Robert Iagar on twitter asked how to move a window in WPF without using the built-in title bar or resorting to user32.dll, so I whipped up this quick sample. So let’s have at it: Window Xaml We’ll create a simple window with no built-in border or titlebar. We’ll use a border, some shapes and a HeaderedContentControl to provide stand-in titlebar/content areas. The main line of interest in this window is wiring up the OnDragMoveWindow handler to the MouseDown event of our titlebar grid. The resulting Window looks like this: You can’t move it yet, because we haven’t wired up the event handlers. You’ll also have a hard time closing it since we don’t have the close handler wired up. Code-Behind Next we need to wire up the event handler to allow for moving the window around. public partial class MainWindow : Window { public MainWindow() { InitializeComponent(); } private void WindowCloseButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { Close(); } private void OnDragMoveWindow(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e) { DragMove(); } } Note you can also use a command like ApplicationCommands.Close rather than working with an event handler for close. If you’re writing a real application, I suggest you take that route. That’s all there is to it. If you want to have something else responsible for dragging the window, you simply wire up the DragMove to the MouseDown on that control. One gotcha has to do with the space the OS normally allocates for the title bar. You’ll notice this if you try and dock the window in Windows 7. The API to address that takes a bit more work, so I’ll address it in a later post.

Marker Interfaces and Annotations In earlier versions of Java, Marker Interfaces were the only way to declare metadata about a class. With the advent of annotation in Java 5, it is consider that marker interfaces have now no place. They can be completely replaced by Annotations, which allow for a very flexible metadata capability. Everything that can be done with marker interfaces can be done instead with annotations. In fact, it's now recommended that the marker interface pattern should not be used anymore. Annotations can have parameters of various kinds, and they're much more flexible. We can also see that the examples used in Sun API’s are rather old and that no new ones have been added since after introduce of Annotation. In this post, we will see whether Marker Interfaces can still be used for any reasons. Marker Interface A marker interface is an interface with no method declarations. They just tell the compiler that the objects of the classes implementing the interfaces with no defined methods need to be treated differently. These Marker interfaces are used by other code to test for permission to do something. Some well-known examples are java.io.Serializable - object implement it can be serialized using ObjectOutputStream. java.lang.Clonable - objects clone method may be called java.util.RandomAccess- support fast (generally constant time) random access They are also known as tag interfaces since they tag all the derived classes into a category based on their purpose Interface and Marker Interfaces Interface in general defines a contract. They represent a public commitment and when implement form a contract between the class and the outside world. On the other hand, an empty interface does not define any members, and as such, does not define a contract that can be implemented. Normally, when a class implements an interface, it tells something about the instances of the class. It represent an "is a" relationship that exist in inheritance. For example, when a class implements List, then object is a List. With marker interfaces, this inheritance mechanism usually does not obey. For example, if class implements the marker interface Serializable, then instead of saying that the object is a Serializable, we say that the object has a property i.e. it is Serializable. Should Avoid Marker Interfaces? One common problem occurs while using marker interfaces is that when a class implements them, all of its subclasses inherit them as well. Since you cannot unimplement an interface in Java, therefore a subclass that does not want to treat differently will still be marked as Marker. For example, Foo implements Serializable, any subclass Bar etc does too as well. Moreover, there are places in the Sun API’s where such interfaces have been used for messy and varying purposes. Consider Cloneable Marker Interface. If the operation is not supported by an object, it can throw an exception when such operation is attempted, like Collection.remove does when the collection does not support the remove operation (eg, unmodifiable collection) but a class claiming to implement Cloneable and throwing CloneNotSupportedException from the clone() method wouldn't be a very friendly thing to do. Many developers consider it as broken interface. Ken Arnold and Bill Venners also discussed it in Java Design Issues. As Ken Arnold said, If I were to be God at this point, and many people are probably glad I am not, I would say deprecate Cloneable and have a Copyable, because Cloneable has problems. Besides the fact that it's misspelled, Cloneable doesn't contain the clone method. That means you can't test if something is an instance of Cloneable, cast it to Cloneable, and invoke clone. You have to use reflection again, which is awful. That is only one problem, but one I'd certainly solve. Sun has also reported it as Bug which can refer at http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=4098033 Are Marker Interfaces end? We usually hear that Marker Interface is now obsolete and it has no place. But, there are situations where they can be handy over using annotations. Annotations have to be checked at runtime using reflection. Empty interfaces can be checked at compile-time using the type-system in the compiler. Compile-time checking can be one of convincing reason to use such interfaces. Consider the example below, @interfaceHasTag {} @HasTag public class ClasswithTag { } public void performAction(Object obj){ if (!obj.getClass().isAnnotationPresent(HasTag.class)) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("cannot perform action..."); } else { //do stuff as require } } One problem with this approach is that the check for the custom attribute can occur only at runtime. Sometimes, it is very important that the check for the marker be done at compile-time. Let me refine the above example to use Marker. interface HasTag { } public class ClassWithTag implements HasTag { } public void performAction(HasTag ct){ //do stuff as require } Similarly, in the case of the Serializable marker interface, the ObjectOutputStream.write(Object) method would fail at runtime if its argument does not implement the Interface which would not be the case, if ObjectOutputStream had a writeObject(Serializable) method instead. Marker Interfaces can also be well integrated in javadoc where one can promptly see who implements or not by just look it up and see the list of implementing classes. Moreover, Joshua in Effective Java also recommends using Marker interface to define type which can result in the very real benefit of compile-time type checking. - See more at: http://muhammadkhojaye.blogspot.com/2010/02/are-marker-interfaces-dead.html

In this exclusive interview with DZone, Thomas elaborates on these fixes coming in the next version of Apache Tomcat.

The loop switch with value 0 in the example below tells mplayer to play brown_noise_1hour.ogg in an infinite loop: mplayer -loop 0 brown_noise_1hour.ogg

In this article we’ll review how dynamic classloaders are used in real servers, containers and frameworks to reload Java classes and applications. We’ll also touch on how to get faster reloads and redeploys by using them in optimal ways. RJC101: Objects, Classes and ClassLoaders RJC201: How do ClassLoader leaks happen? RJC301: Classloaders in Web Development — Tomcat, GlassFish, OSGi, Tapestry 5 and so on RJC401: HotSwap and JRebel — what do they really do? RJC501: The impact of the redeploy phase on the development process AKA:Turnaround Java EE (web) applications In order for a Java EE web application to run, it has to be packaged into an archive with a .WAR extension and deployed to a servlet container like Tomcat. This makes sense in production, as it gives you a simple way to assemble and deploy the application, but when developing that application you usually just want to edit the application’s files and see the changes in the browser. A Java EE enterprise application has to be packaged into an archive with an .EAR extension and deployed to an application container. It can contain multiple web applications and EJB modules, so it often takes a while to assemble and deploy it. Recently, 1100+ EE developers told us how much time it takes them, and we compiled the results into the Redeploy and Restart Report. Spoiler: Avg redeploy & restart time is 2.5 minutes – which is higher than we expected. In Reloading Java Classes 101, we examined how dynamic classloaders can be used to reload Java classes and applications. In this article we will take a look at how servers and frameworks use dynamic classloaders to speed up the development cycle. We’ll use Apache Tomcat as the primary example and comment when behavior differs in other containers (Tomcat is also directly relevant for JBoss and GlassFish as these containers embed Tomcat as the servlet container). Redeployment To make use of dynamic classloaders we must first create them. When deploying your application, the server will create one classloader for each application (and each application module in the case of an enterprise application). The classloaders form a hierarchy as illustrated: In Tomcat each .WAR application is managed by an instance of the StandardContext class that creates an instance of WebappClassLoader used to load the web application classes. When a user presses “reload” in the Tomcat Manager the following will happen: StandardContext.reload() method is called The previous WebappClassLoader instance is replaced with a new one All reference to servlets are dropped New servlets are created Servlet.init() is called on them Calling Servlet.init() recreates the “initialized” application state with the updated classes loaded using the new classloader instance. The main problem with this approach is that to recreate the “initialized” state we run the initialization from scratch, which usually includes loading and processing metadata/configuration, warming up caches, running all kinds of checks and so on. In a sufficiently large application this can take many minutes, but in a in small application this often takes just a few seconds and is fast enough to seem instant, as commonly demonstrated in the Glassfish v3 promotional demos. If your application is deployed as an .EAR archive, many servers allow you to also redeploy each application module separately, when it is updated. This saves you the time you would otherwise spend waiting for non-updated modules to reinitialize after the redeployment. Hot Deployment Web containers commonly have a special directory (e.g. “webapps” in Tomcat, “deploy” in JBoss) that is periodically scanned for new web applications or changes to the existing ones. When the scanner detects that a deployed .WAR is updated, the scanner causes a redeploy to happen (in Tomcat it calls the StandardContext.reload() method). Since this happens without any additional action on the user’s side it is commonly referred to “Hot Deployment”. Hot Deployment is supported by all wide-spread application servers under different names: autodeployment, rapid deployment, autopublishing, hot reload, and so on. In some containers, instead of moving the archive to a predefined directory you can configure the server to monitor the archive at a specific path. Often the redeployment can be triggered from the IDE (e.g. when the user saves a file) thus reloading the application without any additional user involvement. Although the application is reloaded transparently to the user, it still takes the same amount of time as when hitting the “Reload” button in the admin console, so code changes are not immediately visible in the browser, for example. Another problem with redeployment in general and hot deployment in particular is classloader leaks. As we reviewed in Reloading Java Classes 201, it is amazingly easy to leak a classloader and quickly run out of heap causing an OutOfMemoryError. As each deployment creates new classloaders, it is common to run out of memory in just a few redeploys on a large enough application (whether in development or in production). Exploded Deployment An additional feature supported by the majority of web containers is the so called “exploded deployment”, also known as “unpackaged” or “directory” deployment. Instead of deploying a .WAR archive, one can deploy a directory with exactly the same layout as the .WAR archive: Why bother? Well, packaging an archive is an expensive operation, so deploying the directory can save quite a bit of time during build. Moreover, it is often possible to set up the project directory with exactly the same layout as the .WAR archive. This means an added benefit of editing files in place, instead of copying them to the server. Unfortunately, as Java classes cannot be reloaded without a redeploy, changing a .java file still means waiting for the application to reinitialize. With some servers it makes sense to find out exactly what triggers the hot redeploy in the exploded directory. Sometimes the redeploy will be triggered only when the “web.xml” timestamp changes, or as in the case of GlassFish only when a special ”.reload” file timestamp changes. In most servers any change to deployment descriptors or compiled classes will cause a hot redeploy. If your server only supports deploying by copying to a special directory (e.g. Tomcat “webapps”, JBoss “deploy” directories) you can skip the copying by creating a symlink from that special directory to your project workspace. On Linux and Mac OS X you can use the common “ln -s” command to do that, whereas on Windows you should download the Sysinternals “junction” utility. If you use Maven, then it’s quite complicated to set up exploded development from your workspace. If you have a solo web application you can use the Maven Jetty plugin, which uses classes and resources directly from Maven source and target project directories. Unfortunately, the Maven Jetty plugin does not support deploying multiple web applications, EJB modules or EARs so in the latter case you’re stuck doing artifact builds. Session Persistence Since we’re on the topic of reloading classes, and redeploying involves reinitializing an application, it makes sense to talk about session state. An HTTP session usually holds information like login credentials and conversational state. Losing that session when developing a web application means spending time logging in and browsing to the changes page – something that most web containers have tried to solve by serializing all of the objects in the HttpSession map and then deserializing them in the new classloader. Essentially, they copy all of the session state. This requires that all session attributes implement Serializable (ensuring session attributes can be written to a database or a file for later use), which is not restricting in most cases. Session persistence has been present in most major containers for many years (e.g. Restart Persistence in Tomcat), but was notoriously absent in Glassfish before v3. OSGi There is a lot of misunderstanding surrounding what exactly OSGi does and doesn’t do. If we ignore the aspects irrelevant to the current issue, OSGi is basically a collection of modules each wrapped in its own classloader, which can be dropped and recreated at will. When it’s recreated, the modules are reinitialized exactly the same way a web application is. The difference between OSGi and a web container is that OSGi is something that is exposed to your application, that you use to split your application into arbitrarily small modules. Therefore, by design, these modules will likely be much smaller than the monolithic web applications we are used to building. And since each of these modules is smaller and we can “redeploy” them one-by-one, re-initialization takes less time. The time depends on how you design your application (and can still be significant). Tapestry 5, RIFE & Grails Recently, some web frameworks, such as Tapestry 5, RIFE and Grails, have taken a different approach, taking advantage of the fact that they already need to maintain application state. They’ll ensure that state will be serializable, or otherwise easily re-creatable, so that after dropping a classloader, there is no need to reinitialize anything. This means that application developers use frameworks’ components and the lifecycle of those components is handled by the framework. The framework will initialize (based on some configuration, either xml or annotation based), run and destroy the components. As the lifecycle of the components is managed by the framework, it is easy to recreate a component in a new classloader without user intervention and thus create the effect of reloading code. In the background, the old component is destroyed (classloader is dropped) and a new one created (in a new classloader where the classes are read in again) and the old state is either deserialized or created based on the configuration. This has the obvious advantage of being very quick, as components are small and the classloaders are granular. Therefore the code is reloaded instantly, giving a smooth experience in developing the application. However such an approach is not always possible as it requires the component to be completely managed by the framework. It also leads to incompatibilities between the different class versions causing, among others, ClassCastExceptions. We’ve Covered a Lot – and simplified along the way It’s worth mentioning that using classloaders for code reloading really isn’t as smooth as we have described here – this is an introductory article series. Especially with the more granular approaches (such as frameworks that have per component classloaders, manual classloader dropping and recreating, etc), when you start getting a mixture of older and newer classes all hell can break loose. You can hold all kinds of references to old objects and classes, which will conflict with the newly loaded ones (a common problem is getting a ClassCastException), so watch what you’re doing along the way. As a side note: Groovy is actually somewhat better at handling this, as all calls through the Meta-Object Protocol are not subject to such problems. This article addressed the following questions: How are dynamic classloaders used to reload Java classes and applications? How do Tomcat, GlassFish (incl v3), and other servers reload Java classes and applications? How does OSGi improve reload and redeploy times? How do frameworks (incl Tapestry 5, RIFE, Grails) reload Java classes and applications? Coming up next, we continue our explanation of classloaders and the redeploy process with an investigation into HotSwap and JRebel, two tools used to reduce time spent reloading and redeploying. Stay tuned! From http://www.zeroturnaround.com/blog/

