Spring Web Flow PR3 Released

Releases | Colin Sampaleanu | May 23, 2005 | ...

Spring Web Flow PR3 has been released. Here's Keith's mailing list announcement: 

--- 

Dear Spring Community,

I’m pleased to announce the release of Spring Web Flow Preview 3.  This is a major new release with a substantial number of new features: both in terms of power and convenience.  This release is considered stable for development use.

To download, access: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=73357&package_id=148517

Note: there are a few incompatible changes between PR2 and PR3.  For a listing and a porting guide, access the change log here: http://opensource.atlassian.com/confluence/spring/display/WEBFLOW/Change+Log

Contained within this release are a number of new and noteworthy enhancements.  Here are some of them:

View State Enhancements

  • Each view state may now be configured with one or more setup actions.  This action is executed after the state is entered but before control is returned to the client for response rendering.  This reduces (and in many cases eliminates) the need for setup action states, making for more concise flow definitions.
  • Each view state may now select the view to render and all supporting model data in a fully dynamic, pluggable fashion using the new ViewDescriptorCreator strategy.
  • Powerful redirect expressions are now supported, with full-support for resolving redirect parameters in a dynamic fashion from the flow RequestContext.
Here is an example of these new features in action:

Setup actions:

 <view-state id="displayCriteria" view="criteriaView">
            <setup bean="searchFormAction" method="setupForm"/>
            <transition on="submit" to="executeQuery">
                  <action bean="searchFormAction" method="bindAndValidate"/>
            </transition>
</view-state>

Redirect expressions:

<end-state id="end" view="redirect:/myFlow.htm?input=${flowScope.input}"/>

Subflow Attribute Mapping Enhancements

  • Subflow input and output mapping policies are now fully configurable via a XML flow definition.
  • Expressions may also be specified that resolve subflow input attribute values in a dynamic fashion.

For example:

<attribute-mapper>
            <input value="${sourceEvent.parameters.id}" as="id" type="long"/>
</attribute-mapper>

The expression language used is also pluggable – by default web flow will try OGNL, if it’s not found on the classpath it’ll use Spring’s BeanWrapper.

Annotated Definition Objects

  • In addition to action execution parameters, each core definition object in the system--Flow, State, and Transition---can now be annotated with arbitrary property metadata.  Such properties are specifiable in the webflow xml definition using the “property” element, with full support for from-string type conversion with convenient type aliasing.

For example:

<transition on="submit" to="executeQuery">
            <property name="submitPressed" value="true" type="boolean"/>
</transition>

In this case this ‘submitPressed’ boolean property would be made available to this transition’s target state after entering for reasoning.

Enhanced Flow Execution Listener Callbacks

  • Listeners responding to the lifecycle of an executing flow now have more hooks to insert custom logic—notification now happens when a flow is starting, started, paused, resumed, entering a new state, entered a new state, or ended---with veto capability for proposed flow state changes (to facilitate state precondition checks, for example).

---

These are just some of the new features of this release.  For a full list of changes, see http://opensource.atlassian.com/confluence/spring/display/WEBFLOW/Change+Log

As always, we very much value your feedback.  One or two more PR releases to go and we’ll be at 1.0 final!

Cheers,

Keith Donald
Erwin Vervaet

Spring IDE WebFlow Support Preview Release 1

Releases | Colin Sampaleanu | May 21, 2005 | ...

Christian Dupuis has announced a new preview version of the Eclipse-based Spring-IDE which has graphical editor support for Spring Web Flow.

Here's Christian's announcement from the mailing list:

-----

Dear Spring Community,

We have just released the first preview version of the Spring IDE WebFlow support. Please use this release to give us feedback.

Features:

* Full featured graphical editor for String WebFlow Xml  configurations files.
   - Support for latest Spring WebFlow PR 3 features
   - Drag'n'Drop editing
   - Validation during edit
   - Print and Export (jpg and bmp) functionality
   - Automated lay outing of Spring WebFlow config file including connection routing
   - Side-by-side editing of the same configuration file in
     your favorite Xml Editor Plugin and in the WebFlow Editor
* Integration with Spring IDE Beans View and Beans Graph
   - Beans ConfigSet can be associated with a WebFlow ConfigSet for validation

The Preview Release 1 is available from Spring IDE's developer update site at http://springide.org/updatesite_dev. Make sure you have installed Eclipse 3.0 along with Spring IDE 1.2.0 and GEF 3.0.1.

