Getting Started with Grails on GlassFish

This blog has published good amount of content on how Ruby-on-Rails applications can be deployed on GlassFish. Grails is another popular MVC-based framework that leverages the Groovy language. Basically, Grails : Groovy :: Rails : Ruby.

Starting today, I plan to start publishing content on Grails and talk about how GlassFish v3 is turning out to be a home for several scripting languages - Ruby/JRuby/Rails, JavaScript/Phobos, Groovy/Grails and more to be added.

This blog shows how to get started with Grails and deploy a simple application on GlassFish v3. Lets go!

1. Download Grails 1.0.2 (docs, release notes, other builds) and unzip.
   
   

   ~/testbed/grails-1.0.2 >export GRAILS_HOME=`pwd` ~/testbed/grails-1.0.2 >export PATH=$GRAILS_HOME/bin:$PATH

   
   On MacOS 10.5, I had to manually set the executable permissions using "chmod +x grails" and then saw the following:
   
   

   ~/testbed/grails-1.0.2 >grails Welcome to Grails 1.0.2 - http://grails.org/ Licensed under Apache Standard License 2.0 Grails home is set to: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2 No script name specified. Use 'grails help' for more info

2. Create & Deploy a Grails HelloWorld:
   1. Create a Grails app "helloworld" as:
      
      

      ~/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples >grails create-app helloworld Welcome to Grails 1.0.2 - http://grails.org/ Licensed under Apache Standard License 2.0 Grails home is set to: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2 Base Directory: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples Note: No plugin scripts found Running script /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/scripts/CreateApp.groovy Environment set to development [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/src [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/src/java [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/src/groovy [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/grails-app [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/grails-app/controllers [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/grails-app/services [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/grails-app/domain [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/grails-app/taglib [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/grails-app/utils [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/grails-app/views [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/grails-app/views/layouts [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/grails-app/i18n [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/grails-app/conf [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/test [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/test/unit [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/test/integration [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/scripts [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/web-app [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/web-app/js [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/web-app/css [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/web-app/images [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/web-app/META-INF [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/lib [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/grails-app/conf/spring [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/grails-app/conf/hibernate [propertyfile] Creating new property file: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/application.properties [copy] Copying 2 files to /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld [copy] Copying 2 files to /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/web-app/WEB-INF [copy] Copying 5 files to /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/web-app/WEB-INF/tld [copy] Copying 87 files to /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/web-app [copy] Copying 17 files to /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/grails-app [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld [propertyfile] Updating property file: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/application.properties Created Grails Application at /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld

      
      The top-level directory structure is:
      
      

      total 56 drwxr-xr-x 14 arungupta arungupta 476 Apr 10 10:44 . drwxr-xr-x 3 arungupta arungupta 102 Apr 10 10:44 .. -rw-r--r-- 1 arungupta arungupta 5911 Apr 10 10:44 .classpath -rw-r--r-- 1 arungupta arungupta 553 Apr 10 10:44 .project -rw-r--r-- 1 arungupta arungupta 115 Apr 10 10:44 application.properties -rw-r--r-- 1 arungupta arungupta 1464 Apr 10 10:44 build.xml drwxr-xr-x 10 arungupta arungupta 340 Apr 10 10:44 grails-app -rw-r--r-- 1 arungupta arungupta 1805 Apr 10 10:44 helloworld.launch -rw-r--r-- 1 arungupta arungupta 2287 Apr 10 10:44 helloworld.tmproj drwxr-xr-x 2 arungupta arungupta 68 Apr 10 10:44 lib drwxr-xr-x 2 arungupta arungupta 68 Apr 10 10:44 scripts drwxr-xr-x 4 arungupta arungupta 136 Apr 10 10:44 src drwxr-xr-x 4 arungupta arungupta 136 Apr 10 10:44 test drwxr-xr-x 8 arungupta arungupta 272 Apr 10 10:44 web-app

      
      This directory is created using Convention over Configuation and the purpose of each directory is explained here.
   2. The app can be started as:
      
      