// Drop down list of Airport code in HTML. Sorted Alphabetically. Aberdeen, SD (ABR) Abilene, TX (ABI) Adak Island, AK (ADK) Akiachak, AK (KKI) Akiak, AK (AKI) Akron/Canton, OH (CAK) Akuton, AK (KQA) Alakanuk, AK (AUK) Alamogordo, NM (ALM) Alamosa, CO (ALS) Albany, NY (ALB) Albany, OR - Bus service (CVO) Albany, OR - Bus service (QWY) Albuquerque, NM (ABQ) Aleknagik, AK (WKK) Alexandria, LA (AEX) Allakaket, AK (AET) Allentown, PA (ABE) Alliance, NE (AIA) Alpena, MI (APN) Altoona, PA (AOO) Amarillo, TX (AMA) Ambler, AK (ABL) Anaktueuk, AK (AKP) Anchorage, AK (ANC) Angoon, AK (AGN) Aniak, AK (ANI) Anvik, AK (ANV) Appleton, WI (ATW) Arcata, CA (ACV) Arctic Village, AK (ARC) Asheville, NC (AVL) Ashland, KY/Huntington, WV (HTS) Aspen, CO (ASE) Athens, GA (AHN) Atka, AK (AKB) Atlanta, GA (ATL) Atlantic City, NJ (AIY) Atqasuk, AK (ATK) Augusta, GA (AGS) Augusta, ME (AUG) Austin, TX (AUS) Bakersfield, CA (BFL) Baltimore, MD (BWI) Bangor, ME (BGR) Bar Harbour, ME (BHB) Barrow, AK (BRW) Barter Island, AK (BTI) Baton Rouge, LA (BTR) Bay City, MI (MBS) Beaumont/Port Arthur, TX (BPT) Beaver Creek, CO - Van service (ZBV) Beaver, AK (WBQ) Beckley, WV (BKW) Bedford, MA (BED) Belleville, IL (BLV) Bellingham, WA (BLI) Bemidji, MN (BJI) Benton Harbor, MI (BEH) Bethel, AK (BET) Bethlehem, PA (ABE) Bettles, AK (BTT) Billings, MT (BIL) Biloxi/Gulfport, MS (GPT) Binghamton, NY (BGM) Birch Creek, AK (KBC) Birmingham, AL (BHM) Bismarck, ND (BIS) Block Island, RI (BID) Bloomington, IL (BMI) Bluefield, WV (BLF) Boise, ID (BOI) Boston, MA (BOS) Boulder, CO - Bus service (XHH) Boulder, CO - Hiltons Har H (WHH) Boulder, CO - Municipal Airport (WBU) Boundary, AK (BYA) Bowling Green, KY (BWG) Bozeman, MT (BZN) Bradford, PA (BFD) Brainerd, MN (BRD) Brawnwood, TX (BWD) Breckenridge, CO - Van service (QKB) Bristol, VA (TRI) Brookings, SD (BKX) Brooks Lodge, AK (RBH) Brownsville, TX (BRO) Brunswick, GA (BQK) Buckland, AK (BKC) Buffalo, NY (BUF) Bullhead City/Laughlin, AZ (IFP) Burbank, CA (BUR) Burlington, IA (BRL) Burlington, VT (BTV) Butte, MT (BTM) Canton/Akron, OH (CAK) Cape Girardeau, MO (CGI) Cape Lisburne, AK (LUR) Cape Newenham, AK (EHM) Carbondale, IL (MDH) Carlsbad, CA (CLD) Carlsbad, NM (CNM) Carmel, CA (MRY) Casper, WY (CPR) Cedar City, UT (CDC) Cedar Rapids, IA (CID) Central, AK (CEM) Chadron, NE (CDR) Chalkyitsik, AK (CIK) Champaign/Urbana, IL (CMI) Charleston, SC (CHS) Charleston, WV (CRW) Charlotte, NC (CLT) Charlottesville, VA (CHO) Chattanooga, TN (CHA) Chefornak, AK (CYF) Chevak, AK (VAK) Cheyenne, WY (CYS) Chicago, IL - All airports (CHI) Chicago, IL - Midway (MDW) Chicago, IL - O'Hare (ORD) Chicken, AK (CKX) Chico, CA (CIC) Chignik, AK - Fisheries (KCG) Chignik, AK - (KCQ) Chignik, AK - Lagoon (KCL) Chisana, AK (CZN) Chisholm/Hibbing, MN (HIB) Chuathbaluk, AK (CHU) Cincinnati, OH (CVG) Circle Hot Springs, AK (CHP) Circle, AK (IRC) Clarks Point, AK (CLP) Clarksburg, WV (CKB) Clearwater/St Petersburg, FL (PIE) Cleveland, OH (CLE) Clovis, NM (CVN) Cody/Yellowstone, WY (COD) Coffee Point, AK (CFA) Coffman Cove, AK (KCC) Cold Bay, AK (CDB) College Station, TX (CLL) Colorado Springs, CO (COS) Columbia, MO (COU) Columbia, SC (CAE) Columbus, GA (CSG) Columbus, MS (GTR) Columbus, OH (CMH) Concord, CA (CCR) Concordia, KS (CNK) Copper Mountain, CO - Van service (QCE) Cordova, AK (CDV) Corpus Christi, TX (CRP) Cortez, CO (CEZ) Craig, AK (CGA) Crescent City, CA (CEC) Crooked Creek, AK (CKO) Cube Cove, AK (CUW) Cumberland, MD (CBE) Dallas, TX - Love Field (DAL) Dallas, TX - Dallas/Ft Worth Intl. (DFW) Dayton, OH (DAY) Daytona Beach, FL (DAB) Decatur, IL (DEC) Deering, AK (DRG) Del Reo, TX (DRT) Delta Junction, AK (DJN) Denver, CO - International (DEN) Denver, CO - Longmont Bus service (QWM) Des Moines, IA (DSM) Detroit, MI - All airports (DTT) Detroit, MI - Metro/Wayne County (DTW) Devil's Lake, ND (DVL) Dickinson, ND (DIK) Dillingham, AK (DLG) Dodge City, KS (DDC) Dothan, AL (DHN) Dubois, PA (DUJ) Dubuque, IA (DBQ) Duluth, MN (DLH) Durango, CO (DRO) Durham, NC (RDU) Durham/Raleigh, NC (RDU) Dutch Harbor, AK (DUT) Easton, PA (ABE) Eau Claire, WI (EAU) Edna Bay, AK (EDA) Eek, AK (EEK) Ekuk, AK (KKU) Ekwok, AK (KEK) El Centro, CA (IPL) El Dorado, AR (ELD) El Paso, TX (ELP) Elfin Cove, AK (ELV) Elim, AK (ELI) Elko, NV (EKO) Elmira, NY (ELM) Ely, MN (LYU) Emmonak, AK (EMK) Endicott, NY (BGM) Enid, OK (WDG) Erie, PA (ERI) Escanaba, MI (ESC) Eugene, OR (EUG) Eureka/Arcata, CA (ACV) Eureka, NV (EUE) Evansville, IN (EVV) Fairbanks, AK (FAI) Fargo, ND (FAR) Farmington, NM (FMN) Fayetteville, AR - Municipal/Drake (FYV) Fayetteville, AR - Northwest Arkansas Regional (XNA) Fayetteville, NC (FAY) Flagstaff, AZ (FLG) Flint, MI (FNT) Florence, SC (FLO) Florence/Muscle Shoals/Sheffield, AL (MSL) Fort Collins/Loveland, CO - Municipal Airport (FNL) Fort Collins/Loveland, CO - Bus service (QWF) Fort Dodge, IA (FOD) Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL) Fort Leonard Wood, MO (TBN) Fort Myers, FL (RSW) Fort Smith, AR (FSM) Fort Walton Beach, FL (VPS) Fort Wayne, IN (FWA) Fort Worth/Dallas, TX (DFW) Franklin, PA (FKL) Fresno, CA (FAT) Gainesville, FL (GNV) Gallup, NM (GUP) Garden City, KS (GCK) Gary, IN (GYY) Gillette, WY (GCC) Gladewater/Kilgore, TX (GGG) Glasgow, MT (GGW) Glendive, MT (GDV) Golovin, AK (GLV) Goodnews Bay, AK (GNU) Grand Canyon, AZ - Heliport (JGC) Grand Canyon, AZ - National Park (GCN) Grand Forks, ND (GFK) Grand Island, NE (GRI) Grand Junction, CO (GJT) Grand Rapids, MI (GRR) Grand Rapids, MN (GPZ) Grayling, AK (KGX) Great Falls, MT (GTF) Green Bay, WI (GRB) Greensboro, NC (GSO) Greenville, MS (GLH) Greenville, NC (PGV) Greenville/Spartanburg, SC (GSP) Groton/New London, CT (GON) Gulfport, MS (GPT) Gunnison, CO (GUC) Gustavus, AK (GST) Hagerstown, MD (HGR) Hailey, ID (SUN) Haines, AK (HNS) Hampton, VA (PHF) Hana, HI - Island of Maui (HNM) Hanapepe, HI (PAK) Hancock, MI (CMX) Hanover, NH (LEB) Harlingen, TX (HRL) Harrisburg, PA (MDT) Harrison, AR (HRO) Hartford, CT (BDL) Havasupai, AZ (HAE) Havre, MT (HVR) Hayden, CO (HDN) Hays, KS (HYS) Healy Lake, AK (HKB) Helena, MT (HLN) Hendersonville, NC (AVL) Hibbing/Chisholm, MN (HIB) Hickory, NC (HKY) High Point, NC (GSO) Hilo, HI - Island of Hawaii (ITO) Hilton Head, SC (HHH) Hobbs, NM (HBB) Hollis, AK (HYL) Holy Cross, AK (HCR) Homer, AK (HOM) Honolulu, HI - Island of Oahu (HNL) Hoolehua, HI - Island of Molokai (MKK) Hoonah, AK (HNH) Hooper Bay, AK (HPB) Hot Springs, AR (HOT) Houston, TX - All airports (HOU) Houston, TX - Hobby (HOU) Houston, TX - Intercontinental (IAH) Hughes, AK (HUS) Huntington, WV/Ashland, KY (HTS) Huntsville, AL (HSV) Huron, SD (HON) Huslia, AK (HSL) Hyannis, MA (HYA) Hydaburg, AK (HYG) Idaho Falls, ID (IDA) Igiugig, AK (IGG) Iliamna, AK (ILI) Imperial, CA (IPL) Indianapolis, IN (IND) International Falls, MN (INL) Inyokern, CA (IYK) Iron Mountain, MI (IMT) Ironwood, MI (IWD) Islip, NY (ISP) Ithaca, NY (ITH) Jackson Hole, WY (JAC) Jackson, MS (JAN) Jackson, TN (MKL) Jacksonville, FL (JAX) Jacksonville, NC (OAJ) Jamestown, ND (JMS) Jamestown, NY (JHW) Janesville, WI (JVL) Johnson City, NY (BGM) Johnson City, TN (TRI) Johnstown, PA (JST) Jonesboro, AR (JBR) Joplin, MO (JLN) Juneau, AK (JNU) Kahului, HI - Island of Maui, (OGG) Kake, AK (KAE) Kakhonak, AK (KNK) Kalamazoo, MI (AZO) Kalaupapa, HI - Island of Molokai, (LUP) Kalskag, AK (KLG) Kaltag, AK (KAL) Kamuela, HI - Island of Hawaii, (MUE) Kansas City, MO (MCI) Kapalua, HI - Island of Maui, (JHM) Kasaan, AK (KXA) Kasigluk, AK (KUK) Kauai Island/Lihue, HI (LIH) Kearney, NE (EAR) Keene, NH (EEN) Kenai, AK (ENA) Ketchikan, AK (KTN) Key West, FL (EYW) Keystone, CO - Van service (QKS) Kiana, AK (IAN) Kilgore/Gladewater, TX (GGG) Killeen, TX (ILE) King Cove, AK (KVC) King Salmon, AK (AKN) Kingman, AZ (IGM) Kingsport, TN (TRI) Kipnuk, AK (KPN) Kirksville, MO (IRK) Kivalina, AK (KVL) Klamath Falls, OR (LMT) Klawock, AK (KLW) Knoxville, TN (TYS) Kobuk, AK (OBU) Kodiak, AK (ADQ) Kona, HI - Island of Hawaii (KOA) Kongiganak, AK (KKH) Kotlik, AK (KOT) Kotzebue, AK (OTZ) Koyukuk, AK (KYU) Kwethluk, AK (KWT) Kwigillingok, AK (KWK) La Crosse, WI (LSE) Lafayette, IN (LAF) Lafayette, LA (LFT) Lake Charles, LA (LCH) Lake Havasu City, AZ (HII) Lake Minchumina, AK (LMA) Lanai City, HI - Island of Lanai (LNY) Lancaster, PA (LNS) Lansing, MI (LAN) Laramie, WY (LAR) Laredo, TX (LRD) Las Vegas, NV (LAS) Latrobe, PA (LBE) Laurel, MS (PIB) Lawton, OK (LAW) Lebanon, NH (LEB) Levelock, AK (KLL) Lewisburg, WV (LWB) Lewiston, ID (LWS) Lewistown, MT (LWT) Lexington, KY (LEX) Liberal, KS (LBL) Lihue, HI - Island of Kaui (LIH) Lincoln, NE (LNK) Little Rock, AR (LIT) Long Beach, CA (LGB) Longview, TX (GGG) Lopez Island, WA (LPS) Los Angeles, CA (LAX) Louisville, KY (SDF) Loveland/Fort Collins, CO - Municipal Airport (FNL) Loveland/Fort Collins, CO - Bus service (QWF) Lubbock, TX (LBB) Macon, GA (MCN) Madison, WI (MSN) Madras, OR (MDJ) Manchester, NH (MHT) Manhattan, KS (MHK) Manistee, MI (MBL) Mankato, MN (MKT) Manley Hot Springs, AK (MLY) Manokotak, AK (KMO) Marietta, OH/Parkersburg, WV (PKB) Marion, IL (MWA) Marquette, MI (MQT) Marshall, AK (MLL) Martha's Vineyard, MA (MVY) Martinsburg, PA (AOO) Mason City, IA (MCW) Massena, NY (MSS) Maui, HI (OGG) Mcallen, TX (MFE) Mccook, NE (MCK) Mcgrath, AK (MCG) Medford, OR (MFR) Mekoryuk, AK (MYU) Melbourne, FL (MLB) Memphis, TN (MEM) Merced, CA (MCE) Meridian, MS (MEI) Metlakatla, AK (MTM) Meyers Chuck, AK (WMK) Miami, FL - International (MIA) Miami, FL - Sea Plane Base (MPB) Midland, MI (MBS) Midland/Odessa, TX (MAF) Miles City, MT (MLS) Milwaukee, WI (MKE) Minneapolis, MN (MSP) Minot, ND (MOT) Minto, AK (MNT) Mission, TX (MFE) Missoula, MT (MSO) Moab, UT (CNY) Mobile, AL (MOB) Modesto, CA (MOD) Moline, IL (MLI) Monroe, LA (MLU) Monterey, CA (MRY) Montgomery, AL (MGM) Montrose, CO (MTJ) Morgantown, WV (MGW) Moses Lake, WA (MWH) Mountain Home, AR (WMH) Mountain Village, AK (MOU) Muscle Shoals, AL (MSL) Muskegon, MI (MKG) Myrtle Beach, SC (MYR) Nantucket, MA (ACK) Napakiak, AK (WNA) Napaskiak, AK (PKA) Naples, FL (APF) Nashville, TN (BNA) Naukiti, AK (NKI) Nelson Lagoon, AK (NLG) New Chenega, AK (NCN) New Haven, CT (HVN) New Koliganek, AK (KGK) New London/Groton (GON) New Orleans, LA (MSY) New Stuyahok, AK (KNW) New York, NY - All airports (NYC) New York, NY - Kennedy (JFK) New York, NY - La Guardia (LGA) Newark, NJ (EWR) Newburgh/Stewart Field, NY (SWF) Newport News, VA (PHF) Newtok, AK (WWT) Nightmute, AK (NME) Nikolai, AK (NIB) Nikolski, AK (IKO) Noatak, AK (WTK) Nome, AK (OME) Nondalton, AK (NNL) Noorvik, AK (ORV) Norfolk, NE (OFK) Norfolk, VA (ORF) North Bend, OR (OTH) North Platte, NE (LBF) Northway, AK (ORT) Nuiqsut, AK (NUI) Nulato, AK (NUL) Nunapitchuk, AK (NUP) Oakland, CA (OAK) Odessa/Midland, TX (MAF) Ogdensburg, NY (OGS) Oklahoma City, OK (OKC) Omaha, NE (OMA) Ontario, CA (ONT) Orange County, CA (SNA) Orlando, FL - Herndon (ORL) Orlando, FL - International (MCO) Oshkosh, WI (OSH) Ottumwa, IA (OTM) Owensboro, KY (OWB) Oxnard/Ventura, CA (OXR) Paducah, KY (PAH) Page, AZ (PGA) Palm Springs, CA (PSP) Panama City, FL (PFN) Parkersburg, WV/Marietta, OH (PKB) Pasco, WA (PSC) Pedro Bay, AK (PDB) Pelican, AK (PEC) Pellston, MI (PLN) Pendleton, OR (PDT) Pensacola, FL (PNS) Peoria, IL (PIA) Perryville, AK (KPV) Petersburg, AK (PSG) Philadelphia, PA - International (PHL) Philadelphia, PA - Trenton/Mercer NJ (TTN) Phoenix, AZ (PHX) Pierre, SD (PIR) Pilot Point, AK - Ugashnik Bay (UGB) Pilot Point, AK (PIP) Pilot Station, AK (PQS) Pittsburgh, PA (PIT) Platinum, AK (PTU) Plattsburgh, NY (PLB) Pocatello, ID (PIH) Point Baker, AK (KPB) Point Hope, AK (PHO) Point Lay, AK (PIZ) Ponca City, OK (PNC) Ponce, Puerto Rico (PSE) Port Alsworth, AK (PTA) Port Angeles, WA (CLM) Port Arthur/Beaumont, TX (BPT) Port Clarence, AK (KPC) Port Heiden, AK (PTH) Port Moller, AK (PML) Port Protection, AK (PPV) Portage Creek, AK (PCA) Portland, ME (PWM) Portland, OR (PDX) Portsmouth, NH (PSM) Poughkeepsie, NY (POU) Prescott, AZ (PRC) Presque Isle, ME (PQI) Princeton, WV (BLF) Providence, RI (PVD) Provincetown, MA (PVC) Prudhoe Bay/Deadhorse, AK (SCC) Pueblo, CO (PUB) Pullman, WA (PUW) Quincy, IL (UIN) Quinhagak, AK (KWN) Raleigh/Durham, NC (RDU) Rampart, AK (RMP) Rapid City, SD (RAP) Reading, PA (RDG) Red Devil, AK (RDV) Redding, CA (RDD) Redmond, OR (RDM) Reno, NV (RNO) Rhinelander, WI, (RHI) Richmond, VA (RIC) Riverton, WY (RIW) Roanoke, VA (ROA) Roche Harbor, WA (RCE) Rochester, MN (RST) Rochester, NY (ROC) Rock Springs, WY (RKS) Rockford, IL (RFD) Rockland, ME (RKD) Rosario, WA (RSJ) Roswell, NM (ROW) Ruby, AK (RBY) Russian Mission, AK (RSH) Rutland, VT (RUT) Sacramento, CA (SMF) Saginaw, MI (MBS) Saint Cloud, MN (STC) Saint George Island, AK (STG) Saint George, UT (SGU) Saint Louis, MO (STL) Saint Mary's, AK (KSM) Saint Michael, AK (SMK) Saint Paul Island, AK (SNP) Salem, OR (SLE) Salina, KS (SLN) Salisbury-Ocean City, MD (SBY) Salt Lake City, UT (SLC) San Angelo, TX (SJT) San Antonio, TX (SAT) San Diego, CA (SAN) San Francisco, CA (SFO) San Jose, CA (SJC) San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU) San Luis Obispo, CA (SBP) Sand Point, AK (SDP) Sanford, FL (SFB) Santa Ana, CA (SNA) Santa Barbara, CA (SBA) Santa Fe, NM (SAF) Santa Maria, CA (SMX) Santa Rosa, CA (STS) Saranac Lake, NY (SLK) Sarasota, FL (SRQ) Sault Ste Marie, MI, (CIU) Savannah, GA (SAV) Savoonga, AK (SVA) Scammon Bay, AK (SCM) Scottsbluff, NE (BFF) Scranton, PA (AVP) Seattle, WA - Lake Union SPB (LKE) Seattle, WA - Seattle/Tacoma International (SEA) Selawik, AK (WLK) Seward, AK (SWD) Shageluk, AK (SHX) Shaktoolik, AK (SKK) Sheffield/Florence/Muscle Shoals, AL (MSL) Sheldon Point, AK (SXP) Sheridan, WY (SHR) Shishmaref, AK (SHH) Shreveport, LA (SHV) Shungnak, AK (SHG) Silver City, NM (SVC) Sioux City, IA (SUX) Sioux Falls, SD (FSD) Sitka, AK (SIT) Skagway, AK (SGY) Sleetmore, AK (SLQ) South Bend, IN (SBN) South Naknek, AK (WSN) Southern Pines, NC (SOP) Spartanburg/Greenville, SC (GSP) Spokane, WA (GEG) Springfield, IL (SPI) Springfield, MO (SGF) St Petersburg/Clearwater, FL (PIE) State College/University Park, PA (SCE) Staunton, VA (SHD) Steamboat Springs, CO (SBS) Stebbins, AK (WBB) Stevens Point/Wausau, WI (CWA) Stevens Village, AK (SVS) Stewart Field/Newburgh, NY (SWF) Stockton, CA (SCK) Stony River, AK (SRV) Sun Valley, ID (SUN) Syracuse, NY (SYR) Takotna, AK (TCT) Talkeetna, AK (TKA) Tallahassee, FL (TLH) Tampa, FL (TPA) Tanana, AK (TAL) Taos, NM (TSM) Tatitlek, AK (TEK) Teller Mission, AK (KTS) Telluride, CO (TEX) Tenakee Springs, AK (TKE) Terre Haute, IN (HUF) Tetlin, AK (TEH) Texarkana, AR (TXK) Thief River Falls, MN (TVF) Thorne Bay, AK (KTB) Tin City, AK (TNC) Togiak Village, AK (TOG) Tok, AK (TKJ) Toksook Bay, AK (OOK) Toledo, OH (TOL) Topeka, KS (FOE) Traverse City, MI (TVC) Trenton/Mercer, NJ (TTN) Tucson, AZ (TUS) Tulsa, OK (TUL) Tuluksak, AK (TLT) Tuntutuliak, AK (WTL) Tununak, AK (TNK) Tupelo, MS (TUP) Tuscaloosa, AL (TCL) Twin Falls, ID (TWF) Twin Hills, AK (TWA) Tyler, TX (TYR) Unalakleet, AK (UNK) Urbana/Champaign, IL (CMI) Utica, NY (UCA) Utopia Creek, AK (UTO) Vail, CO - Eagle County Airport (EGE) Vail, CO - Van service (QBF) Valdez, AK (VDZ) Valdosta, GA (VLD) Valparaiso, FL (VPS) Venetie, AK (VEE) Ventura/Oxnard, CA (OXR) Vernal, UT (VEL) Victoria, TX (VCT) Visalia, CA (VIS) Waco, TX (ACT) Wainwright, AK (AIN) Wales, AK (WAA) Walla Walla, WA (ALW) Washington DC - All airports (WAS) Washington DC - Dulles (IAD) Washington DC - National (DCA) Waterfall, AK (KWF) Waterloo, IA (ALO) Watertown, NY (ART) Watertown, SD (ATY) Wausau/Stevens Point, WI (CWA) Wenatchee, WA (EAT) West Palm Beach, FL (PBI) West Yellowstone, MT (WYS) Westchester County, NY (HPN) Westerly, RI (WST) Westsound, WA (WSX) Whale Pass, AK (WWP) White Mountain, AK (WMO) White River, VT (LEB) Wichita Falls, TX (SPS) Wichita, KS (ICT) Wilkes Barre, PA (AVP) Williamsburg, VA (PHF) Williamsport, PA (IPT) Williston, ND (ISN) Wilmington, NC (ILM) Windsor Locks, CT (BDL) Worcester, MA (ORH) Worland, WY (WRL) Wrangell, AK (WRG) Yakima, WA (YKM) Yakutat, AK (YAK) Yellowstone/Cody, WY (COD) Youngstown, OH (YNG) Yuma, AZ (YUM)

