Griffon 0.9 released

The Griffon team is happy to announce the release of Griffon 0.9!  
 Griffon is a Grails inspired framework for writing RIAs on the JVM using Groovy.
For a list of features and fixes see the Griffon 0.9 Release Notes http://griffon.codehaus.org/Griffon+0.9.
A list of bugs fixed in this release is at http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/GRIFFON/fixforversion/16508.

This release represents a major step in terms of buildtime and runtime features. For starters the build system has been refreshed with sources coming from Grails 1.3.2/1.3.3, which brings lots of improvements in the following areas:

• Automatic start/end event publishing for all Gant tasks
• Dependency resolution DSL
• Plugin packaging and deployment
• Doc generation
• Testing options (selection and execution)

The last point (testing improvements) give a big boost to testing Griffon applications. It is now possible to use Spock to write tests and specifications. Both Easyb and FEST plugins have been updated too.
Looking at the runtime enhancements we find

• Application phase - query the current life cycle phase
• Application local - a bound (i.e, observable) Locale property
• @Listener - an AST transformation that provides a shortcut for adding PropertyChangeListeners
• WindowManager - customize how windows should be shown and hidden

This release breaks compatibility with previous Griffon versions in order to accommodate some of this features. The upgrade procedure should take care of most of the changes, at least pertaining the build. Please review the "Braking Changes" section found on the 0.9 Release Notes to find out more on how your applications could be affected.

Many of the existing plugins will have a synchronized release soon, and there is a good number of new plugins as well, for example

• Spock - run Spock specifications
• Clover - code coverage via Atlassian's Clover
• Miglayout - probably the most versatile layout available to Swing and SWT
• Lookandfeel - customize the application's Look & Feel. this plugin is also pluggable with 15 different L&F providers, Substance being one of them.
• Effects - a set of visual effects inspired by script.aculo.us.
• Charts - build all kinds of charts supported by JFreeChart
• and much more!

Lastly, the Griffon Guide has been revised and updated with more information (HTML , PDF). While we're at discussing documentation, DZone recently published a Getting started with Griffon refcard, written by Griffon contributor and plugin author Hamlet D'Arcy.

You can download the Griffon distribution from the downloads page [http://griffon.codehaus.org/Download].

Thanks to all who contributed to this release!

--The Griffon Team