Documentation is available at
http://springide.org/project/wiki/WebFlowEditor and
http://springide.org/project/wiki/WebFlowEditorUsage.

If you find any bugs or you have feature requests please file a ticket at  http://springide.org/project/newticket specifying the version 'webflow.PR1'.

Thanks for your effort

Greetings Christian

Spring IDE 1.2 released

Releases | Torsten Juergeleit | May 17, 2005 | ...

Dear Spring Community,

We are pleased to announce that Spring IDE v1.2 has been released.

Version 1.2 is a port to Eclipse 3 with a bunch of bugfixes. For a complete list of bugfixes included
visit http://springide.org/project/milestone/Release%201.2

Changes:
  • Ported to Eclipse 3.0
  • Added support for Eclipse 3.1M7
  • Updated to Spring v1.2
  • Refactored generic stuff (e.g. model, project nature + action, incremental project builder, ...) into separate plugins (org.springframework.ide.eclipse.core and org.springframework.ide.eclipse.ui)
  • add change notification and visitor support to generic model
  • beans model now extends generic model defined in new plugin org.springframework.ide.eclipse.beans.core
  • all jars moved from org.springframework.ide.eclipse.beans.core to new plugin org.springframework.ide.eclipse.core

More details are available from the project's site http://springide.org/

This release is available from the project's Eclipse update site:
    http://springide.org/updatesite/

Bug reports tickets can be opened via http://springide.org/project/newticket

Spring Framework 1.2 Released

Releases | Colin Sampaleanu | May 13, 2005 | ...

On this lucky Friday the 13th, we are pleased to announce that Spring 1.2 final has just been released.

(Thanks to Juergen for doing the packaging and his usual coding heroics). 

The major new features since 1.2 RC2 are:

  • TopLink support (for both TopLink 9.0.4 and 10.1.3)
  • JDO 2.0 support (tested against JPOX 1.1 beta 3)
  • Hibernate 3.0.3 support (aggressive release of Connections)

The overall major new features of Spring 1.2 are:

  • finer-grained distribution jar files
  • simplified XML bean definitions
  • JMX support
  • JDK 1.5 transaction annotation
  • support for WebLogic JTA extensions
  • JDBC RowSet support
  • JCA CCI support
  • JDO2 support
  • Hibernate3 support
  • TopLink support

Thanks to Oracle for donating the original TopLink support prototype,  and in particular to Jim Clark from Oracle - for all his help in getting the TopLink support into its final shape!

For details on new features, deprecations and bug fixes, please see the change log.

FYI, we have a 1.2.1 release scheduled for June, featuring minor enhancements that did not make 1.2 final. See our JIRA road map for details.

Spring Modules 0.1 Released

Releases | Colin Sampaleanu | April 21, 2005 | ...

We are pleased to announce that Spring Modules 0.1 has just been released.

Downloads can be found at: http://springmodules.dev.java.net.

This release includes:

  • Integration with HiveMind, allowing for HiveMind services to be exposed as Spring beans
  • Spring-style integration classes for JSR-94 rules engines such as Jess and Drools
  • Spring-style configuration for OSWorkflow
  • Integration classes for Commons Validator (taken from Spring sandbox)
For a detailed list of features, see the changelog.

The HiveMind and Commons Validator support classes are considered to be stable and ready for use in production. Modifications to the JavaScripthandling in Commons Validator will appear in 0.2.

The OSWorkflow configuration support is ready for use in production, but 0.2 will introduce the OSWorkflowTemplate, which will bring full Spring semantics to workflow usage.

We have successfully used the JSR-94 integration classes in a production setting, but are planning to overhaul session handling in 0.2.

We are planning to release 0.2 within the next three weeks, hopefully just after Spring 1.2 goes final. This is in keeping with our plan to release new features as often as possible.

The full roadmap can be found at: http://opensource.atlassian.com/projects/spring/secure/BrowseProject.jspa?id=10030&amp;report=roadmap.

We are still looking to recruit more developers to work on more modules, and any feedback on new or existing features will be much appreciated.

Spring Framework 1.2RC2 Released

Releases | Colin Sampaleanu | April 19, 2005 | ...

We're pleased to announce that Spring 1.2 RC2 has just been released.