the journey began with a search for a database for my desktop application timefinder . it turned out that there are at least 3 candidates if i would choose a simple and only one tier architecture: gorm neodatis db4o one tier applications would only make sense for some special uses cases like in my case for high schools with one timetable admin. but it would be a lot better if i could use sth. like remote gorm , remote object persistence or even an ajaxified web application. yes. why not? what, if i rewrite the ui from scratch and move from ‘swing desktop’ to web? but then again: which web framework and which persistent architecture? a lot of people would recommend grails (myself included) if i need a simple crud web framework, but for me grails is a bit heavy weight (~ 20 mb) and i will have to live with at least 6 languages: gsp, js, html, ‘spring-xml’, java and groovy. i will need java at least for the performance critical part: the timetabling algorithm. okay. then, why not gwt or eclipse rap ? gwt has javascript compilation, which i am not a big fan of and eclipse rap requires pure eclipse development, i guess. so what else? there are a lot of java web frameworks ( with ajax ) as i discovered earlier . my choice now was simple: wicket , which is swing for the web. but what if you don’t like swing? then you will love the ‘swing for the web’ ! wicket features from what i learned in the last days and from blog posts; wicket is outstanding in the following areas: separation of ui and code. you only have pure html no new syntax required ala jsp, jsf, gsp, velocity, … the latter one was the reason for not choosing click. no javascript hassle … if there are some, then i trust the wicket community to fix them in wicket itself and pure java . this is very good if you’ll someday refactor your code. and you’ll. you can create your own components easy and fast. you can even create ajax components without xml and js… only java. a strong community (even a german book ) okay. and the persistent layer? that was the reason for this journey … hmmh, there are already several different persistent ‘technics’ for wicket available: wicketopia databinder wicketrad wicket-iolite wicket-phonebook … and pure hibernate hmmh, but i only need a very simple persistent layer. no complex queries etc. as i mentioned earlier i can even live with xml (for datastorage). i decided to look into db4o again (used it in gstpl which is the antecessor of timefinder) and into the more commercial friendly (lgpl) object oriented database neodatis . the latter one has an option to export to xml and import the same, this would be great so that i don’t have to think about database migrations (some refactorings will be applied automatically. see 1.10 in the pdf docs ). migration in db4o should be easy too. while i was thinking about that, i asked on the apache wicket mailing list for such simple persistent solution. jeremy thomerson pointed out that there are even some maven archetypes at jweekend which generates a simple wicket app with persistence for me. i chose the wicket+guice+jpa template and updated this to use guice 2.0 and the latest warp-persist according to this post . after that i needed to make db4o or neodatis working. for the latter one i needed warp-persist-neodatis and for the first one i only needed some minor changes, but they took a bit longer. resources for those who want to see the results, here are the 2 independent maven projects (apache license 2.0) within my subversion repository (revision 781): wicket with guice and db4o https://timefinder.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/timefinder/branches/timefinderwicket wicket with guice and neodatis (not all features are implemented as of jan 2010) https://timefinder.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/timefinder/branches/timefinderwicketneodatis and here is a screenshot: as you can see the localized warning messages are already provided and shown instead of “please enter a value into the field ‘location’”. to try the examples just type ‘mvn install’ and run ‘mvn jetty:run’. then point your firefox or opera to http://localhost:8080/timefinderwicket/ to work with wicket is a great experience! in another project it took me about 10 minutes to convert a normal submit into an ajax one which updates only selected components. and then, in the neodatis project i initiallly developed my eventdataview against a completely different data item and moved the source nearly unchanged to the db4o project with the event class! that is nice component oriented development. okay, i did copy and paste rather then creating a maven submodule for the pageable list, but that wouldn’t be that difficult with wicket. then as a third example i overwrote the navigation panel, which was easy too: now instead of << < 1 2 ... > >> it will be shown first prev 1 2 ... next last. without touching the ui. you can even provide ‘properties’ files to apply easy i18n. coming home wicket is like coming home ‘to desktop’ after some years of web development, especially in the ui layer. and guice perfectly meets my dependency injection requirements: pure java. to get all things right i had to tweek the initial example of jweekend a lot, but all necessary changes were logically and does not smell like a hack. as a first step i updated the versions of the artifacts and then i added a dataview from the repeater examples . the developed crud example is now built with dependency injection instead of the original locator pattern (ala databaselocator.getdb()): @inject provider oc; then the update mechanism and some other exception must be solved, but you only need to check out the sources and see what is possible! as a side note please keep in mind that there is a netbeans plugin for wicket 1.4.x and an intellij plugin for the same. for all netbeans guys which are interested in ‘deploy on save’ feature you only need to enable ‘compile on save’ and then you can change code or html in wicket, if you are running the application via jetty:run (jetty configuration is already done in the pom). currently this works only with db4o as a standalone server. to my knowledge this way of ui prototyping can be even faster than with grails, where it could take some seconds to be recompiled. conclusion dive into the world of wicket right now! from http://karussell.wordpress.com/

I'll use IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition and GWT 2.0.

Welcome to the last part of 7 article series of Struts 2 Framework tutorials. In we saw how to implement File Upload functionality in Struts 2. In this article we will see how we can implement Ajax support in a webapplication using Struts2 framework. Struts 2 Tutorial List Part 7: Struts 2 Ajax Tutorial with Example AJAX support in Struts 2 Struts 2 provides built-in support to AJAX using Dojo Toolkit library. If you are new to Dojo, you may want to go through the Introduction of DOJO Toolkit. Struts 2 comes with powerful set of Dojo AJAX APIs which you can use to add Ajax support. In order to add Ajax support, you need to add following JAR file in your classpath: struts2-dojo-plugin.jar Also once we add this JAR file, we need to add following code snippet in whatever JSP file we need to add AJAX support. First define the taglib sx which we will use to add AJAX enabled tags. Add this head tag in your JSP between … tags. This sx:head tag will include required javascript and css files to implement Ajax. AJAX Example: Struts2 Ajax Drop Down Let us add simple AJAX support in our StrutsHelloWorld web application. We will use the base code that we used in previous articles and add Ajax on top of it. We will create a drop down which will Autocomplete and suggest the input. For this we will add Dojo support to our webapp. Step 1: Adding JAR file As discussed earlier we will add struts2-dojo-plugin.jar in classpath (WEB-INF/lib). Thus, following is the list of required jar files. Note that these jars are needed to run full application including all the samples of previous parts of this tutorial series. Step 2: Create AJAX Action class We will create an action class which will get called for our Ajax example. Create a file AjaxAutocomplete.java in net.viralpatel.struts2 package and copy following content into it. AjaxAutocomplete.java package net.viralpatel.struts2; import java.util.ArrayList; import java.util.List; import java.util.StringTokenizer; import com.opensymphony.xwork2.ActionSupport; public class AjaxAutocomplete extends ActionSupport { private String data = "Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, India, United States, Germany, China"; private List countries; private String country; public String execute() { countries = new ArrayList(); StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer(data, ","); while (st.hasMoreTokens()) { countries.add(st.nextToken().trim()); } return SUCCESS; } public String getCountry() { return this.country; } public List getCountries() { return countries; } public void setCountries(List countries) { this.countries = countries; } public void setCountry(String country) { this.country = country; } } In above code we have created a simple action class with attribute String country and List countries. The countries list will be populated with country names when execute() method is called. Here for this example, we have loaded static data. You may feel free to change this and add data from database. Step 3: Create JSP Create JSP file to display Autocomplete textbox for our Ajax action. Create AjaxDemo.jsp in WebContent directory. AjaxDemo.jsp Struts 2 Autocomplete (Drop down) Example! Country: In above JSP file we have used sx:autocompleter tag to render an autocomplete drop down which users Ajax class to fetch data internally. Note that we have mapped the list attribute with List countries. Step 4: Creating Struts.xml entry Add following action entry in Struts.xml file: /ajaxdemo.tiles /ajaxdemo.tiles Notice that we are using Tiles here in this example. You may want to use AjaxDemo.jsp instead of /ajaxdemo.tiles to render the output directly in JSP. That’s All Folks Compile and Run the application in eclipse. Download Source Code Click here to download Source Code without JAR files (24KB) Conclusion Struts2 Framework provides wide variety of features to create a rich web application. In this Struts2 series we saw different aspects of Struts 2 like introduction of struts2, hello world application, validation framework, tiles plugin, strurts2 interceptors, file upload and ajax support.

