Chapter 1 Setting Up a Development Environment

This chapter gives guidelines for setting up an application development environment in the Sun GlassFish^TM Enterprise Server. Setting up an environment for creating, assembling, deploying, and debugging your code involves installing the mainstream version of the Enterprise Server and making use of development tools. In addition, sample applications are available. These topics are covered in the following sections:

• Installing and Preparing the Server for Development

• Development Tools

• Sample Applications

Installing and Preparing the Server for Development

For more information about Enterprise Server installation, see the Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v3 Installation Guide.

The following components are included in the full installation.

• JDK

• Enterprise Server core

  • Java Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE) 6

  • Java EE 6 compliant application server

  • Administration Console

  • asadmin utility

  • Other development and deployment tools

  • Sun GlassFish Message Queue software

  • Java DB database, based on the Derby database from Apache

The NetBeans^TM Integrated Development Environment (IDE) bundles the GlassFish edition of the Enterprise Server, so information about this IDE is provided as well.

After you have installed Enterprise Server, you can further optimize the server for development in these ways:

• Locate utility classes and libraries so they can be accessed by the proper class loaders. For more information, see Using the Common Class Loader.

• Set up debugging. For more information, see Chapter 4, Debugging Applications.

• Configure the Virtual Machine for the Java^TM platform (JVM^TM software). For more information, see Chapter 4, Administering the Virtual Machine for the Java Platform, in Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v3 Administration Guide.

Development Tools

The following general tools are provided with the Enterprise Server:

• The asadmin Command

• The Administration Console

The following development tools are provided with the Enterprise Server or downloadable from Sun:

• Enterprise Server Ant Tasks

• Scripting Language Support

• The Migration Tool

• The NetBeans IDE

The following third-party tools might also be useful:

• The Eclipse IDE

• Debugging Tools

• Profiling Tools

The asadmin Command

The asadmin command allows you to configure a local or remote server and perform both administrative and development tasks at the command line. For general information about asadmin, see the Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v3 Reference Manual.

The asadmin command is located in the as-install/bin directory. Type asadmin help for a list of subcommands.

The Administration Console

The Administration Console lets you configure the server and perform both administrative and development tasks using a web browser. For general information about the Administration Console, click the Help button in the Administration Console. This displays the Enterprise Server online help.

To access the Administration Console, type http://host:4848 in your browser. The host is the name of the machine on which the Enterprise Server is running. By default, the host is localhost. For example:

http://localhost:4848

Enterprise Server Ant Tasks

The Enterprise Server provides server-specific tasks for administration and deployment; see Chapter 3, Using Ant with Enterprise Server. The sample applications that can be used with the Enterprise Server use Ant build.xml files; see Sample Applications.

For more information about Ant, see the Apache Software Foundation web site at http://ant.apache.org/.

Scripting Language Support

The Enterprise Server supports a number of scripting languages, including Ruby on Rails and Groovy on Grails. For more information, see the Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v3 Scripting Framework Guide.

The Migration Tool

The Migration Tool converts and reassembles Java EE applications and modules developed on other application servers. This tool also generates a report listing how many files are successfully and unsuccessfully migrated, with reasons for migration failure. For more information and to download the Migration Tool, see http://java.sun.com/j2ee/tools/migration/index.html.

The NetBeans IDE

The NetBeans IDE allows you to create, assemble, and debug code from a single, easy-to-use interface. The GlassFish edition of the Enterprise Server is bundled with the NetBeans 6.1 IDE. To download the NetBeans IDE, see http://www.netbeans.org. This site also provides documentation on how to use the NetBeans IDE with the bundled GlassFish edition of the Enterprise Server.

You can also use the Enterprise Server with the Sun Java Studio 8 software, which is built on the NetBeans IDE. For more information, see http://developers.sun.com/prodtech/javatools/jsenterprise/.

The Eclipse IDE

A plug-in for the Eclipse IDE is available at http://glassfishplugins.dev.java.net/. This site also provides documentation on how to register the Enterprise Server and use Sun-specific deployment descriptors.

Debugging Tools

You can use several debugging tools with the Enterprise Server. For more information, see Chapter 4, Debugging Applications.

Profiling Tools

You can use several profilers with the Enterprise Server. For more information, see Profiling Tools.

Sample Applications

Sample applications that you can examine and deploy to the Enterprise Server are available. If you installed the Enterprise Server as part of installing the Java EE 6 SDK bundle from Java EE 6 Downloads, the samples may already be installed. You can download these samples separately from the Code Samples page if you installed the Enterprise Server without them initially.

Most Enterprise Server samples have the following directory structure:

• The docs directory contains instructions for how to use the sample.

• The build.xml file defines Ant targets for the sample. See Chapter 3, Using Ant with Enterprise Server.

• The src/java directory under each component contains source code for the sample.

• The src/conf directory under each component contains the deployment descriptors.

With a few exceptions, sample applications follow the standard directory structure described here: http://java.sun.com/blueprints/code/projectconventions.html.

The samples-install-dir/bp-project/main.xml file defines properties common to all sample applications and implements targets needed to compile, assemble, deploy, and undeploy sample applications. In most sample applications, the build.xml file imports main.xml.

In addition to the Java EE 6 sample applications, samples are also available at GlassFish Samples and at as-install/glassfish/samples/.