In a new article, now up on otn/java, titled “Spring to Java EE Migration, Part 4,” David Heffelfinger presents the final part of his series in which he demonstrates the ease of migration from the Spring Framework to Java EE. Here he compares equivalent functionality in Java EE and Spring in areas such as MVC design pattern implementation, data access, transaction management, and dependency injection.

He concludes the series with these remarks:

“In this series of articles, we developed a Java EE version of Spring’s Pet Clinic application. We saw how the advanced tooling provided by NetBeans enables us to quickly develop a Java EE application…. Once we were done building the Java EE version of the application, we compared it with the Spring version, noting that the original version has several dependencies whereas the Java EE version has none, because it takes advantage of all the services provided by the Java EE application server.

Finally, we compared how to implement similar functionality such as MVC and DAO implementation, transaction management, and dependency injection with Spring and Java EE. In every case with Spring, some XML configuration needs to be done besides adding annotations to the code. Java EE relies on convention, and in most cases, no XML configuration is needed in order to implement these services.

Although newer versions of Spring rely a lot less on explicit XML configuration than earlier versions, there are always a few little lines here and there that we need to add to an XML configuration file in order to get most of the Spring annotations to work, violating the DRY (don’t repeat yourself) principle...

Additionally, Spring applications tend to have several dependencies, because they are meant to run in a “lightweight” Servlet container such as Tomcat or Jetty and these containers don’t provide all the required functionality. In contrast, Java EE applications are meant to be deployed in a full-blown Java EE 6 application server such as Oracle GlassFish Server...

For these reasons, I always recommend Java EE over Spring for enterprise application development.”

Have a look at the article here.

A new article, up on otn/java, by Java Champion, Oracle Java Evangelist, and JavaFX expert Jim Weaver, titled "Best Practices for JavaFX 2.0 Enterprise Applications (Part One),” explores best practices for developing enterprise applications in JavaFX 2.0.

Weaver illustrates his points by examining a sample application named TweetBrowser which contains the following:

* “A Toolbar containing a TextField and a couple of Button controls for searching and navigating tweets obtained from the Twitter REST API.
* A ListView whose cells contain representations of the tweets. Each tweet is represented by a subclass of ListCell that contains an ImageView for the profile picture and Hyperlink controls that enable the user to navigate to screen names, hashtags, and Web links.
* A ProgressIndicator that spins when a search is performed and a WebView that displays the Web page associated with a Web link in a tweet.”

The TweetBrowser project, which Weaver invites the reader to download, contains the code for the application, portions of which he highlights throughout the article. Techniques and best practices used in the TweetBrowser application include:

    “Invoking an application via Java Web Start from the application’s home page
    Ensuring only one instance of the application is started
    Binding the UI to the model”

Weaver concludes the article by observing that, “Implementing techniques such as invoking an application via Java Web Start from the application’s home page, ensuring only one instance of the application is started, and binding the UI to the model make life easier for both the user and the developer."

Please stay tuned for Part Two of this series where Jim will explore more techniques and best practices used in the TweetBrowser example application.

You'll find Part One here.

A new article by Julien Ponge on the front page of otn/java, titled “Adding Some Agility to Java EE Application Deployment with GlassFish,” reports on four noteworthy features in GlassFish that increase agility to Java EE application deployment.

* Session data preservation across redeployments

* Servlet fragments

* Application-scoped resources

* Application versioning

The article relies on a running example called TaskEE, a simple task list application that functions as a deployable application in which tasks are stored in a volatile Web session. Ponge shows how to morph TaskEE into TaskEEPA in order to store tasks in a relational database rather than a Web session.

Directly from the article:
“Deploying and managing Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) applications seems like a fairly established activity. Applications can be deployed, undeployed, and upgraded through a combination of deployment and undeployment. Applications use various types of resources, such as JDBC connection pools or Java Message Service (JMS) destinations. Such resources need to be created, configured, and administered using an application server means, such as configuration files, command-line tools, and graphical interfaces. While the tasks do not vary much from one Java EE application server to another, each one is free to provide a broader set of features that make the developer’s and the infrastructure team’s jobs more enjoyable.”

Read the complete article here.

JavaOne 2011 - Java Champion and Agile ALM expert Michael Hüttermann gave a session, "Agile Application Lifecycle Management (18180)" on Tues., Oct. 4, designed to help Java developers integrate flexible agile practices and lightweight tools into software development phases. Hüttermann is the author of Agile ALM and CEO of Systemtechnologie Hüttermann. 

He covered:

* Task-based development for aligning activities with tasks, resulting in traceable artifacts

* Advanced continuous integration, which involves frequently and systematically integrating, building, and testing applications

* Agile approaches to release, configuration, deployment, and requirements management

* State-of-the-art-tool chains

The standard criticism of ALM is that it causes vendor lock-in, which increases the overall cost of an application, leaving developers with the challenge of balancing the pluses and minuses of Agile ALM. While Hüttermann admits that this has traditionally been true, his conception of Agile ALM results in flexible, high-quality processes and tool chains that are sufficiently open to change to avoid lock-in. By relying on lightweight tool chains, developers can improve flexibility because they can readily replace small units of the overall infrastructure without touching other parts. One of the main purposes of Agile ALM is to minimize accidental complexity.

Among the take-aways from the session:

* Continuous integration (CI) refers to the automation of the build, test, and release process with the goal of integrating the activities of colleagues and the work items others produce. This can result in a build ecosystem in which a new-code commit directly triggers a continuous build.

* Agile ALM defines task-based activities that are aligned with requirements, which means the activities are linked to requirements and all changes are traceable to their requirements.

* Agile ALM Tools are no longer cumbersome, monolithic vehicles that can restrict development. They need no longer cover all facets of the ALM ecosystem. Mashups of lightweight, focused, service-oriented, customizable tools are gaining momentum. Developers should feel free to switch from one tool to another.

Agile ALM aficionados should check out the forthcoming Java Magazine article by Hüttermann, set for publication in the November/December issue. If you haven't registered for the magazine, run, don't walk. It's free!

And be on the look out for a forthcoming otn/java interview with Hüttermann as well.

Finally, this JavaOne 2011 presentation can also be viewed @ http://parleys.com/d/2666.