Welcome to the Part 2 of 7-part series where we will explore the world of Struts 2 Framework. In we went through the basics of Struts2, its Architecture diagram, the request processing lifecycle and a brief comparison of Struts1 and Struts2. If you have not gone through the previous article, I highly recommend you to do that before starting hands-on today. Struts 2 Tutorial List Part 7: Struts 2 Ajax Tutorial with Example Related: Create Struts Application with Eclipse Things We Need Before we starts with our first Hello World Struts 2 Example, we will need few tools. JDK 1.5 above (download) Tomcat 5.x above or any other container (Glassfish, JBoss, Websphere, Weblogic etc) (download) Eclipse 3.2.x above (download) Apache Struts2 JAR files:(download). Following are the list of JAR files required for this application. commons-logging-1.0.4.jar freemarker-2.3.8.jar ognl-2.6.11.jar struts2-core-2.0.12.jar xwork-2.0.6.jar Note that depending on the current version of Struts2, the version number of above jar files may change. Our Goal Our goal is to create a basic Struts2 application with a Login page. User will enter login credential and if authenticated successfully she will be redirected to a Welcome page which will display message ”Howdy, …!“. If user is not authenticated, she will be redirected back to the login page. Getting Started Let us start with our first Struts2 based application. Open Eclipse and goto File -> New -> Project and select Dynamic Web Project in the New Project wizard screen. After selecting Dynamic Web Project, press Next. Write the name of the project. For example StrutsHelloWorld. Once this is done, select the target runtime environment (e.g. Apache Tomcat v6.0). This is to run the project inside Eclipse environment. After this press Finish. Once the project is created, you can see its structure in Project Explorer. Now copy all the required JAR files in WebContent -> WEB-INF -> lib folder. Create this folder if it does not exists. Mapping Struts2 in WEB.xml As discussed in the previous article (Introduction to Struts2), the entry point of Struts2 application will be the Filter define in deployment descriptor (web.xml). Hence we will define an entry of org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.FilterDispatcher class in web.xml. Open web.xml file which is under WEB-INF folder and copy paste following code. Struts2 Applicationstruts2org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.FilterDispatcherstruts2/*Login.jsp The above code in web.xml will map Struts2 filter with url /*. The default url mapping for struts2 application will be /*.action. Also note that we have define Login.jsp as welcome file. The Action Class We will need an Action class that will authenticate our user and holds the value for username and password. For this we will create a package net.viralpatel.struts2 in the source folder. This package will contain the action file. Create a class called LoginAction in net.viralpatel.struts2 package with following content. package net.viralpatel.struts2;public class LoginAction {private String username;private String password;public String execute() {if (this.username.equals("admin")&& this.password.equals("admin123")) {return "success";} else {return "error";}public String getUsername() {return username;}public void setUsername(String username) {this.username = username;}public String getPassword() {return password;}public void setPassword(String password) {this.password = password;} Note that, above action class contains two fields, username and password which will hold the values from form and also contains an execute() method that will authenticate the user. In this simple example, we are checking if username is admin and password is admin123. Also note that unlike Action class in Struts1, Struts2 action class is a simple POJO class with required attributes and method. The execute() method returns a String value which will determine the result page. Also, in Struts2 the name of the method is not fixed. In this example we have define method execute(). You may want to define a method authenticate() instead. The ResourceBundle ResourceBundle is very useful Java entity that helps in putting the static content away from the source file. Most of the application define a resource bundle file such as ApplicationResources.properties file which contains static messages such as Username or Password and include this with the application. ResourceBundle comes handy when we want to add Internationalization (I18N) support to an application. We will define an ApplicationResources.properties file for our application. This property file should be present in WEB-INF/classes folders when the source is compiled. Thus we will create a source folder called resources and put the ApplicationResources.properties file in it. To create a source folder, right click on your project in Project Explorer and select New -> Source Folder. Specify folder name resources and press Finish. Create a file ApplicationResources.properties under resources folder. Copy following content in ApplicationResources.properties. label.username= Usernamelabel.password= Passwordlabel.login= Login The JSP We will create two JSP files to render the output to user. Login.jsp will be the starting point of our application which will contain a simple login form with username and password. On successful authentication, user will be redirected to Welcome.jsp which will display a simple welcome message. Create two JSP files Login.jsp and Welcome.jsp in WebContent folder of your project. Copy following content into it. Login.jsp Struts 2 - Login Application Welcome.jsp Howdy, ...! Note that we have used struts2 tag to render the textboxes and labels. Struts2 comes with a powerful built-in tag library to render UI elements more efficiently. The struts.xml file Struts2 reads the configuration and class definition from an xml file called struts.xml. This file is loaded from the classpath of the project. We will define struts.xml file in the resources folder. Create file struts.xml in resources folder. Copy following content into struts.xml. Welcome.jspLogin.jsp Note that in above configuration file, we have defined Login action of our application. Two result paths are mapped with LoginAction depending on the outcome of execute() method. If execute() method returns success, user will be redirected to Welcome.jsp else to Login.jsp. Also note that a constant is specified with name struts.custom.i18n.resources. This constant specify the resource bundle file that we created in above steps. We just have to specify name of resource bundle file without extension (ApplicationResources without .properties). Our LoginAction contains the method execute() which is the default method getting called by Sturts2. If the name of method is different, e.g. authenticate(); then we should specify the method name in tag. Almost Done We are almost done with the application. You may want to run the application now and see the result yourself. I assume you have already configured Tomcat in eclipse. All you need to do: Open Server view from Windows -> Show View -> Server. Right click in this view and select New -> Server and add your server details. To run the project, right click on Project name from Project Explorer and select Run as -> Run on Server (Shortcut: Alt+Shift+X, R) But there is one small problem. Our application runs perfectly fine at this point. But when user enters wrong credential, she is redirected to Login page. But no error message is displayed. User does not know what just happened. A good application always show proper error messages to user. So we must display an error message Invalid Username/Password. Please try again when user authentication is failed. Final Touch To add this functionality first we will add the error message in our ResourceBundle file. Open ApplicationResources.properties and add an entry for error.login in it. The final ApplicationResources.properties will look like: label.username= Usernamelabel.password= Passwordlabel.login= Loginerror.login= Invalid Username/Password. Please try again. Also we need to add logic in LoginAction to add error message if user is not authenticated. But there is one problem. Our error message is specified in ApplicationResources.properties file. We must specify key error.login in LoginAction and the message should be displayed on JSP page. For this we must implement com.opensymphony.xwork2.TextProvider interface which provides method getText(). This method returns String value from resource bundle file. We just have to pass the key value as argument to getText() method. The TextProvider interface defines several method that we must implement in order to get hold on getText() method. But we don’t want to spoil our code by adding all those methods which we do not intend to use. There is a good way of dealing with this problem. Struts2 comes with a very useful class com.opensymphony.xwork2.ActionSupport. We just have to extend our LoginAction class with this class and directly use methods such as getText(), addActionErrors() etc. Thus we will extend the LoginAction class with ActionSupport class and add the logic for error reporting into it. The final code in LoginAction must look like: package net.viralpatel.struts2;import com.opensymphony.xwork2.ActionSupport;public class LoginAction extends ActionSupport {private String username;private String password;public String execute() {if (this.username.equals("admin")&& this.password.equals("admin123")) {return "success";} else {addActionError(getText("error.login"));return "error";}public String getUsername() {return username;}public void setUsername(String username) {this.username = username;}public String getPassword() {return password;}public void setPassword(String password) {this.password = password;} And that’s it. Our first Hello World Struts2 Application is now ready. That’s All Folks Execute the application in Eclipse and run it in your favorite browser. Login page Welcome page Login page with error Download Source Code Click here to download Source Code without JAR files (9KB). Moving On Now that we have created our first webapp using Struts2 framework, we know how the request flows in Struts2. We also know the use of struts.xml and properties file. In this application we implemented a preliminary form of validation. In we will learn more about Validation Framework in Struts2 and implement it in our example. Original article: http://viralpatel.net/blogs/2009/12/tutorial-create-struts-2-application-eclipse-example.html

Always in search of the absolute minimum of ceremony, my last team "discovered" a useful agile practice that takes 60 seconds from start to end: the ROTI Meeting.After every meeting, on the way out the door, draw a diagonal line on the whiteboard with the labels 0, 2, and 4. Each person in turn gives a number on how the meeting performed as a "Return on Time Invested" and the person with the marker draws in the rating. Here is the rating scale we used: 0 = "I'd have been better off making a Starbuck's run. Complete waste of time" 1 = "You really should have let me stay at my desk and code" 2 = "This was an OK meeting. About as valuable as if I'd been coding" 3 = "Surprisingly, this was more valuable than if I'd been writing code" 4 = "Wow, this meeting saved me tons of time. Thank goodness I didn't skip it to code" And then each person answers the same question, "What could be done to improve your number by one point?" To do this in 60 seconds means there is no discussion. The feedback is what it is; no debating, no fixing problems, and no hurt feelings. ROTI meetings create tacit, organization knowledge that can be acted upon by team members in the future. It drives a team towards less meetings (almost always a good thing), pushes team members to be more respectful of each others time and expertise, and influences meeting organizers to craft more succinct, on topic, and meaningful gatherings. It takes only 60 seconds so you might as well try it a few time! ... and now the historical details. ROTI analysis is nicely described in Esther Derby's great book "Agile Retrospectives". The practice in the context of iteration retrospectives takes more lie 5 to 10 minutes. Our team found ROTI to be so effective in retrospectives that we shortened it and held one at the end of every meeting. The actual ROTI scale is a bit more formal than what we created: 0 - Lost Principle: No Benefit Received for Time Invested Break-Even: 1 - 2- Received Benefit Equal to Time Invested High Return on Investment 3 - 4 - Received Benefit Greater than Time Invested Lastly, ROTI charts are covered in detail a few other places as well. For a mere 60 second investment, this practice is worth trying on your team. From http://hamletdarcy.blogspot.com