This release introduces one major new feature:

  • support for JCA's Common Client Interface (CCI), including support for CCI local transactions

Furthermore, there are various minor enhancements, for example:

  • deprecated ListableBeanFactory's getBeanDefinitionNames(type)", in favor of "getBeanNamesForType"
  • added "value"/"value-ref" shortcut attributes to XML "entry" tag for maps
  • added "alias" root element for XML bean definition files, for aliases for beans in other files

  • JdbcAccessor lazily initializes the SQLExceptionTranslator by default now
  • added further configuration options to LocalSessionFactoryBean for Hibernate3
  • added "defaultDestinationName" property to JmsTemplate, for a dynamic default destination

  • refined Resource support for compatibility with JDK 1.3's classic VM and with JRockit's jar paths
  • refactored static PathMatcher class into PathMatcher interface and AntPathMatcher implementation
  • added ConfigurableMimeFileTypeMap, with extensive MIME type mappings out-of-the-box

  • added "context.i18n" package, with LocaleContext abstraction and global LocaleContextHolder
  • DispatcherServlet exposes the current LocaleResolver through the global LocaleContextHolder
  • added RemoteInvocationTraceInterceptor, logging remote calls and exceptions on the server

  • updated JasperReports support for JR 0.6.6, using JRDefaultCompiler as default report compiler
  • reworked AbstractJasperReportsView to work on JasperPrint instance rather than JasperReport instance
  • added support for reports with embedded SQL statements to AbstractJasperReportsView

For a detailed list of enhancements and bug fixes, see the changelog.

This release candidate is considered stable and recommended for development use. We expect Spring 1.2 final to be released in about two weeks.

Spring Web Flow 2nd preview release is out

Releases | Colin Sampaleanu | April 11, 2005 | ...

We are pleased to announce the 2nd preview release of Spring Web Flow for use with the Spring 1.2 release path.  This stable-for-development-use release offers the following major new features:

  • Pluggable flow execution storage strategies, with out-of-the-box continuations support.  This means:
    • You now have the option to persist an executing flow’s state to any backing data store, including the HttpSession (the default), a database, serialized files, etc.
    • You can select to use a continuations based storage strategy, turning Spring Web Flow into a continuation-driven system providing proper browser navigational button behavior (back, next, refresh, and new window.) You can also choose between client-side or server-side continuation storage.  GZIP compression of flow execution state is also supported.
  • Support for OGNL transition criteria, with a TransitionCriteriaCreator strategy for easily integrating other expression languages or custom transition expressions as needed.
  • Portlet support, with the samples (Phonebook) illustrating Spring Web Flow in a portlet environment.
  • Support for a ‘validatorMethod’ action state property, specifying a validation method to invoke, for use with a FormAction with a configured Validator instance (to support easy piecemeal validation within a wizard)
  • Support for JDK 1.3.
  • Samples (Phonebook) illustrating how to write integration tests to verify the expected behavior of your flows.
  • Samples (Birthdate) illustrating Struts integration.
  • A brand new sample app (Sell Item), illustrating a validating wizard using continuations (providing proper browser navigational button use!) and conditional transitions (using OGNL expressions!).

There are also a number of bug fixes and other general improvements/polishing included in this release.  Note, for PR1 users: there are a few incompatible changes in PR2 with PR1.  Please see the Change Log on the WIKI for details.

          <br />

As always, with the Spring seal of quality you’ve come to expect, we offer:

  • Quality documentation, both in the javadocs and WIKI docs
  • Strong test coverage
  • Careful attention to naming, packaging, and ease of use
  • Exceptional error reporting
  • A feature set driven by end user needs

To download the preview release:

            <br />
  1. Access the springframework project file list.

            <br />
    
  2. Scroll down to the 'spring-webflow' release package and select

Spring Web Flow 1st preview release is out

Releases | Colin Sampaleanu | March 30, 2005 | ...

We are pleased to announce a preview release of Spring Web Flow for use with the Spring 1.2 release path.  With this release, we consider the web flow system fit for development use.

        <br />

Contained in this release are new features we expect to take web applications with demanding page flow requirements to the next level.  These include:

  • The ability to capture the logical page flows of your application as self-contained modules reusable in multiple situations.
  • The ability to nest flows 'n' levels deep (as subflows), where each flow is a "black-box" adhering to a well-defined contract for input/output.
  • The ability to express page flows declaratively, with a pluggable flow definition format (currently Java-based and XML-based builder formats are provided.)

