forge-from-scratch: Example Showing How Forge Can Generate an Application From Scratch

Author: Lincoln Baxter Level: Intermediate Technologies: Forge Summary: Demonstrates how to generate a fully Java EE compliant project using nothing but JBoss Forge Target Product: EAP Source: https://github.com/jboss-jdf/jboss-as-quickstart/

What is it?

This quickstart demonstrates how to create a fully Java EE compliant project using nothing but JBoss Forge.

Once generated, the sample project will be a standard Maven 3, Java Web project with JPA 2.0, EJB 3.1, CDI 1.0, JSF 2.0 with complete JAX-RS endpoints for all data Entities. It will also provide views to Create, Read, Update, and Delete records.

But that is not all! You can use Forge on your new or existing projects to continue to enhance any application.

System requirements

The application this project produces is designed to be run on JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 or JBoss AS 7.

All you need to build this project is Java 6.0 (Java SDK 1.6) or better, and an JBoss Developer Studio 5 or JBoss Forge version 1.0.0.Final (or higher).

JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6

If you are using JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6, Forge is available in JBoss Developer Studio 5.

To show the Forge Console, navigate to Window -> Show View -> Other, locate Forge Console and click OK. Then click the Start button in top right corner of the view.

JBoss AS 7

If you are using JBoss AS 7, you should install JBoss Forge version 1.0.0.Final or higher. Follow the instructions at Installing Forge.

Open a command line and navigate to the root directory of this quickstart.

Launch Forge by typing the following command:

    forge

Generate, Build, and Deploy the Application

In the Forge console, make sure you are in the directory where this README.md file is located:

   forge> cd QUICKSTART_HOME/forge-from-scratch/

Notice that there is a file in this directory named generate.fsh. Run this file from Forge using the run command:

    forge> run generate.fsh

This command will prompt you to enter a project-name, for example: 'example'

After this, you see a lot of console messages with a [INFO] BUILD SUCCESS towards the end.

What Did This Create?

This quickstart has created a native Java EE 6 application.

After this command completes, look in your QUICKSTART_HOME/forge-from-scratch/ folder. You will see a folder with the same name as the project-name you entered in the prompt above. Browse through this project to see the code that was generated as a result of this command.

For a full description of what was generated by running this script and details on the structure of the application, visit the Forge UI Scaffolding Guide

Configure Maven

If you have not yet done so, you must Configure Maven before testing the quickstarts.

NOTE: If you are using JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6, you can not append the path to the Maven settings on the Forge command line. You must configure the Maven user settings as noted in step 4 of the instructions.

Start JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 or JBoss AS 7 with the Web Profile

1. Open a command line and navigate to the root of the JBoss server directory.

2. The following shows the command line to start the server with the web profile:

    For Linux:   JBOSS_HOME/bin/standalone.sh
    For Windows: JBOSS_HOME\bin\standalone.bat
   

Deploy and test the newly generated application

Make sure you have started the JBoss server. See the instructions in the previous section.

1. Build the application:

    forge> build
   

2. Use the jboss-as-7 Forge plugin to deploy the application. Install it with the following command:

    forge> forge install-plugin jboss-as-7
   

3. Configure the server information:

    forge> as7 setup
   

   You will be prompted with three questions. Type 'N' for the first two questions to keep the default settings. Enter the path to your server install for the third question.

4. Now deploy the application:

    forge> as7 deploy
   

   This will deploy target/YOUR_PROJECT_NAME.war.

5. The application will be running at the following URL: http://localhost:8080/YOUR_PROJECT_NAME/.

   Be sure to replace YOUR_PROJECT_NAME with the name of the project you chose when running the script.

6. When you are ready to undeploy from JBoss AS, run this command:

    forge> as7 undeploy
   

Next Steps

Open generate.fsh and take a look inside! There is not much magic happening here. All of the commands used to generate this project are clearly listed just as if they were typed by your own hands.

Play around with creating more entities, relationships, UI, and generating JAX-RS endpoints,all with just a few simple commands.

Explore plugins!

Forge has a rich plugin ecosystem. Want to deploy your application to the Cloud? Use the Forge Openshift plugin: http://github.com/forge/plugin-openshift/

To see a full list of avaialable plugins, make sure that you have an active internet connection and type:

    forge> forge find-plugin *

Run the Quickstart in JBoss Developer Studio or Eclipse

You can also start the server and deploy the quickstarts from Eclipse using JBoss tools. For more information, see Use JBoss Developer Studio or Eclipse to Run the Quickstarts

Debug the Application

If you want to debug the source code or look at the Javadocs of any library in the project, run either of the following commands to pull them into your local repository. The IDE should then detect them.

    mvn dependency:sources
    mvn dependency:resolve -Dclassifier=javadoc