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Dave Meurer, a colleague of mine at Skyway Software, decided to put his creativity to use in creating a Double Rainbow parody for Spring and Java application developers.  In less than three minutes he generates five fully working Rainbow Management applications: (1) Spring MVC, (2) Spring Web Flow, (3) Adobe Flex + Spring, (4) GWT + Spring, and (5) iPhone Web.

Nice job Dave!!

This morning I found a very interesting blog post at Skill Guru called "Is Spring Web Flow Right for Me ?".  It's a very good introduction to Spring Web FLow, and I left the following comment related to the co-existence of Spring Web Flow with Spring MVC and the learning curve of Spring Web Flow.

I really like the “controlled navigations” explanation of SWF. I have worked with a dozens of SWF projects, and what I have found is that a typical web application can have portions that need to “free browsing” and other parts need “controlled navigation” (i.e. registration, checkout, business processes). Fortunately SWF co-exists very nicely with Spring MVC, so you can use MVC for the free browsing portions of the application, and SWF for the controlled navigation portions. Unfortunately I think one of the biggest deterrents to SWF is the learning curve. While it’s not a major shift in approach (compared to MVC), it does require thinking about the application flow a little bit more in the beginning and understanding the mechanics of SWF. I’ve chatted with a lot of Spring development shops (small and large), and getting started seems to be the hardest part. This was the major motivation for adding Spring Web Flow scaffolding to MyEclipse for Spring, so that you can generate ready-to-run contextual examples using your own domain model (either POJO’s or databases).

[Read Full Post Here]

I just wrapped up my third (and last) new screencast for the week.  These screencasts focus on some of the new functionality for MyEclipse for Spring 8.6 (a milestone version is available for download), including scaffolding ready-to-run Spring MVC, Spring Web Flow, Adobe Flex, and iPhone web applications.  There still a lot of new functionality to be covered, and my colleague's and I will get several more screencasts recorded over the next few weeks.

Here's what's available now:

• Spring Tutorial - Scaffolding Spring MVC, Spring Web Flow, Adobe Flex and iPhone
• Spring Tutorial - Code Assistance for Spring framework stereotypes
• Spring Tutorial - Diving into Spring Web Flow scaffolding

[Screencasts can be viewed here]

I wrapped up my second series of blog posts related to GWT and Spring.  It took me longer that expected because it's been really tough to find the time, but I'm so glad I finished it in 2009.  In this series I discuss using GWT RPC instead of JSON (see my original series) for messaging between GWT front-end and a Spring/Java back-end application.  I go on to discuss an extension to Skyway Builder to automate the process of making Spring Services accessible as GWT RPC services.  In the process I give an overview of developing extensions for Skyway Builder and I highlight the most relevant implementation details.  Finally I describe where you can download the GWT extension and how to use the extension.

1. Skyway Builder extension for GWT – spring4gwt and GWT event buses
2. Skyway Builder GWT Extension – High-level Implementation
3. Skyway Builder GWT Extension – Detailed Implementation
4. GWT RPC with Spring Extension – Download, Install and Use

It's interesting that when you develop open-source software you feel a great sense of relief when the software is ultimately delivered.  In some ways it feels like the end of a voyage because the delivery of software to your end-users (developers in the case of Skyway Builder) is typically one of the final steps in the workplan.  However from an end-user perspective it really is the beginning of the voyage.  Developers can finally get there hands on all the development goodies that you've been working on for them.

Before I get too caught up with working on the next release of Skyway Builder, I wanted to personally share the Skyway Builder 6.3 announcement with my family, friends, colleagues and followers.  I'm very proud of this release.  Whether you are a Spring guru or want to learn Spring, Skyway Builder will save you a lot of time.

Here's a copy of the announcement.

Skyway Software announces the general availability (GA) of Skyway Builder Community Edition (CE) 6.3, an open source, code generator for the Spring Framework. Version 6.3 of Skyway Builder CE is available for immediate download.  This major release of Skyway Builder CE includes:

• Enhanced Spring MVC scaffolding capabilities for generating Spring-based, Java CRUD applications from new or pre-existing domain models.  Watch demo
• Updated Spring DSL for improved package parity between Spring DSL and Spring/Java code
• Enhanced code generation customization for generating Spring MVC and Spring Web Flow solutions that adhere to your own coding standards
• Enhanced graphical Spring Web Flow editor, including usability improvements and better integration with Spring DSL
• Enhanced Spring code generation tags for use with JET templates
• Improved documentation, tutorials and sample projects
• Over 400 bug fixes and enhancements

Skyway Builder Enterprise Edition (EE) 6.3, the commercial edition of Skyway Builder, is also now GA and is available for test drive.  New commercial features in Skyway Builder EE include:

• Integration with IBM Rational Software Architect 7.5.2 to transform UML into working Spring applications. Watch demo
• DWR (JavaScript/JSON) support for accelerating RIA development using Spring services
• Support for project-level customization of code generation templates using JET

I figured I'd also share links to the Skyway Builder 6.3 Feature Preview Series that I did.

• Skyway Builder 6.3 Feature Preview – #1 Enhanced Spring MVC Scaffolding
• Skyway Builder 6.3 Feature Preview – #2 Model Packages
• Skyway Builder 6.3 Feature Preview – #3 Spring DSL Enhancements
• Skyway Builder 6.3 Feature Preview – #4 Configurable Spring Code Generation
• Skyway Builder 6.3 Feature Preview – #5 Custom Spring Templates using JET
• Skyway Builder 6.3 Feature Preview – #6 Spring Services via Javascript/JSON using DWR