Many a time, in a Java EE application, besides the user-triggered transactions via the UI (e.g. from the JSF), there's a need for a mechanism to execute long running jobs triggered over time, e.g., batch jobs. Although in the EJB specs there's a Timer service, where Session Beans can be scheduled to run at intervals through annotations as well as programmatically, the schedule and intervals to execute the jobs have to be pre-determined during development time and Glassfish does not provide the framework and the means to do that out-of-the-box. So it is left to the developer to code that functionality or to choose a 3rd party product to do that. In one of my previous projects using a different application server, I implemented a scheduler module for the application. So with that experience, I will discuss in this article how to create a simple scheduler called SchedulerApp in NetBeans IDE 6.8 that can be deployed in Glassfish v3. The example comes with a framework and the JSF2 PrimeFaces-based UI to schedule and manage (CRUD) your batch jobs implemented by Stateless Session Beans without having to pre-determine the time and interval to execute them during development time. Below is the Class Diagram to give you an overview of the application: Through this exercise, I also hope that you will have a better understanding of the Timer Service in the EJB specs and how you can use it in your projects. Note: If you cannot get your copy running, not to worry, you can get a working copy here. Tutorial Requirements Before we proceed, make sure you review the requirements in this section. Prerequisites This tutorial assumes that you have some basic knowledge of, or programming experience with, the following technologies. JavaServer Faces (JSF) with Facelets Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) 3/3.1 esp. the Timer Service Basic knowledge of using NetBeans IDE will help to reduce the time required to do this tutorial Software needed for this Tutorial Before you begin, you need to download and install the following software on your computer: NetBeans IDE 6.8 (Java pack), http://www.netbeans.org Glassfish Enterprise Server v3, https://glassfish.dev.java.net PrimeFaces Component Library, http://www.primefaces.org Notes: The Glassfish Enterprise Server is included in the Java pack of NetBeans IDE, however, Glassfish can be installed separately from the IDE and added later into Servers services in the IDE. A copy of the working solution is included here if needed. Creating the Enterprise Projects The approach for developing the demo app, SchedulerApp, will be from the back end, i.e., the artifacts and services needed by the front-end UI will be created first, then working forward to the User Interface, i.e., the Ajax-based Web UI will be done last. The first step in creating the application is to create the necessary projects in NetBeans IDE. Choose "File > New Project" to open the New Project Wizard. Under Categories, select Java EE; under Projects select Enterprise Application. Click Next. Select the project location and name the project, SchedulerApp, and click Next. Select the installed Glassfish v3 as the server, and Java EE 6 as the Java EE Version, and click Finish. The above steps will create 3 projects, namely SchedulerApp (Enterprise Application project), SchedulerApp-ejb (EJB project), and SchedulerApp-war (Web project). Creating the Session Beans Before creating the necessary session bean classes, let's look at one of the main classes, JobInfo, which will be heavily used in the application both at the front-end and back. Basically this is a Value Object class that stores information required to configure the timer. Below is an abstract of the class: package com.schedulerapp.common; public class JobInfo implements java.io.Serializable { private static SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy"); private static SimpleDateFormat sdf2 = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss"); private String jobId; private String jobName; private String jobClassName; private String description; //Details required by the SchedulerExpression private Date startDate; private Date endDate; private String second; private String minute; private String hour; private String dayOfWeek; private String dayOfMonth; private String month; private String year; private Date nextTimeout; public JobInfo() { this("", "", "java:module/"); } public JobInfo(String jobId, String jobName, String jobClassName) { this.jobId = jobId; this.jobName = jobName; this.jobClassName = jobClassName; this.description = ""; //Default values, everyday midnight this.startDate = new Date(); this.endDate = null; this.second = "0"; this.minute = "0"; this.hour = "0"; this.dayOfMonth = "*"; //Every Day this.month = "*"; //Every Month this.year = "*"; //Every Year this.dayOfWeek = "*"; //Every Day of Week (Sun-Sat) } //Getter and Setter methods for the above attributes... /* * Expression of the schedule set in the object */ public String getExpression() { return "sec=" + second + ";min=" + minute + ";hour=" + hour + ";dayOfMonth=" + dayOfMonth + ";month=" + month + ";year=" + year + ";dayOfWeek=" + dayOfWeek; } @Override public boolean equals(Object anotherObj) { if (anotherObj instanceof JobInfo) { return jobId.equals(((JobInfo) anotherObj).jobId); } return false; } @Override public String toString() { return jobId + "-" + jobName + "-" + jobClassName; } } Notice the class holds the information about the job and its schedule. Create the above class in the EJB project, SchedulerApp-ejb with the package name, com.schedulerapp.common. After creating this class, we are ready to create the session beans. Creating the BatchJob Session Beans In this demo, we will be creating THREE batch jobs, namely: BatchJobA, BatchJobB and BatchJobC, where each is a Stateless Session Bean that implements a Local Interface, BatchJobInterface. The Interface will have a method, executeJob(javax.ejb.Timer timer), so each of the batch job session bean will need to implement it and this becomes the starting point for the batch jobs. Let's proceed to create them and you will see what I mean. In the Projects window, right-click on the SchedulerApp-ejb project and select "New > Session Bean..." In the New Session Bean dialog, specify the EJB Name as BatchJobA, the package as "com.schedulerapp.batchjob", Session Type as Stateless and select Local for Create Interface option Notice 2 files are created: BatchJobA (Implementation class) and BatchJobALocal (Local Interface). Here I want to rename the Interface so that it has a generic name like BatchJobInterface In the project view, navigate to the BatchJobALocal file. Right-click on the item and select "Refactor > Rename...", and change the name to BatchJobInterface. Open the renamed file, BatchJobInterface in the editor, and add the method: @Local public interface BatchJobInterface { public void executeJob(javax.ejb.Timer timer); } Notice the file, BatchJobA becomes errorneous after the above is performed. Open the file, BatchJobA and you should see the error hint (lightbulb with exclamation icon) on the left side of the editor. Click on the icon and select "Implement all abstract methods" and edit the file so that it looks like this: @Stateless public class BatchJobA implements BatchJobInterface { static Logger logger = Logger.getLogger("BatchJobA"); @Asynchronous public void executeJob(Timer timer) { logger.info("Start of BatchJobA at " + new Date() + "..."); JobInfo jobInfo = (JobInfo) timer.getInfo(); try { logger.info("Running job: " + jobInfo); Thread.sleep(30000); //Sleep for 30 seconds } catch (InterruptedException ex) { } logger.info("End of BatchJobA at " + new Date()); } } As you can see, the executeJob method does nothing but just sleeps for 30 sec to simulate a long running job. And because of that, it is made an asynchronous method thru the @Asynchronous annotation so that it doesn't block the calling Session Bean. Notice also that the JobInfo object is extracted from the Timer object so that you have the information to execute your job. We will see later how the JobInfo object got into the Timer object. We will next create the other 2 batch job session beans: BatchJobA and BatchJobB using the Copy/Paste and Refactor features of NB6.8. In the project view, navigate to the file, BatchJobA. Right-click on the item and select "Copy" In the same view, right-click the package, "com.schedulerapp.batchjob" and select "Paste > Refactor Copy..." In the Copy Class dialog, enter "BatchJobB" for the New Name field and click on the Refactor button. Notice the new Session Bean, BatchJobB is created with a few easy clicks of a button. The only thing to change in the new class is the print statements, where "BatchJobA" will be changed to "BatchJobB". Repeat the above steps to create BatchJobC session bean. So we now have THREE batch job session beans: BatchJobA, BatchJobB and BatchJobC that implements the Local Interface, BatchJobInterface. We will next create the last Session Bean for this project. Creating the Job Session Bean Here, we will create the Job Session Bean whose main responsibility is to provide the necessary services to the front-end UI to manage (CRUD) the jobs and also provide the timeout method for the TimerService. In the Projects window, right-click on the SchedulerApp-ejb project and select "New > Session Bean..." In the New Session Bean dialog, specify the EJB Name as JobSessionBean, the package as "com.schedulerapp.ejb", Session Type as Stateless and leave Create Interface unchecked, i.e. no Interface (New in EJB 3.1), and click Finish. Open the newly created file, JobSessionBean in the editor and edit the content so that it looks like the following: @Stateless @LocalBean public class JobSessionBean { @Resource TimerService timerService; //Resource Injection static Logger logger = Logger.getLogger("JobSessionBean"); /* * Callback method for the timers. Calls the corresponding Batch Job Session Bean based on the JobInfo * bounded to the timer */ @Timeout public void timeout(Timer timer) { System.out.println("###Timer <" + timer.getInfo() + "> timeout at " + new Date()); try { JobInfo jobInfo = (JobInfo) timer.getInfo(); BatchJobInterface batchJob = (BatchJobInterface) InitialContext.doLookup( jobInfo.getJobClassName()); batchJob.executeJob(timer); //Asynchronous method } catch (NamingException ex) { logger.log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex); } catch (Exception ex1) { logger.severe("Exception caught: " + ex1); } } /* * Returns the Timer object based on the given JobInfo */ private Timer getTimer(JobInfo jobInfo) { Collection timers = timerService.getTimers(); for (Timer t : timers) { if (jobInfo.equals((JobInfo) t.getInfo())) { return t; } } return null; } /* * Creates a timer based on the information in the JobInfo */ public JobInfo createJob(JobInfo jobInfo) throws Exception { //Check for duplicates if (getTimer(jobInfo) != null) { throw new DuplicateKeyException("Job with the ID already exist!"); } TimerConfig timerAConf = new TimerConfig(jobInfo, true); ScheduleExpression schedExp = new ScheduleExpression(); schedExp.start(jobInfo.getStartDate()); schedExp.end(jobInfo.getEndDate()); schedExp.second(jobInfo.getSecond()); schedExp.minute(jobInfo.getMinute()); schedExp.hour(jobInfo.getHour()); schedExp.dayOfMonth(jobInfo.getDayOfMonth()); schedExp.month(jobInfo.getMonth()); schedExp.year(jobInfo.getYear()); schedExp.dayOfWeek(jobInfo.getDayOfWeek()); logger.info("### Scheduler expr: " + schedExp.toString()); Timer newTimer = timerService.createCalendarTimer(schedExp, timerAConf); logger.info("New timer created: " + newTimer.getInfo()); jobInfo.setNextTimeout(newTimer.getNextTimeout()); return jobInfo; } /* * Returns a list of JobInfo for the active timers */ public List getJobList() { logger.info("getJobList() called!!!"); ArrayList jobList = new ArrayList(); Collection timers = timerService.getTimers(); for (Timer t : timers) { JobInfo jobInfo = (JobInfo) t.getInfo(); jobInfo.setNextTimeout(t.getNextTimeout()); jobList.add(jobInfo); } return jobList; } /* * Returns the updated JobInfo from the timer */ public JobInfo getJobInfo(JobInfo jobInfo) { Timer t = getTimer(jobInfo); if (t != null) { JobInfo j = (JobInfo) t.getInfo(); j.setNextTimeout(t.getNextTimeout()); return j; } return null; } /* * Updates a timer with the given JobInfo */ public JobInfo updateJob(JobInfo jobInfo) throws Exception { Timer t = getTimer(jobInfo); if (t != null) { logger.info("Removing timer: " + t.getInfo()); t.cancel(); return createJob(jobInfo); } return null; } /* * Remove a timer with the given JobInfo */ public void deleteJob(JobInfo jobInfo) { Timer t = getTimer(jobInfo); if (t != null) { t.cancel(); } } } Take note of the followings in the above code: Timer Service is made available thru Resource Injection near the top of the class The callback method for the timers created is timeout thru the use of the @Timeout annotation Notice how the JobInfo object gets into the timer thru the TimerConfig object in the createJob method Notice how the Batch Job session beans are being lookup and accessed in the timeout method. The job class name will be the Portable JNDI name provided by the user in the UI later At this point, we are done with the EJB project, and will now move on to the Web project. Creating the Web UI using JSF 2.0 with PrimeFaces At the time of writing this tutorial, there are not many choices of Ajax-based frameworks that works with JSF 2.0 as it is still quite new. But I have found PrimeFaces to be the most complete and suitable for this demo as it has implemented the dataTable UI component and it seems to be the easiest to integrate into the NetBeans IDE. Preparing the Web project to use JSF 2.0 and PrimeFaces Before creating the web pages, ensure the JavaServer Faces framework is added to the Web project, SchedulerApp-war. In the Project view, right-click on the Web project, SchedulerApp-war, and select Properties (last item). Under the Categories items, select Frameworks, and ensure the JavaServer Faces is added to the Used Frameworks list: Before we are able to use PrimeFaces components in our facelets, we need to include its library in NetBeans IDE and set up a few things. Download the PrimeFaces library (primefaces-2.0.0.RC.jar) from http://www.primefaces.org/downloads.html [13] and store it somewhere on the local disk. To allow future projects to use PrimeFaces, I chose to create a Global library in NetBeans for PrimeFaces. Select "Tools > Libraries" from the NetBeans IDE main menu. In the Library Manager dialog, choose "New Library" and provide a name for the library, e.g. "PrimeFaces2". With the new "PrimeFaces2" library selected, click on the "Add JAR/Folder..." button and select the jar file that was downloaded earlier and click OK to complete: Next, we need to add the newly created library, PrimeFaces2 to the Web project: Select the Web project, SchedulerApp-war, from the Project window, right-click and select "Properties". Under the Libraries category, click on the "Add Library..." button (on the right), and choose the PrimeFaces2 library and click OK to complete: Because we will be using Facelets in our demo, we will update the XHTML template in NetBeans so that all the XHTML files created subsequently will already have the required namespaces and resources needed for the development. Choose "Tools > Templates" from the NetBeans menu. In the Template Manager dialog, select "Web > XHTML" and click the "Open in Editor" button. Edit the content of the file so that it looks like this: <#assign licenseFirst = ""> <#include "../Licenses/license-${project.license}.txt"> TODO write content Lastly, we need to add the following statements in the web.xml file of the Web project for the PrimeFaces components to work properly: Faces Servlet /faces/* *.jsf Resource Servlet org.primefaces.resource.ResourceServlet Resource Servlet /primefaces_resource/* com.sun.faces.allowTextChildren true At this point, we are done setting up and configuring the environment for PrimeFaces to work in NetBeans. In the sections below, we will create the JSF pages to present the screens to perform the CRUD functions. To achieve this, we will be creating THREE web pages: JobList - listing of all the active Jobs/Timers created in a tabular form JobDetails - view/update/delete the selected Job JobNew - create a new Job Creating the Backing Beans for the JSF pages Before creating the actual JSF pages, we first need to create the backing beans that provides the properties and action handlers for the JSF pages (XHTML). Here we will create TWO backing beans: JobList - RequestScoped backing bean for the Job Listing page JobMBean - SessionScoped backing bean for the rest of the JSF pages Steps to create the beans: In the Project view, right-click on the Web project, SchedulerApp-war, and select "New > JSF Managed Bean...", specify JobList as the Class Name, "com.schedulerapp.web" as the Package Name, and the scope to be request Repeat the steps to create the second backing bean, name it JobMBean and set the scope to be session instead. Edit the class, JobList, so that it looks like this: @ManagedBean(name = "JobList") @RequestScoped public class JobList implements java.io.Serializable { @EJB private JobSessionBean jobSessionBean; private List jobList = null; /** Creates a new instance of JobList */ public JobList() { } @PostConstruct public void initialize() { jobList = jobSessionBean.getJobList(); } /* * Returns a list of active Jobs/Timers */ public List getJobs() { return jobList; } } Edit the class, JobMBean, so that it looks like this: @ManagedBean(name = "JobMBean") @SessionScoped public class JobMBean implements java.io.Serializable { @EJB private JobSessionBean jobSessionBean; private JobInfo selectedJob; private JobInfo newJob; /** Creates a new instance of JobMBean */ public JobMBean() { } /* * Getter method for the newJob property */ public JobInfo getNewJob() { return newJob; } /* * Setter method for the newJob property */ public void setNewJob(JobInfo newJob) { this.newJob = newJob; } /* * Getter method for the selectedJob property */ public JobInfo getSelectedJob() { return selectedJob; } /* * Setter method for the selectedJob property */ public String setSelectedJob(JobInfo selectedJob) { this.selectedJob = jobSessionBean.getJobInfo(selectedJob); return "JobDetails"; } /* * Action handler for back to Listing Page */ public String gotoListing() { return "JobList"; } /* * Action handler for New Job button */ public String gotoNew() { System.out.println("gotoNew() called!!!"); newJob = new JobInfo(); return "JobNew"; } /* * Action handler for Duplicate button in the Details page */ public String duplicateJob() { newJob = selectedJob; newJob.setJobId(""); return "JobNew"; } /* * Action handler for Update button in the Details page */ public String updateJob() { FacesContext context = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance(); try { selectedJob = jobSessionBean.updateJob(selectedJob); context.addMessage(null, new FacesMessage(FacesMessage.SEVERITY_INFO, "Success", "Job successfully updated!")); } catch (Exception ex) { Logger.getLogger(JobMBean.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex); context.addMessage(null, new FacesMessage(FacesMessage.SEVERITY_ERROR, "Failed", ex.getCause().getMessage())); } return null; } /* * Action handler for Delete button in the Details page */ public String deleteJob() { jobSessionBean.deleteJob(selectedJob); return "JobList"; } /* * Action handler for Create button in the New page */ public String createJob() { FacesContext context = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance(); try { selectedJob = jobSessionBean.createJob(newJob); context.addMessage(null, new FacesMessage(FacesMessage.SEVERITY_INFO, "Sucess", "Job successfully created!")); return "JobDetails"; } catch (Exception ex) { Logger.getLogger(JobMBean.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex); context.addMessage(null, new FacesMessage(FacesMessage.SEVERITY_ERROR, "Failed", ex.getCause().getMessage())); } return null; } } Now, we have all the services and properties ready to be used by the JSF pages. Creating the JSF pages Finally, we are ready to create the THREE JSF pages: JobList, JobDetails and JobNew. In the Project view, right-click on the Web project, SchedulerApp-war, and select "New > XHTML...", specify JobList as the File Name. Note: If the item "XHTML..." doesn't appear in your menu list, select "New > Others..." instead, then in the New File dialog, select Web under Categories and you should be able to see the XHTML file type on the right. Repeat the above step for JobDetails and JobNew. Edit the file, JobList.xhtml to look like this: Job List Edit the file, JobDetails.xhtml to look like this: Help Edit the file, JobNew.xhtml to look like this: Help At this point, we are done with all the coding, and it's now time to verify the results. Perform a "Clean and Build" of the project and deploy it to the Glassfish v3 server. Testing the application Here, we will do a simple test to verify that the application is working. We will schedule 3 jobs as follows: Job 1 - run BatchJobA every 2 minutes (just to make sure we see the job running) Job 2 - run BatchJobB everyday at 11pm Job 3 - run BatchJobC every Sunday at 1am Steps to create the jobs: Go to the listing page, http://localhost:8080/SchedulerApp-war/JobList.jsf and you should see the following screen: Click on the "New Job" button below the table. Enter the details for Job 1 as follows and click on the "Create" button Click on the "Duplicate" button below to create a new Job using the current information. Enter the details for Job 2 as follows and click on the "Create" button Click on the "Duplicate" button below to create a new Job using the current information. Enter the details for Job 3 as follows and click on the "Create" button At this point, we are done creating the jobs, click on the "Back" button to see the listing. The Job List page should consists of 3 jobs that was created in the above steps Things to Note The Portable JNDI syntax for accessing the Session Beans: BatchJobA, BatchJobB and BatchJobC The "*" in the text fields represents "Every", see Java EE 6 Tutorial for details You should be able see in the log file, server.log, that BatchJobA now runs every 2 minutes The timers(jobs) are persistent, i.e. they will survive server restarts. Try restarting ther server and view the Job list again Try out the other functions of the CRUD and schedule your own jobs to see it in action. Summary Congratulations! You now have a simple scheduler to schedule your long running jobs in your application. With this framework and the GUI, you can have the flexibility and full control over the jobs you want to manage without having to pre-determine the time and interval to run them during Design and Development phase. Although the timers are persistent, the server may remove them when changes, such as new deployments, are detected. As such, you can further extend the scheduler to persist information in the database in a more dynamic and complex environment, e.g., a cluster. Good luck and have fun using the Scheduler. If you cannot get your copy running, not to worry, you can get a working copy here. See Also For other related resources, see the following: Develop Java EE 5 application with Visual JSF, EJB3 and JPA Securing Java EE 6 application with JEE Security and LDAP How to Create a Java EE 6 Application with JSF 2, EJB 3.1, JPA, and NetBeans IDE 6.8

What can you do with a Groovy AST Transformation? A difficult question, considering the answer is "almost anything".