Spring Framework 1.2RC1 Released

Releases | admin | March 28, 2005 | ...
It's Spring time Smile

We are pleased to announce that Spring 1.2 RC1 has just been released. This release introduces a number of major new features:
  • finer-grained distribution jar files, alongside the full spring.jar
  • AOP Alliance interfaces are now contained in spring-aop.jar and spring.jar

  • XML bean definition improvements ("ref" and "value" shortcut attributes
    etc)
  • improved AOP TargetSourceCreator mechanism (supporting
    LazyInitTargetSource too)

  • transaction annotation support for JDK 1.5+ (annotation called
    "Transactional")
  • improved WebLogicJtaTransactionManager (transaction names, isolation
    levels)

  • SqlRowSet support for JDBC (in conjunction with JdbcTemplate's
    "queryForRowSet")
  • Hibernate3 support (in orm.hibernate3; Hibernate 2.1 support is still
    available)

  • JMX support for export of Spring beans as managed resources and for MBean
    access
  • Commons Attributes and JDK 1.5+ annotations for JMX MBean export

    This release also contains many minor enhancements, for example:

  • factored out BindingErrorProcessor strategy for ServletRequestDataBinder
  • improved ParameterMethodNameResolver for Web MVC MultiActionController

  • For a detailed list of enhancements and bug fixes, see the changelog.

    This release candidate is already considered stable and recommended for development use. We expect Spring 1.2 final to be released in late April.

    Watch out for the Spring Web Flow preview release to follow later this week (for use with Spring 1.2)! Web Flow will also become part of the nightly build at that time.

    Spring Framework 1.1.5 Released

    Releases | Colin Sampaleanu | February 28, 2005 | ...

    We are pleased to announce that Spring Framework 1.1.5 has just been released.


    This is the last bug fix and minor enhancement release in the 1.1.x series, featuring many minor improvements such as:
    • added overloaded "reject" and rejectValue" methods without default message to Errors interface and BindException
    • added "lookup(name, requiredType)" convenience method to JndiTemplate, matching the JNDI object against the given type
    • added "homeInterface" property to AbstractRemoteSlsbInvokerInterceptor, for specifying the home interface to narrow to
    • introduced MailMessage interface as common interface for SimpleMailMessage and JavaMail MIME messages
    • Log4jConfigurer accepts a "classpath:" URL or a "file:" URL as location too, not just a plain file path
    • Log4jConfigurer accepts config files that do not reside in the file system, as long as there is no refresh interval

    • added "int[] batchUpdate(String[] sql)" method to JdbcTemplate, for executing a group of SQL statements as a batch
    • added C3P0NativeJdbcExtractor for C3P0 0.8.5 or later (for earlier C3P0 versions, use SimpleNativeJdbcExtractor)
    • added "maxRows" bean property to JdbcTemplate, allowing to specify the maximum number of rows to be fetched
    • added "fetchSize" and "maxRows" bean properties to RdbmsOperation, passing the values to the internal JdbcTemplate
    • added ClobStringTypeHandler, BlobByteArrayTypeHandler and BlobSerializableTypeHandler for iBATIS SQL Maps 2.0.9
    • ResourceHolderSupport throws TransactionTimedOutException if no time-to-live left (before attempting an operation)
    • TransactionSynchronization objects can influence their execution order through implementing the Ordered interface
    • JtaTransactionManager is able to work with a JTA TransactionManager only (i.e. without a UserTransaction handle)

    • upgraded MockHttpServletRequest to Servlet API 2.4 (added getRemotePort, getLocalName, getLocalAddr, getLocalPort)
    • upgraded MockPageContext to JSP API 2.0 (added getExpressionEvaluator, getVariableResolver, overloaded include)
    • added "contextOverride" option to ServletContextPropertyPlaceholderConfigurer, letting web.xml override local settings
    • added "searchContextAttributes" option to ServletContextPropertyPlaceholderConfigurer, resolving context attributes
    • added "clear" and "isEmpty" methods to ModelAndView, allowing to clear the view of a given ModelAndView object
    • added JasperReportsMultiFormatView, allowing to specify the output format dynamically via a discriminator in the model
    • JSP EL expressions in Spring's JSP tags will be parsed with JSP 2.0 ExpressionEvaluator on JSP 2.0 (Jakarta JSTL else)
    • changed "spring:transform" tag's "value" attribute from String to Object, to allow for expressions resolved by JSP 2.0
    Please see the changelog for details.

    Our next milestone is 1.2 RC1, which we intend to release as soon as possible: with Hibernate3 support, JMX support and further major new features. Nightly 1.2-dev snapshots with Hibernate3 support and JMX support will be available within a few days, so feel free to give 1.2 an early try
    Smile

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