      ~/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld >grails run-app Welcome to Grails 1.0.2 - http://grails.org/ Licensed under Apache Standard License 2.0 Grails home is set to: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2 Base Directory: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld Note: No plugin scripts found Running script /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/scripts/RunApp.groovy Environment set to development [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.2/projects/helloworld/classes [groovyc] Compiling 6 source files to /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.2/projects/helloworld/classes [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.2/projects/helloworld/resources/grails-app/i18n [native2ascii] Converting 10 files from /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/grails-app/i18n to /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.2/projects/helloworld/resources/grails-app/i18n [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.2/projects/helloworld/classes [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.2/projects/helloworld/resources [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.2/projects/helloworld Running Grails application.. 2008-04-10 10:47:51.501::INFO: Logging to STDERR via org.mortbay.log.StdErrLog 2008-04-10 10:47:51.603::INFO: jetty-6.1.4 2008-04-10 10:47:51.755::INFO: No Transaction manager found - if your webapp requires one, please configure one. 2008-04-10 10:47:52.503:/helloworld:INFO: Set web app root system property: 'helloworld' = [/Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/web-app/] 2008-04-10 10:47:52.503:/helloworld:INFO: Initializing Log4J from [file:/Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.2/projects/helloworld/resources/log4j.properties] 2008-04-10 10:47:52.582:/helloworld:INFO: Initializing Spring root WebApplicationContext [0] spring.GrailsWebApplicationContext Refreshing org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.spring.GrailsWebApplicationContext@dccb42: display name [org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.spring.GrailsWebApplicationContext@dccb42]; startup date [Thu Apr 10 10:47:53 PDT 2008]; parent: org.springframework.web.context.support.XmlWebApplicationContext@188af2 [0] spring.GrailsWebApplicationContext Bean factory for application context [org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.spring.GrailsWebApplicationContext@dccb42]: org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory@413ebc 2008-04-10 10:47:55.602:/helloworld:INFO: Initializing Spring FrameworkServlet 'grails' 2008-04-10 10:47:55.652::INFO: Started SelectChannelConnector@0.0.0.0:8080 Server running. Browse to http://localhost:8080/helloworld 2008-04-10 10:48:15.133:/helloworld:INFO: GSP servlet initialized

      
      The output in the browser looks like:
      
      
      Jetty is used as the development environment server but soon GlassFish v3 can be used, stay tuned on that!
      
      Anyway, the WAR format is used for deployment. Lets see how this app can be easily deployed as a WAR file on GlassFish v3.
3. Download GlassFish v3 Preview 2 b08 and unzip.
4. Create and Deploy WAR
   1. GlassFish certainly supports WAR-based deployment of Grails apps but direct deployment (aka native or directory-based deployment) of Grails applications will be supported soon as well. Anyway, for now, create a WAR file of the application as:
      
      

      ~/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld >grails war Welcome to Grails 1.0.2 - http://grails.org/ Licensed under Apache Standard License 2.0 Grails home is set to: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2 Base Directory: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld Note: No plugin scripts found Running script /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/scripts/War.groovy Environment set to production [delete] Deleting: /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.2/projects/helloworld/resources/web.xml [delete] Deleting directory /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.2/projects/helloworld/classes [delete] Deleting directory /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.2/projects/helloworld/resources [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.2/projects/helloworld/classes [groovyc] Compiling 6 source files to /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.2/projects/helloworld/classes [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.2/projects/helloworld/resources/grails-app/i18n [native2ascii] Converting 10 files from /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/grails-app/i18n to /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.2/projects/helloworld/resources/grails-app/i18n [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.2/projects/helloworld/classes [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.2/projects/helloworld/resources [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/staging [copy] Copying 93 files to /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/staging [copy] Copied 19 empty directories to 1 empty directory under /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/staging [copy] Copying 12 files to /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/staging/WEB-INF/grails-app [copy] Copying 26 files to /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/staging/WEB-INF/classes [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/staging/WEB-INF/spring [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/staging/WEB-INF/classes [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/staging/WEB-INF/templates/scaffolding [copy] Copying 6 files to /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/staging/WEB-INF/templates/scaffolding [copy] Copying 49 files to /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/staging/WEB-INF/lib [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/staging/WEB-INF [delete] Deleting: /Users/arungupta/.grails/1.0.2/projects/helloworld/resources/web.xml [copy] Warning: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/plugins not found. [propertyfile] Updating property file: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/staging/WEB-INF/classes/application.properties [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/staging/WEB-INF/plugins [copy] Warning: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/plugins not found. [jar] Building jar: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/helloworld-0.1.war [delete] Deleting directory /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/staging Done creating WAR /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/helloworld-0.1.war