How to use python and ALSA to generate binaural beats. # A very simple python example to generate binaural beats. # The data is sent to the device in a too basic way, so the # script only works well with integer frecuencies. from alsaaudio import * from struct import pack from math import sin, pi # Channel 1 frec1=317 #Frecuency vol1=1 #Volume #Channel 2 frec2=323 #Frecuency vol2=1 #Volume #Very basic choice of parameters rate = 44100 period = 44100 channels = 2 # device initialization out = PCM(type=PCM_PLAYBACK, mode=PCM_NORMAL, card='default') # parameters out.setchannels(channels) out.setrate(rate) out.setformat(PCM_FORMAT_S32_LE) out.setperiodsize(period) # a list with the sinusoidal signals is built maxAmp = pow(2,31) - 1 list = [] i=period while(i>0): list.append(maxAmp*vol1*sin(frec1*float(i)/rate*2*pi)) list.append(maxAmp*vol2*sin(frec2*float(i)/rate*2*pi)) i-=1 # and the list is writen over and over again. Just kill the process to stop. s=pack('<'+channels*period*'l',*list) while(1): out.write(s)

Learn the basics of Java Content Repositories, including how they work, and how they're used.

Spring Integration and Apache Camel are open source frameworks providing a simpler solution for the Integration problems in the enterprise, to quote from their respective websites: Apache Camel - Apache Camel is a powerful open source integration framework based on known Enterprise Integration Patterns with powerful Bean Integration. Spring Integration - It provides an extension of the Spring programming model to support the well-known Enterprise Integration Patterns while building on the Spring Framework's existing support for enterprise integration. Essentially Spring Integration and Apache Camel enable applications to integrate with other systems. This article seeks to provide an implementation for an integration problem using both Spring Integration and Apache Camel. The objective is to show how easy it is to use these frameworks for a fairly complicated integration problem and to recommend either of these great products for your next Integration challenge. Problem: To illustrate the use of these frameworks consider a simple integration scenario, described using EIP terminology: The application needs to get a "Report" by aggregating "Sections" from a Section XML over http service. Each request for Report consists of a set of request for sections – in this specific example there are requests for three sections, the header, body and footer. The XML over http service returns a Section for the Section Request. The responses need to be aggregated into a single report. A sample test for this scenario is of the following type: ReportGenerator reportGenerator = reportGeneratorFactory.createReportGenerator(); List sectionRequests = new ArrayList(); String entityId="A Company"; sectionRequests.add(new SectionRequest(entityId,"header")); sectionRequests.add(new SectionRequest(entityId,"body")); sectionRequests.add(new SectionRequest(entityId,"footer")); ReportRequest reportRequest = new ReportRequest(sectionRequests); Report report = reportGenerator.generateReport(reportRequest); List sectionOfReport = report.getSections(); System.out.println(report); assertEquals(3, sectionOfReport.size()); The “ReportGenerator” is the messaging gateway, hiding the details of the underlying messaging infrastructure and in this specific case also the integration API – Apache Camel or Spring Integration. To start with, let us implement a solution to this integration problem using Spring Integration as the Framework, followed by Apache Camel. The complete working code using Spring Integration and Apache Camel is also available with the article. Solution Using Spring Integration: The Gateway component is easily configured using the following entry in the Spring Configuration. Internally Spring Integration uses AOP to hook up a component which routes the requests from an internal input channel and waits for the response in the response channel. The component to Split the Input Report Request to Section Request is fairly straightforward: public class SectionRequestSplitter { public List split(ReportRequest reportRequest){ return reportRequest.getSectionRequests(); } } and to hook this splitter with Spring Integration: Next, to transform the Section Request to an XML format - The component is the following: public class SectionRequestToXMLTransformer { public String transform(SectionRequest sectionRequest){ //this needs to be optimized...purely for demonstration of the concept String sectionRequestAsString = "" + sectionRequest.getEntityId() + "" + sectionRequest.getSectionId() + ""; return sectionRequestAsString; } } and is hooked up in the Spring Integration configuration file in the following way: To send an XML over http request using the Section Request XML to a section Service: To transform the Section Response XML to a Section Object - The component is the following: public class SectionResponseXMLToSectionTransformer { public Section transform(String sectionXML) { SAXReader saxReader = new SAXReader(); Document document; String sectionName = ""; String entityId = ""; try { document = saxReader.read(new StringReader(sectionXML)); sectionName = document .selectSingleNode("/section/meta/sectionName").getText(); entityId = document.selectSingleNode("/section/meta/entityId") .getText(); } catch (DocumentException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } return new Section(entityId, sectionName, sectionXML); } } and is hooked up in the Spring Integration configuration file in the following way: To aggregate the Sections together into a report, the component is the following:: public class SectionResponseAggregator { public Report aggregate(List sections) { return new Report(sections); } } and is hooked up in the Spring Integration configuration file in the following way: This completes the Spring Integration implementation for this Integration Problem. The following is the complete Spring Integration configuration file: A working sample is provided with the article(Download, extract and run "mvn test") Solution using Apache Camel: Apache Camel allows the route to be defined using multiple DSL implementations – Java DSL, Scala DSL and an XML based DSL. The recommended approach is to use Spring CamelContext as a runtime and the Java DSL for route development. The following is to build the Spring Camel Context: The route is configured by the Java based DSL: public class CamelRouteBuilder extends RouteBuilder { private String serviceURL; @Override public void configure() throws Exception { from("direct:start") .split().method("sectionRequestSplitterBean", "split") .aggregationStrategy(new ReportAggregationStrategy()) .transform().method("sectionRequestToXMLBean", "transform") .to(serviceURL) .transform().method("sectionResponseXMLToSectionBean", "transform"); } public void setServiceURL(String serviceURL) { this.serviceURL = serviceURL; } } Apache Camel does not provide an out of the box Message Gateway feature, however it is fairly easy to create a wrapper component that can hide the underlying details in the following way: Reader davsclaus has provided references to two mechanisms with Apache Camel to provide an out of the box Messaging Gateway - Messaging Gateway EIP and Camel Proxy which allows a POJO to be used as a Mesaging Gateway. Camel Proxy will be used with the article, and can be configured in the Camel Configuration files in the following way: Per davsclaus, there is a bug in Apache Camel(2.1 or older) when invoking a bean later in the route(the splitter bean), which is to be fixed in Apache Camel 2.2. To work around this bug, a convertBody step will be introduced in the route: from("direct:start") .convertBodyTo(ReportRequest.class) .split(bean("sectionRequestSplitterBean", "split"), new ReportAggregationStrategy()) .transform().method("sectionRequestToXMLBean", "transform") .to(serviceURL) .transform().method("sectionResponseXMLToSectionBean", "transform"); The component to Split the Input Report Request to Section Request is exactly same as Spring Integration component: public class SectionRequestSplitter { public List split(ReportRequest reportRequest){ return reportRequest.getSectionRequests(); } } To hook the component with Apache Camel: from("direct:start") .split().method("sectionRequestSplitterBean", "split") .... Next to transform the Section Request to an XML format, again this is exactly same as the implementation for Spring Integration, with hook being provided in the following manner: ...... .transform().method("sectionRequestToXMLBean", "transform") ...... To send an XML over http request using the Section Request XML to a section Service: ...... .transform().method("sectionRequestToXMLBean", "transform") .to(serviceURL) ......... To transform the Section Response XML to a Section object, the component is exactly same as the one used with Spring Integration, with the following highlighted hook in the Camel route: ...... .transform().method("sectionResponseXMLToSectionBean", "transform"); To aggregate the Section responses together into a report, the component is a bit more complicated than Spring Integration. Apache Camel supports a Scatter/Gather pattern using a route of the following type: ...... .split().method("sectionRequestSplitterBean", "split") .aggregationStrategy(new ReportAggregationStrategy()) with an aggregation strategy being passed on to the Splitter, the aggregation strategy implementation is the following: public class ReportAggregationStrategy implements AggregationStrategy { @Override public Exchange aggregate(Exchange oldExchange, Exchange newExchange) { if (oldExchange == null) { Section section = newExchange.getIn().getBody(Section.class); Report report = new Report(); report.addSection(section); newExchange.getIn().setBody(report); return newExchange; } Report report = oldExchange.getIn().getBody(Report.class); Section section = newExchange.getIn().getBody(Section.class); report.addSection(section); oldExchange.getIn().setBody(report); return oldExchange; } } This completes the Apache Camel based implementation. A working sample for Camel is provided with the article - just download, extract and run "mvn test". Conclusion: Spring Integration and Apache Camel provide a simple and clean approach for the Integration problems in a typical enterprise. They are lightweight frameworks – Spring Integration builds on top of Spring portfolio and extends the familiar programming model for the Integration domain and is easy to pick up, Apache camel provides a good Java based DSL and integrates well with Spring Core, with a fairly gentle learning curve. The article does not recommend one product over the other but encourages the reader to evaluate and learn from both these frameworks. References: Spring Integration Website: http://www.springsource.org/spring-integration Apache Camel Website: http://camel.apache.org/ Spring Integration Reference: http://static.springsource.org/spring-integration/reference/htmlsingle/spring-integration-reference.html Apache Camel User Guide: http://camel.apache.org/user-guide.html Plug for my blog: http://biju-allandsundry.blogspot.com/

