Getting Started Guide

jappstart is a Java framework for Google App Engine built on Spring, Spring Security, and Sitemesh. The project aims to be the starting point for Google App Engine Java applications. It's not a framework in the traditional sense -- rather it is designed to provide a solid foundation for GAE/Java applications that can be easily extended by developers.

Features

• Appstats Support
• Google AJAX Library API (jQuery)
• Gravatar Integration
• JRebel Support
• Local Development Console Support (http://localhost:8080/_ah/admin)
• Maven Support
  • CSS/JS minification via the yuicompressor-maven-plugin
  • Uses the maven-gae-plugin
• Remote API/Bulk Loader Support
• Sitemesh Integration
• Spring 3
  • JPA support
  • JSON/AJAX integration (Jackson)
  • JSR-303 validation
  • Localization support
• Spring Security 3
  • Authentication
  • Expression based access control
  • Fully integrated with the App Engine Datastore and Memcache
  • Login/create account functionality with e-mail confirmation
  • Remember Me
  • Support for hierarchical roles
• Static Error Handler Support
• Task Queue Support
• URL Rewrite Integration

Versions

• Goole App Engine SDK for Java 1.7.0
• jQuery 1.7.1
• Maven GAE Plugin 0.9.2
• Spring 3.1.0
• Spring Security 3.1.0

Configure Property Files

Configure the following properties in filter-local.properties, filter-dev.properties, and filter-prod.properties.

google.app.id
google.jsapi.http.key
google.jsapi.https.key
application.hostname
mail.fromAddress

Notes:

• See Sending Mail for details regarding e-mail address restrictions.
• JSAPI keys can be obtained here.

Configure Settings

Create a settings.xml and a settings-security.xml in your local .m2 folder. See Maven - Password Encryption for instructions on how to encrypt your GAE password.

<!-- settings.xml -->
<settings xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.0.0
    http://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.0.0.xsd">

  <servers>
    <server>
      <id>yourapp.com</id> <!-- this should match the google.app.id property and is the GAE application id -->
      <username>you@yourapp.com</username> <!-- GAE username -->
      <password>encryptedpass</password> <!-- Encrypted GAE password -->
    </server>
  </servers>

</settings>

<!-- settings-security.xml -->
<settingsSecurity>
  <master>masterpass</master> <!-- Encrypted master password -->
</settingsSecurity>

Build/Deploy

• Run mvn clean package -P local to create a new local build
• Run mvn gae:run -P local to run locally
• Run mvn gae:stop -P local to stop the local jetty server
• Run mvn clean package -P dev to create a new dev build
• Run mvn gae:deploy -P dev to deploy to your dev app engine app
• Run mvn clean package -P prod to create a new prod build
• Run mvn gae:deploy -P prod to deploy to your prod app engine app

Localization

To demonstrate the localization functionality just append the following to any url:

/some/url?locale=en_US or /some/url?locale=tl_PH. 

To support additional locales just create a new messages_xx_YY.properties and set the new locale via:

/some/url?locale=xx_YY.

JRebel Usage

• Install the JRebel Nightly Build.
• Define a REBEL_HOME environment variable
• Run mvn clean compile -P local to create a new local build
• Run mvn gae:run -P local-jrebel to run locally with JRebel support

Remote API/Bulk Loader Usage

Below is an example of how to use the bulk loader to copy all data from the production server to the local development server. Omit the "--kind" option to dump/restore all kinds. See this for more info.

Backup:

appcfg.py download_data --application=<app-id> --kind=UserAccount --url=https://<app-id>.appspot.com/remote_api --filename=backup.dat

Restore:

appcfg.py upload_data --application=<app-id> --kind=UserAccount --url=http://localhost:8080/remote_api --filename=backup.dat

Google Plugin for Eclipse Usage

See the Google App Engine Blog.

Copyright

Copyright (C) 2010-2012 Taylor Leese

This file is part of jappstart.

jappstart is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

jappstart is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License along with jappstart. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.