2 with JSF
  
• Building JavaServer Faces Applications with Spring and Hibernate
• Spring and Hibernate in GlassFish
• Harnessing the Power of Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) Technology With Spring
• Java EE tutorial (includes great tutorial for JSF and JPA)
• Pro EJB 3: Java Persistence API book
• Java Persistence reference page on GlassFish Project 
• Build a real-world Web application with JavaServer Faces, the Spring Framework, and Hibernate