// Lists of common US names for generating test data. There are 3 lists: // surnames_list, male_names_list, female_names_list surnames_list=['Smith','Johnson','Williams','Brown','Jones','Miller','Davis','Garcia','Rodriguez','Wilson','Martinez','Anderson','Taylor','Thomas','Hernandez','Moore','Martin','Jackson','Thompson','White','Lopez','Lee','Gonzalez','Harris','Clark','Lewis','Robinson','Walker','Perez','Hall','Young','Allen','Sanchez','Wright','King','Scott','Green','Baker','Adams','Nelson','Hill','Ramirez','Campbell','Mitchell','Roberts','Carter','Phillips','Evans','Turner','Torres','Parker','Collins','Edwards','Stewart','Flores','Morris','Nguyen','Murphy','Rivera','Cook','Rogers','Morgan','Peterson','Cooper','Reed','Bailey','Bell','Gomez','Kelly','Howard','Ward','Cox','Diaz','Richardson','Wood','Watson','Brooks','Bennett','Gray','James','Reyes','Cruz','Hughes','Price','Myers','Long','Foster','Sanders','Ross','Morales','Powell','Sullivan','Russell','Ortiz','Jenkins','Gutierrez','Perry','Butler','Barnes','Fisher','Henderson','Coleman','Simmons','Patterson','Jordan','Reynolds','Hamilton','Graham','Kim','Gonzales','Alexander','Ramos','Wallace','Griffin','West','Cole','Hayes','Chavez','Gibson','Bryant','Ellis','Stevens','Murray','Ford','Marshall','Owens','Mcdonald','Harrison','Ruiz','Kennedy','Wells','Alvarez','Woods','Mendoza','Castillo','Olson','Webb','Washington','Tucker','Freeman','Burns','Henry','Vasquez','Snyder','Simpson','Crawford','Jimenez','Porter','Mason','Shaw','Gordon','Wagner','Hunter','Romero','Hicks','Dixon','Hunt','Palmer','Robertson','Black','Holmes','Stone','Meyer','Boyd','Mills','Warren','Fox','Rose','Rice','Moreno','Schmidt','Patel','Ferguson','Nichols','Herrera','Medina','Ryan','Fernandez','Weaver','Daniels','Stephens','Gardner','Payne','Kelley','Dunn','Pierce','Arnold','Tran','Spencer','Peters','Hawkins','Grant','Hansen','Castro','Hoffman','Hart','Elliott','Cunningham','Knight','Bradley','Carroll','Hudson','Duncan','Armstrong','Berry','Andrews','Johnston','Ray','Lane','Riley','Carpenter','Perkins','Aguilar','Silva','Richards','Willis','Matthews','Chapman','Lawrence','Garza','Vargas','Watkins','Wheeler','Larson','Carlson','Harper','George','Greene','Burke','Guzman','Morrison','Munoz','Jacobs','Obrien','Lawson','Franklin','Lynch','Bishop','Carr','Salazar','Austin','Mendez','Gilbert','Jensen','Williamson','Montgomery','Harvey','Oliver','Howell','Dean','Hanson','Weber','Garrett','Sims','Burton','Fuller','Soto','Mccoy','Welch','Chen','Schultz','Walters','Reid','Fields','Walsh','Little','Fowler','Bowman','Davidson','May','Day','Schneider','Newman','Brewer','Lucas','Holland','Wong','Banks','Santos','Curtis','Pearson','Delgado','Valdez','Pena','Rios','Douglas','Sandoval','Barrett','Hopkins','Keller','Guerrero','Stanley','Bates','Alvarado','Beck','Ortega','Wade','Estrada','Contreras','Barnett','Caldwell','Santiago','Lambert','Powers','Chambers','Nunez','Craig','Leonard','Lowe','Rhodes','Byrd','Gregory','Shelton','Frazier','Becker','Maldonado','Fleming','Vega','Sutton','Cohen','Jennings','Parks','Mcdaniel','Watts','Barker','Norris','Vaughn','Vazquez','Holt','Schwartz','Steele','Benson','Neal','Dominguez','Horton','Terry','Wolfe','Hale','Lyons','Graves','Haynes','Miles','Park','Warner','Padilla','Bush','Thornton','Mccarthy','Mann','Zimmerman','Erickson','Fletcher','Mckinney','Page','Dawson','Joseph','Marquez','Reeves','Klein','Espinoza','Baldwin','Moran','Love','Robbins','Higgins','Ball','Cortez','Le','Griffith','Bowen','Sharp','Cummings','Ramsey','Hardy','Swanson','Barber','Acosta','Luna','Chandler','Blair','Daniel','Cross','Simon','Dennis','Oconnor','Quinn','Gross','Navarro','Moss','Fitzgerald','Doyle','Mclaughlin','Rojas','Rodgers','Stevenson','Singh','Yang','Figueroa','Harmon','Newton','Paul','Manning','Garner','Mcgee','Reese','Francis','Burgess','Adkins','Goodman','Curry','Brady','Christensen','Potter','Walton','Goodwin','Mullins','Molina','Webster','Fischer','Campos','Avila','Sherman','Todd','Chang','Blake','Malone','Wolf','Hodges','Juarez','Gill','Farmer','Hines','Gallagher','Duran','Hubbard','Cannon','Miranda','Wang','Saunders','Tate','Mack','Hammond','Carrillo','Townsend','Wise','Ingram','Barton','Mejia','Ayala','Schroeder','Hampton','Rowe','Parsons','Frank','Waters','Strickland','Osborne','Maxwell','Chan','Deleon','Norman','Harrington','Casey','Patton','Logan','Bowers','Mueller','Glover','Floyd','Hartman','Buchanan','Cobb','French','Kramer','Mccormick','Clarke','Tyler','Gibbs','Moody','Conner','Sparks','Mcguire','Leon','Bauer','Norton','Pope','Flynn','Hogan','Robles','Salinas','Yates','Lindsey','Lloyd','Marsh','Mcbride','Owen','Solis','Pham','Lang','Pratt','Lara','Brock','Ballard','Trujillo','Shaffer','Drake','Roman','Aguirre','Morton','Stokes','Lamb','Pacheco','Patrick','Cochran','Shepherd','Cain','Burnett','Hess','Li','Cervantes','Olsen','Briggs','Ochoa','Cabrera','Velasquez','Montoya','Roth','Meyers','Cardenas','Fuentes','Weiss','Wilkins','Hoover','Nicholson','Underwood','Short','Carson','Morrow','Colon','Holloway','Summers','Bryan','Petersen','Mckenzie','Serrano','Wilcox','Carey','Clayton','Poole','Calderon','Gallegos','Greer','Rivas','Guerra','Decker','Collier','Wall','Whitaker','Bass','Flowers','Davenport','Conley','Houston','Huff','Copeland','Hood','Monroe','Massey','Roberson','Combs','Franco','Larsen','Pittman','Randall','Skinner','Wilkinson','Kirby','Cameron','Bridges','Anthony','Richard','Kirk','Bruce','Singleton','Mathis','Bradford','Boone','Abbott','Charles','Allison','Sweeney','Atkinson','Horn','Jefferson','Rosales','York','Christian','Phelps','Farrell','Castaneda','Nash','Dickerson','Bond','Wyatt','Foley','Chase','Gates','Vincent','Mathews','Hodge','Garrison','Trevino','Villarreal','Heath','Dalton','Valencia','Callahan','Hensley','Atkins','Huffman','Roy','Boyer','Shields','Lin','Hancock','Grimes','Glenn','Cline','Delacruz','Camacho','Dillon','Parrish','Oneill','Melton','Booth','Kane','Berg','Harrell','Pitts','Savage','Wiggins','Brennan','Salas','Marks','Russo','Sawyer','Baxter','Golden','Hutchinson','Liu','Walter','Mcdowell','Wiley','Rich','Humphrey','Johns','Koch','Suarez','Hobbs','Beard','Gilmore','Ibarra','Keith','Macias','Khan','Andrade','Ware','Stephenson','Henson','Wilkerson','Dyer','Mcclure','Blackwell','Mercado','Tanner','Eaton','Clay','Barron','Beasley','Oneal','Small','Preston','Wu','Zamora','Macdonald','Vance','Snow','Mcclain','Stafford','Orozco','Barry','English','Shannon','Kline','Jacobson','Woodard','Huang','Kemp','Mosley','Prince','Merritt','Hurst','Villanueva','Roach','Nolan','Lam','Yoder','Mccullough','Lester','Santana','Valenzuela','Winters','Barrera','Orr','Leach','Berger','Mckee','Strong','Conway','Stein','Whitehead','Bullock','Escobar','Knox','Meadows','Solomon','Velez','Odonnell','Kerr','Stout','Blankenship','Browning','Kent','Lozano','Bartlett','Pruitt','Buck','Barr','Gaines','Durham','Gentry','Mcintyre','Sloan','Rocha','Melendez','Herman','Sexton','Moon','Hendricks','Rangel','Stark','Lowery','Hardin','Hull','Sellers','Ellison','Calhoun','Gillespie','Mora','Knapp','Mccall','Morse','Dorsey','Weeks','Nielsen','Livingston','Leblanc','Mclean','Bradshaw','Glass','Middleton','Buckley','Schaefer','Frost','Howe','House','Mcintosh','Ho','Pennington','Reilly','Hebert','Mcfarland','Hickman','Noble','Spears','Conrad','Arias','Galvan','Velazquez','Huynh','Frederick','Randolph','Cantu','Fitzpatrick','Mahoney','Peck','Villa','Michael','Donovan','Mcconnell','Walls','Boyle','Mayer','Zuniga','Giles','Pineda','Pace','Hurley','Mays','Mcmillan','Crosby','Ayers','Case','Bentley','Shepard','Everett','Pugh','David','Mcmahon','Dunlap','Bender','Hahn','Harding','Acevedo','Raymond','Blackburn','Duffy','Landry','Dougherty','Bautista','Shah','Potts','Arroyo','Valentine','Meza','Gould','Vaughan','Fry','Rush','Avery','Herring','Dodson','Clements','Sampson','Tapia','Bean','Lynn','Crane','Farley','Cisneros','Benton','Ashley','Mckay','Finley','Best','Blevins','Friedman','Moses','Sosa','Blanchard','Huber','Frye','Krueger','Bernard','Rosario','Rubio','Mullen','Benjamin','Haley','Chung','Moyer','Choi','Horne','Yu','Woodward','Ali','Nixon','Hayden','Rivers','Estes','Mccarty','Richmond','Stuart','Maynard','Brandt','Oconnell','Hanna','Sanford','Sheppard','Church','Burch','Levy','Rasmussen','Coffey','Ponce','Faulkner','Donaldson','Schmitt','Novak','Costa','Montes','Booker','Cordova','Waller','Arellano','Maddox','Mata','Bonilla','Stanton','Compton','Kaufman','Dudley','Mcpherson','Beltran','Dickson','Mccann','Villegas','Proctor','Hester','Cantrell','Daugherty','Cherry','Bray','Davila','Rowland','Madden','Levine','Spence','Good','Irwin','Werner','Krause','Petty','Whitney','Baird','Hooper','Pollard','Zavala','Jarvis','Holden','Haas','Hendrix','Mcgrath','Bird','Lucero','Terrell','Riggs','Joyce','Mercer','Rollins','Galloway','Duke','Odom','Andersen','Downs','Hatfield','Benitez','Archer','Huerta','Travis','Mcneil','Hinton','Zhang','Hays','Mayo','Fritz','Branch','Mooney','Ewing','Ritter','Esparza','Frey','Braun','Gay','Riddle','Haney','Kaiser','Holder','Chaney','Mcknight','Gamble','Vang','Cooley','Carney','Cowan','Forbes','Ferrell','Davies','Barajas','Shea','Osborn','Bright','Cuevas','Bolton','Murillo','Lutz','Duarte','Kidd','Key','Cooke'] male_names_list=['James','John','Robert','Michael','William','David','Richard','Charles','Joseph','Thomas','Christopher','Daniel','Paul','Mark','Donald','George','Kenneth','Steven','Edward','Brian','Ronald','Anthony','Kevin','Jason','Matthew','Gary','Timothy','Jose','Larry','Jeffrey','Frank','Scott','Eric','Stephen','Andrew','Raymond','Gregory','Joshua','Jerry','Dennis','Walter','Patrick','Peter','Harold','Douglas','Henry','Carl','Arthur','Ryan','Roger','Joe','Juan','Jack','Albert','Jonathan','Justin','Terry','Gerald','Keith','Samuel','Willie','Ralph','Lawrence','Nicholas','Roy','Benjamin','Bruce','Brandon','Adam','Harry','Fred','Wayne','Billy','Steve','Louis','Jeremy','Aaron','Randy','Howard','Eugene','Carlos','Russell','Bobby','Victor','Martin','Ernest','Phillip','Todd','Jesse','Craig','Alan','Shawn','Clarence','Sean','Philip','Chris','Johnny','Earl','Jimmy','Antonio','Danny','Bryan','Tony','Luis','Mike','Stanley','Leonard','Nathan','Dale','Manuel','Rodney','Curtis','Norman','Allen','Marvin','Vincent','Glenn','Jeffery','Travis','Jeff','Chad','Jacob','Lee','Melvin','Alfred','Kyle','Francis','Bradley','Jesus','Herbert','Frederick','Ray','Joel','Edwin','Don','Eddie','Ricky','Troy','Randall','Barry','Alexander','Bernard','Mario','Leroy','Francisco','Marcus','Micheal','Theodore','Clifford','Miguel','Oscar','Jay','Jim','Tom','Calvin','Alex','Jon','Ronnie','Bill','Lloyd','Tommy','Leon','Derek','Warren','Darrell','Jerome','Floyd','Leo','Alvin','Tim','Wesley','Gordon','Dean','Greg','Jorge','Dustin','Pedro','Derrick','Dan','Lewis','Zachary','Corey','Herman','Maurice','Vernon','Roberto','Clyde','Glen','Hector','Shane','Ricardo','Sam','Rick','Lester','Brent','Ramon','Charlie','Tyler','Gilbert','Gene','Marc','Reginald','Ruben','Brett','Angel','Nathaniel','Rafael','Leslie','Edgar','Milton','Raul','Ben','Chester','Cecil','Duane','Franklin','Andre','Elmer','Brad','Gabriel','Ron','Mitchell','Roland','Arnold','Harvey','Jared','Adrian','Karl','Cory','Claude','Erik','Darryl','Jamie','Neil','Jessie','Christian','Javier','Fernando','Clinton','Ted','Mathew','Tyrone','Darren','Lonnie','Lance','Cody','Julio','Kelly','Kurt','Allan','Nelson','Guy','Clayton','Hugh','Max','Dwayne','Dwight','Armando','Felix','Jimmie','Everett','Jordan','Ian','Wallace','Ken','Bob','Jaime','Casey','Alfredo','Alberto','Dave','Ivan','Johnnie','Sidney','Byron','Julian','Isaac','Morris','Clifton','Willard','Daryl','Ross','Virgil','Andy','Marshall','Salvador','Perry','Kirk','Sergio','Marion','Tracy','Seth','Kent','Terrance','Rene','Eduardo','Terrence','Enrique','Freddie','Wade'] female_names_list=['Mary','Patricia','Linda','Barbara','Elizabeth','Jennifer','Maria','Susan','Margaret','Dorothy','Lisa','Nancy','Karen','Betty','Helen','Sandra','Donna','Carol','Ruth','Sharon','Michelle','Laura','Sarah','Kimberly','Deborah','Jessica','Shirley','Cynthia','Angela','Melissa','Brenda','Amy','Anna','Rebecca','Virginia','Kathleen','Pamela','Martha','Debra','Amanda','Stephanie','Carolyn','Christine','Marie','Janet','Catherine','Frances','Ann','Joyce','Diane','Alice','Julie','Heather','Teresa','Doris','Gloria','Evelyn','Jean','Cheryl','Mildred','Katherine','Joan','Ashley','Judith','Rose','Janice','Kelly','Nicole','Judy','Christina','Kathy','Theresa','Beverly','Denise','Tammy','Irene','Jane','Lori','Rachel','Marilyn','Andrea','Kathryn','Louise','Sara','Anne','Jacqueline','Wanda','Bonnie','Julia','Ruby','Lois','Tina','Phyllis','Norma','Paula','Diana','Annie','Lillian','Emily','Robin','Peggy','Crystal','Gladys','Rita','Dawn','Connie','Florence','Tracy','Edna','Tiffany','Carmen','Rosa','Cindy','Grace','Wendy','Victoria','Edith','Kim','Sherry','Sylvia','Josephine','Thelma','Shannon','Sheila','Ethel','Ellen','Elaine','Marjorie','Carrie','Charlotte','Monica','Esther','Pauline','Emma','Juanita','Anita','Rhonda','Hazel','Amber','Eva','Debbie','April','Leslie','Clara','Lucille','Jamie','Joanne','Eleanor','Valerie','Danielle','Megan','Alicia','Suzanne','Michele','Gail','Bertha','Darlene','Veronica','Jill','Erin','Geraldine','Lauren','Cathy','Joann','Lorraine','Lynn','Sally','Regina','Erica','Beatrice','Dolores','Bernice','Audrey','Yvonne','Annette','June','Samantha','Marion','Dana','Stacy','Ana','Renee','Ida','Vivian','Roberta','Holly','Brittany','Melanie','Loretta','Yolanda','Jeanette','Laurie','Katie','Kristen','Vanessa','Alma','Sue','Elsie','Beth','Jeanne','Vicki','Carla','Tara','Rosemary','Eileen','Terri','Gertrude','Lucy','Tonya','Ella','Stacey','Wilma','Gina','Kristin','Jessie','Natalie','Agnes','Vera','Willie','Charlene','Bessie','Delores','Melinda','Pearl','Arlene','Maureen','Colleen','Allison','Tamara','Joy','Georgia','Constance','Lillie','Claudia','Jackie','Marcia','Tanya','Nellie','Minnie','Marlene','Heidi','Glenda','Lydia','Viola','Courtney','Marian','Stella','Caroline','Dora','Jo','Vickie','Mattie','Terry','Maxine','Irma','Mabel','Marsha','Myrtle','Lena','Christy','Deanna','Patsy','Hilda','Gwendolyn','Jennie','Nora','Margie','Nina','Cassandra','Leah','Penny','Kay','Priscilla','Naomi','Carole','Brandy','Olga','Billie','Dianne','Tracey','Leona','Jenny','Felicia','Sonia','Miriam','Velma','Becky','Bobbie','Violet','Kristina','Toni','Misty','Mae','Shelly','Daisy','Ramona','Sherri','Erika','Katrina','Claire','Lindsey','Lindsay','Geneva','Guadalupe','Belinda','Margarita','Sheryl','Cora','Faye','Ada','Natasha','Sabrina','Isabel','Marguerite','Hattie','Harriet','Molly','Cecilia','Kristi','Brandi','Blanche','Sandy','Rosie','Joanna','Iris','Eunice','Angie','Inez','Lynda','Madeline','Amelia','Alberta','Genevieve','Monique','Jodi','Janie','Maggie','Kayla','Sonya','Jan','Lee','Kristine','Candace','Fannie','Maryann','Opal','Alison','Yvette','Melody','Luz','Susie','Olivia','Flora','Shelley','Kristy','Mamie','Lula','Lola','Verna','Beulah','Antoinette','Candice','Juana','Jeannette','Pam','Kelli','Hannah','Whitney','Bridget','Karla','Celia','Latoya','Patty','Shelia','Gayle','Della','Vicky','Lynne','Sheri','Marianne','Kara','Jacquelyn','Erma','Blanca','Myra','Leticia','Pat','Krista','Roxanne','Angelica','Johnnie','Robyn','Francis','Adrienne','Rosalie','Alexandra','Brooke','Bethany','Sadie','Bernadette','Traci','Jody','Kendra','Jasmine','Nichole','Rachael','Chelsea','Mable','Ernestine','Muriel','Marcella','Elena','Krystal','Angelina','Nadine','Kari','Estelle','Dianna','Paulette','Lora','Mona','Doreen','Rosemarie','Angel','Desiree','Antonia','Hope','Ginger','Janis','Betsy','Christie','Freda','Mercedes','Meredith','Lynette','Teri','Cristina','Eula','Leigh','Meghan','Sophia','Eloise','Rochelle','Gretchen','Cecelia','Raquel','Henrietta','Alyssa','Jana','Kelley','Gwen','Kerry','Jenna','Tricia','Laverne','Olive','Alexis','Tasha','Silvia','Elvira','Casey','Delia','Sophie','Kate','Patti','Lorena','Kellie','Sonja','Lila','Lana','Darla','May','Mindy','Essie','Mandy','Lorene','Elsa','Josefina','Jeannie','Miranda','Dixie','Lucia','Marta','Faith','Lela','Johanna','Shari','Camille','Tami','Shawna','Elisa','Ebony','Melba','Ora','Nettie','Tabitha','Ollie','Jaime','Winifred','Kristie','Marina','Alisha','Aimee','Rena','Myrna','Marla','Tammie','Latasha','Bonita','Patrice','Ronda','Sherrie','Addie','Francine','Deloris','Stacie','Adriana','Cheri','Shelby','Abigail','Celeste','Jewel','Cara','Adele','Rebekah','Lucinda','Dorthy','Chris','Effie','Trina','Reba','Shawn','Sallie','Aurora','Lenora','Etta','Lottie','Kerri','Trisha','Nikki','Estella','Francisca','Josie','Tracie','Marissa','Karin','Brittney','Janelle','Lourdes','Laurel','Helene','Fern','Elva','Corinne','Kelsey','Ina','Bettie','Elisabeth','Aida','Caitlin','Ingrid','Iva','Eugenia',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Develop a web-based app based on technologies in the JEE6 specs such as Enterprise Java Beans 3.1 and JPA with the help of NetBeans IDE 6.8.

