Roma Framework big refactoring

Hi,
yesterday night a great idea light my mind... A new way to define desktop in View Aspect. It was too much simple to catch before...

Below a default desktop (I replaced open/close characted with []):

[desktop]
[area name="main" render="column"\]
[area name="top" /]
[area name="body" render="grid"/]
[area name="bottom" /]
[/area]
[/desktop]


By using XML to define the desktop assure cross View Aspect portability. The idea is very simple: to define, by area tags, a way to create containers ala Swing. Each area has a name that can be used as layout foreach POJO fields and actions. Furthermore area tag allow optionally the render to use. Available renders are:

- Null (Empty container)
- Row
- Column
- Grid
- Tab (TabbedPane)

I'm working for a XmlDesktop working with Echo2 implementation. Thanks to this feature users will be able to build complex and nice pages without effort!

Echo2 XML stylesheet will make the rest changing colors, images, fonts, spacing, etc.

Cool!

The most strange bug in the Java Virtual Machine!

Rome, Italy. Yesterday night. My clock displays 1:23 AM.

Finally I found the bug that affects the CRUDSelect of RomaFramework project. Some users reported me a strange behaviour: the "select" button of CRUDSelect won't appear when the application is launched non in debug mode.

Initially I've leave out that report in favor of more concrete enhancements and problems. But some days ago I've catched the strange behaviour reported by the users.

How can the JVM hide my "select" button and show it when I launch the same application in debug mode? This is a case for the detective Luca. Since I cannot debug the application (in debug doesn't appears the bug), I've enabled the logging for the internal API of RomaFramework (just changing the log4j.xml file). It was not enought. So I've inserted much more logging and finally I saw the problem:

Java Reflection doesn't return the method public void select(). Much of Roma Framework working depends by Java Reflection. In a deeper analysis I've isolated the problem:

CRUDSelect class contains, between the others, these two methods:

public void select();
public void select(boolean iForceWindowClosing);

For a strange reason the first one is not returned when the JVM is in non-debug mode!!! Probably a bug in the HotSpot on method with the same name. I've renamed the second one method in:

public void selectAndForceClosing(boolean iForceWindowClosing);

And now anythings work!!! Now I submit the update in SVN repository, but tomorrow I'll open a bug report to Sun.com sending a test case that show the problem.

This time again, another case was resolved by detective Luca ;-)

Greetings ProNetics

Today is the last day in ProNetics company. After about 2 years in ProNetics I leave my role to work as C.T.O. in AssetData. AssetData is a small-young private company specialized in the vertical market of Human Resources and E-Learning.

My mission will be to make the company more "horizontal" to the Software Development and System Integration. All new projects will use the Open Source RomaFramework technology to develop Java application in short time guaranteing good Time To Market. A small area will cover the PHP technology by using and customizing DOCEBO E-Learning software.

I want to give thanks to ProNetics people, specially to Mario Lanzillotta and Gianugo Rabellino to have instilled in me the Open Source culture. In the ProNetics period I've released my pearl Orient ODBMS as open source project on Source Forge community. Moreover in the last months I've created the RomaFramework project too...

I want to give thanks to other collegues, someone become a friend in my private life too... And I want to take advantage of this greeting to relaunch the challenge to tear away my gold medal in the Go-Kart competion!!! ;-)

So... Bye and Let's start!

Roma Framework: finally the Users Module working

Today I've finished the first tests about the new Users module in ROMA Framework. What is the Users Module? It contains all domain POJO to manage login, accounts and profiles in the most classic fashion.

Yes, since most often applications handle User and authentication in the same way, why don't implement a flexible POJOs in ROMA? That is the Users Module. It depends by JPOX persistence module (JDO 2.0) to store user information in the database.

The most powerful thing, IMHO, is the profiling system. I tried to implement the most flexible system to define profiles:

• Each profile defines the mode, namely the way functions play:
• allow all but: you can define the exception. Use this when exception are less than all functionalities
  
• deny all but: you can define only what the profile can access. Use this when functions are much less than the total.
• Each profile can define a parent profile where to inherit the functionalities allowed and denied.
• Functionalities are expressed as a simple name in the format below:
• ClassName
• ClassName.field
• ClassName.action
• In this way you can profile from the Class level until each field/action!
  

How to use it?

If you want to disable the Control Panel item from the main menu, just insert the function with name "MainMenu.controlPanel" (that is the action name that call the submenu) and with allow equals to false.

If you'd like to hide the employee's salary field to the "Visitor" profile, then set it with mode "Allow all but" and insert the function "Employee.salary" with allow equals to false. That is.

Roma controller will check for each POJO's fields and actions if the current user profile is allowed to display.

Simple, powerful and easy!

Users module contain also an Activity Log manager, a default implementation for the AuthenticationAspect using BaseAccount and BaseProfile POJOs, generic useful objects such as Info and GenericValue, and more.

To use it download the latest SVN revision and type:
roma addModule domain-users

Follow the link to know more: http://romaframework.xwiki.com/xwiki/bin/view/Doc/Domain+Users

Back to my PC

Holidays ended and I'm in Rome again in front to my PC to resolve some issues about Roma Framework and to implement some new cool features.

Rome city is too much beautiful on August, since there is zero traffic and very few people around the city. Yesterday it was a very hot day, but in the evening I've tested my brand new Roller Blade on bicycle path near Rome. Very cool!

Roma Framework community and vacation

After a while I write on my tech blog... Now I'm on vacation (Tuscany, Italy) but sometime I connect to the Internet to read mails and messages. I'm very happy to see the community reply to the Roma Framework forum in my absence! ;-)

I'll return in the mid of august with a lot of feature requests and some (!) bugs to resolve.

And in the air I can feel a wind of changes...

Ciao, Luca

Very Glad...

I'm very glad when people thank to me and Roma's developers for the Roma Framework Project.

The bigger satisfaction is when developers say: "Developing a web application with Roma is incredible!", and then enlist all benefits to develop an application using only POJOs.

Roma Framework is much more than a web tool, also if most people use it to create Java Web Applications in short time...

Working for the next major release of Roma Framework: 0.9.7

Hi to all,
I'm working to release the new version of Roma Framework. Many improvements and new features. This week end I'll work to reach a stable release to send to SourceForge.

I want to hurry up to release it before the next JavaConference event on Monday!

When my holiday? I don't know yet... Sigh... :-(

Roma Framework to the next Java Conference 2006

Finally Sun Microsystems Italy has published the almost final session list of the upcoming Java Conference 2006 event. This year will be splitted in two appointments: June, 26th 2006 in Rome and June, 27th-28th 2006 in Milan.

My speak will be on Monday June, 26th 2006 at the "Centro Congressi Roma Eventi" in the center of Rome. Goto http://it.sun.com/eventi/jc06/logistica/index.html to look how to reach the Congress Centre.

The session abstract is: "How build a web application 100% Ajaxed in just one hour using Roma Framework". The session will begin at 17:00 and will finish at 17:45. I'll speak Italian all the time ;-)

I hope to show the new Salsero module to leave Java developers agape!

Released version 0.9.4

Yesterday night I've finally released the version 0.9.4 of Roma Framework. Many news in this release, but the greater satisfaction for me is to watch the project to growth. The download rate is growth along with Wiki page viewed along with external sites that link the Roma Project.

The JMX Monitoring aspect is almost finished, there is the very first preview of "Salsero", the Roma graphical designer tool and much other.

I hope to have a stable version of Salsero for the next Java Day and Java Conference 2006.

Stay tuned!