      
      The create WAR file is 18,012,069 bytes.
   2. Start the GlassFish container as:
      
      

      ~/testbed/glassfish/v3/p2-b08/glassfish >bin/startserv --verbose Apr 10, 2008 11:03:28 AM com.sun.enterprise.admin.launcher.GFLauncherLogger info INFO: JVM invocation command line: /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.5.0/Home/bin/java -cp /Users/arungupta/testbed/glassfish/v3/p2-b08/glassfish/modules/glassfish-10.0-SNAPSHOT.jar . . . INFO: Listening on port 8080 Apr 10, 2008 11:03:29 AM com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.GrizzlyEmbeddedHttpConfigurator configureSSL WARNING: HTTP listener on port: 8181 is secured, but SSL configuration is not found! Apr 10, 2008 11:03:29 AM com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.GrizzlyProxy start INFO: Listening on port 8181 Apr 10, 2008 11:03:29 AM com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.GrizzlyProxy start INFO: Listening on port 4848 Apr 10, 2008 11:03:29 AM com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.adapter.AdminConsoleAdapter setContextRoot INFO: Admin Console Adapter: context root: /admin Apr 10, 2008 11:03:29 AM com.sun.enterprise.v3.server.AppServerStartup run INFO: com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.GrizzlyService@b24c9a startup done in 681 ms Apr 10, 2008 11:03:29 AM com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.ApplicationLoaderService postConstruct INFO: loader service postConstruct started at 1207850609785 Apr 10, 2008 11:03:29 AM com.sun.enterprise.v3.server.AppServerStartup run INFO: Application Loader startup done in 717 ms Apr 10, 2008 11:03:29 AM com.sun.enterprise.v3.server.AppServerStartup run INFO: Glassfish v3 started in 717 ms Apr 10, 2008 11:03:29 AM com.sun.enterprise.v3.admin.adapter.AdminConsoleAdapter ready INFO: AdminConsoleAdapter is ready ...

   3. Deploy the WAR file as:
      
      

      ~/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld >~/testbed/glassfish/v3/p2-b08/glassfish/bin/asadmin deploy helloworld-0.1.war helloworld-0.1 deployed successfully properties=(name=helloworld-0.1) Command deploy executed successfully.

      
      The output in the browser now looks like:
      
      
5. Add Controller and Re-deploy
   1. Create a new controller as:
      
      

      C~/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld >grails create-controller hello Welcome to Grails 1.0.2 - http://grails.org/ Licensed under Apache Standard License 2.0 Grails home is set to: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2 Base Directory: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld Note: No plugin scripts found Running script /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/scripts/CreateController.groovy Environment set to development [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/grails-app/controllers Created Controller for Hello [mkdir] Created dir: /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/grails-app/views/hello [copy] Copying 1 file to /Users/arungupta/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld/test/integration Created ControllerTests for Hello

      
      and change the controller as shown:
      
      

      ~/testbed/grails-1.0.2/samples/helloworld >vi grails-app/controllers/HelloController.groovy class HelloController { def world = { render "Hello World!" } //def index = { } }

   2. Re-create & re-deploy the WAR as described in bullet # 4. And now "http://localhost:8080/helloworld-0.1" shows the output as shown:
      
      
      
      and clicking on "HelloController" shows the output as:
      
      
      
      The same view is also available at "http://localhost:8080/helloworld-0.1/hello/world" as shown below:
      
      

So we deployed a simple Grails application as a WAR on GlassFish v3. Here are some tasks that we are working on:

• Deploy Grails app on GlassFish v3 using "grails" command (in development environment)
• Deploy Grails app directly on GlassFish v3 without creating a WAR (in production environment)
• Seamless integration with NetBeans to provide direct development/deployment to GlassFish

And there is much more, stay tuned!

If you have questions, ask them at GlassFish forum or Users Alias.

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