Cargo is a versatile library that lets you manage, and deploy applications to, a variety of application servers. In this article, we look at how to use Cargo with Maven. If you are starting from scratch, you can use an Archetype to create a Cargo-enabled web application: mvn archetype:create -DarchetypeGroupId=org.codehaus.cargo -DarchetypeArtifactId=cargo-archetype-webapp-single-module -DgroupId=com.wakaleo -DartifactId=ezbank Or it is easy to add to an existing configuration - just add the cargo-maven2-plugin to your pom file. The default configuration will deploy the application to an embedded Jetty server: org.codehaus.cargo cargo-maven2-plugin 1.0 Then just run mvn cargo:start. However Cargo is designed for deployment, and does not support rapid lifecycle development - use the ordinary Jetty plugin for that. Deploying to a Tomcat instance You can run your integration tests against a Tomcat server that Cargo will initialize and configure for the occasion - this is referred to as 'standalone' mode: org.codehaus.cargo cargo-maven2-plugin 1.0 tomcat6x /usr/local/apache-tomcat-6.0.18 standalone target/tomcat6x Cargo will create a base directory (think CATALINA_BASE) in a directory that you specify. It will use the Tomcat home directory that you provide. At each installation, Cargo will destroy and recreate the base directory. You can also download and install a Tomcat installation as required using the element: http://www.orionserver.com/distributions/orion2.0.5.zip ${java.io.tmpdir}/cargoinstalls This is a more portable solution which is useful for integration tests Running integration tests with Cargo You can use Cargo to automatically start up a web server to run your integration tests. This means you can run your integration tests on any of the supported servers (Tomcat, Jetty, JBoss, Weblogic,...): org.codehaus.cargo cargo-maven2-plugin 1.0 start-container pre-integration-test start stop-container post-integration-test stop false tomcat6x /usr/local/apache-tomcat-6.0.18 standalone target/tomcat6x Deploying to an existing server You can also deploy to a running application server. You need to use the 'existing' configuration type (existing). You can use a separate profile to run the integration tests in a standalone instance and then deploy to a running instance. integration org.codehaus.cargo cargo-maven2-plugin 1.0 tomcat6x existing /usr/local/apache-tomcat-6.0.18 ... Then you can deploy your application as shown here: $ mvn install $ mvn cargo:deploy -Pintegration Deploying to a remote server You can also deploy to a remote server, using the server-specific remote API (e.g. the HTML manager application for Tomcat). You need to set up a container of type 'remote' and a configuration of type 'runtime': tomcat6x remote runtime admin http://localhost:8888/manager ... In the section, you define server-specific properties (see the Cargo documentation). Then you use Cargo as usual: $ mvn cargo:redeploy -o ... [INFO] [cargo:redeploy] [INFO] [mcat6xRemoteDeployer] Redeploying [/Users/johnsmart/.m2/repository/org/ebank/ ebank-web/1.0.0-SNAPSHOT/ebank-web-1.0.0-SNAPSHOT.war] [INFO] [mcat6xRemoteDeployer] Undeploying [/Users/johnsmart/.m2/repository/org/ebank/ ebank-web/1.0.0-SNAPSHOT/ebank-web-1.0.0-SNAPSHOT.war] [INFO] [mcat6xRemoteDeployer] Deploying [/Users/johnsmart/.m2/repository/org/ebank/ ebank-web/1.0.0-SNAPSHOT/ebank-web-1.0.0-SNAPSHOT.war] [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [INFO] BUILD SUCCESSFUL [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [INFO] Total time: 4 seconds [INFO] Finished at: Fri Jul 17 17:45:34 CEST 2009 [INFO] Final Memory: 6M/12M [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Using a dedicated deployer module You can dissociate the build process from the application deployment process by creating a separate Maven module dedicated to deployments. This also makes it easier to build and deploy your WAR file to Nexus on one server, and then deploy to your application server directly on the target machine. To do this, you create a dedicated Maven module. It only needs to contain the Cargo plugin and a dependency on the application to be deployed. The Cargo plugin uses the section to obtain the WAR file to be deployed from your Nexus repository. ... org.codehaus.cargo cargo-maven2-plugin 1.0 tomcat6x existing /usr/local/apache-tomcat-6.0.18 ebank-web org.ebank war The dependencies section contains a reference to the WAR file to be deployed. You can use a property here so that you can pass a version number from the command line: ... org.ebank ebank-web war ${target.version} ${project.version} From http://weblogs.java.net/blog/johnsmart

In 1979 a group of western dignitaries visited Japan to learn more about the manufacturing models that had been applied to great success. Konosuke Matsushita, the president of Matsushita Corporation (Panasonic, Legend, Technics etc.), opened his talk with the famous statement…. “We are going to win and the industrial west is going to lose: there’s nothing much you can do about it, because the reasons for your failure are within yourselves. Your firms are built on the Taylor model; even worse, so are your heads. For you, the essence of management is getting the ideas out of the heads of the bosses and into the hands of labour. We are beyond the Taylor model.”. This leads to two questions: What did Matsushita-san mean by this bold statement?... and why did his visitors deserve such a warm welcome?! To understand Matsushita-san’s point we need to take a brief look at the history of management science. Prior to the Industrial Revolution in the 1830’s, businesses were small-scale, intimate affairs, consisting of a limited number of individuals. To look at the management of large numbers of people prior to this point requires the study of governments and armies. During the early 1800’s technological advances led to the rise of larger industrial enterprises. Factories emerged to produce goods at a larger scale and at lower costs than traditional cottage industries. Cue the entrance of Frederick Winslow Taylor to our story. Taylor was a mechanical engineer who was fascinated with industrial efficiency. He is regarded as being one of the founding fathers of management science and wrote a book on ‘Scientific Management’1. Taylor’s industrial models separated ‘working’ from ‘doing’; he believed that it was the role of management to determine the ‘one best way’ to perform the work… “It is only through enforced standardisation of methods, enforced adoption of the best implements and working conditions and enforced cooperation that this faster work can be assured. And the duty of enforcing the adoption of standards and enforcing this cooperation rests with management alone.”. When Henry Ford set about his mission to revolutionise mass transportation in the early 1900’s, he turned to the latest management thinking to make his dream a reality. Ford created a business of such scale and effectiveness that it must have seemed to his competitors and peers analogous to turning up to the proverbial knife fight with an F-14. He progressed from building a handful of vehicles in 1909 to over 500,000 units just six years later, inventing all of the technology he needed to do it along the way. The success of Henry Ford, and later Alfred Sloan at General Motors, led to a cascade in management thinking. The Taylor model that Ford and Sloan had applied to such great success became the archetypal model for the western corporation in the 20th century. Cut to 1947… The Second World War has ended and Japanese industry has been decimated by two atomic bombs: one at Hiroshima, the other at Nagasaki. The allies, keen to support the redevelopment efforts in Japan, send over a party of management consultants to help with the work required to rebuild industry. Amongst them is William Edwards Deming, a statistician and management theorist whose philosophies had been largely ignored at home. Deming, in contrast to Taylor, believed that ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’ should not be separated, and further, employees should be encouraged and empowered to make decisions on how work should be performed. “All anyone asks for is a chance to work with pride.”. While Deming had been largely ignored in the US, the Japanese got religion. In particular organisations like Toyota and Matsushita built organisational philosophies around empowerment, teamwork and collaboration. They went from some of the worst performing businesses in the country to the strongest. By the late 1970’s world governments were looking to these emerging giants to understand what made them so successful, and in particular, so resilient. It was at this point in 1979 that Matsushita-san delivered his famous speech to western industrial leaders keen to learn the secrets of Japan’s success. It was not until 1991 that the world began to understand the power of the management systems that had been developed in Japan. A book2 was published following a study by MIT’s automotive industry research programme. The book studied the history of the automotive industry and the rise and rise of the mighty Toyota Motor Corporation; the term used to describe Toyota’s secret sauce? Lean Thinking. What Konosuke Matsushita, Toyota’s Taichi Ohno and their contemporaries understood was that the key to the success of their businesses didn’t lie in their tools, techniques, or processes, but was the result of the management philosophies that underpinned their corporations. They thought about their businesses as socio-technical systems and because of this created organisations that encouraged the right behaviours throughout. So, what does this have to do with IT? Firstly we have to recognise that IT is failing. Standish Group estimate that $85B to $145B is spent every year on failed and cancelled IT projects, and that 60% to 70% of all projects either fail outright or are considered troubled (time, cost, scope issues)3. This is a repeated pattern; we can change the country, the industry, the people and the business; the data shows a similar pattern – the problem is systemic. To solve this kind of systemic problem we need to investigate the system more closely and understand the ‘games’ that are being played out within our IT divisions. But what are the components of our IT ecosystem? When we lift the hood, there are a few areas of focus for us to investigate: people, structure, process, culture and technology. The first thing that we may notice about our corporate IT divisions is how little they differ to the Taylorised models Henry Ford and Alfred Sloan built their businesses around 100 years ago. They are structured around functional silo’s, management philosophies are command and control and empowerment is just a word that appears on corporate mouse mats. They are structured for an industrial paradigm in an information age. To make matters worse, most IT managers aspire to create self-managed teams, high levels of collaboration, innovation and continuous improvement. Many have little appreciation that the management models that they enforce, often the only ones that they know, are the very things that are preventing them from achieving the results that they dream of. So how do we change things? Firstly, it’s important to understand the differences in the two management philosophies, as the contrast is stark. For example, where Taylor’s ‘scientific management’ teaches us that managers should manage people, systems management theory teaches us that managers should manage processes. ‘Scientific management’ advocates for maximising the utilisation of our people and machinery, ‘systems management theory’ teaches us to ruthlessly eliminate waste. Although the transition is anything but easy, the results, at least so far, appear impressive. At a recent conference, Jeff Smith, CIO of Suncorp’s 2000 person IT division, estimated that they had increased throughput by over 40% whilst at the same time reducing net operating costs by over 20%4. Similarly, the BBC’s David Joyce announced in a recent article that they had reduced the time taken to engineer a software feature by over 50%5. These organisations are re-engineering many of the components of the IT taxonomy. By taking Agile software principles and introducing statistical control and scheduling techniques from Lean Thinking, teams are radically improving the efficiency and throughput of software delivery processes. They aren’t stopping here though. Product development is being refined to ensure the teams aren’t ‘building the wrong things at speeds previously thought impossible’. Planning and governance processes are being simplified to support responsiveness and adaptability in the business. Even the organisational structure itself isn’t sacred, with some of the more progressive IT divisions moving away from a top-down, hierarchical design, towards a systems based, bottom-up model, removing organisational silo’s to increase collaboration and introduce a stronger customer focus. The real change for these organisations isn’t in the structure, processes or tools of course, but in something much more subtle and complex: the way they think. Changing 100 years of western management thinking is not a simple task but industrial models just don’t cut it in an information age. Deming taught us that the processes and structures we create as leaders always produce exactly the results they are designed to produce; the system always works perfectly. In IT we have created approaches that fail (or have difficulties) 60% to 70% of the time. It’s our responsibility as leaders to change the system. This leads to the title of the article. The most common excuse I hear for avoiding change and improvement in IT leadership is that we’re not Japanese and we don’t build cars. I hear this excuse every day and it misses the point. Lean Thinking, and the management paradigm that underpins it, Systems Management Theory, focus on changing the role of leadership; it knows no national or industrial bounds, and this has been proven time again over the last 30 years, from manufacturing to healthcare. IT leadership is once again lagging behind the management curve. To re-enforce the point even further, a recent article in the Harvard Business Review6 asked some of the worlds leading academic and industrial business thinkers for the big ticket changes required in western management thinking over the next 10 years. Retraining managerial minds in systems thinking appeared in it’s top 25. Also in there was reducing the pull of the past, eliminating the pathologies of formal hierarchy and reconstructing management’s philosophical foundations. This is nothing new – management science has pointed towards collaboration, teamwork and trust for over 30 years. But mouthing the words is easy; Systems Management Theory gives us the tools to go execute. Introducing this paradigm shift, although not an easy journey, has certainly been proven achievable. Agile software development methods, based on the Toyota Production System, help us to quickly introduce Lean concepts to our software development operations. Statistical control techniques can help us improve and refine them. Recently, Lean concepts have helped scale these working-level techniques to the enterprise by borrowing philosophies, tools and techniques to solve historic problems with structure, budgeting and governance in top-down, command and control organisations. And middle management are proving willing to change, and even lead the charge, given the right leadership, support and opportunities. Driving change is hard. I often compare being a CIO to the job of a grounds keeper in a cemetery; there are a lot of people underneath you but no-one is listening. Of course, we don’t have to strive to improve the problem; I’ll leave the last word to Deming himself… “It’s not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.”. 1. The Principles of Scientific Management: Frederick Winslow Taylor. 2. The Machine That Changed The World: Womack, Jones, Roos. 3. Standish Chaos Reports 2000 to 2009. 4. Agile Australia (http://www.agileaustralia.com/video.html) 5. David Joyce (http://leanandkanban.wordpress.com) 6. Harvard Business Review, February 2009: Moonshots for Managers