ADempiere/Equinox Integration 2

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This Wiki is read-only for reference purposes to avoid broken links.

Approach 2: Embedding ADempiere in Equinox done by Joerg Viola. However, the OSGI Project is undergoing revamp by Heng Sin and is almost beta at this stage. Thus this page is only a reference point for academic reference until documentation of the new project becomes more complete there. - Redhuan D. Oon

ADempiere is getting pluggable like the Eclipse framework!

Status: Alpha Code - Review required

  • Current release tag: 4.0.0pr01
  • Swing client can be fired up inside equinox.
  • very few tests applied
  • Webstart has been fired up with equinox.
  • zkwebui runs inside OSGi through equinox servlet bridge
  • deployment now integrated in the standard adempiere setup!
    • currently only swing standalone and zkwebui accessible
    • webstart has to be packed in a war for deploying in any web container

Setup

Eclipse setup

  • As usual: File/Import.../Existing Projects into Workspace
  • You find a new top-level project equinox-target. It serves the following purposes:
    • acting as an equinox-target, defining the eclipse dev environment
    • providing ant-based setup for development environment for standalone swing client, webstart and web ui.
    • Later: installing equinox runtime components in the ADempiere install process
  • Open the file equinox-target/equinox.target and click "Set as target platform" in the upper right corner.
    • Now eclipse knows about the specific equinox bundle configuration we are going to use.

Development Environment

  • Use the standard ADempiere deployment:
    • cd utils_dev
./RUN_build.sh
  • This creates and adempiere/Adempiere installation with a new "osgi" folder. This is the OSGi container platform
  • For updating a modified plug-in, use
./RUN_plugin.sh <name of plugin project>

Swing Standalone

  • Use the standard ./RUN_ADempiere.sh in deploy directory

WebStart

  • Currently available only for debug deployment, see below
    • Todo: Feature is to be build and packed into war
  • A new top-level project webstart has been created
  • This is a feature (equinox language).
    • It wraps all plugins.
  • If you do not have one, create a keystore
    • eg. using: keytool -genkey -alias adempiere -keystore equinox-target/dist/keystore
  • submit ant dist-webstart in /equinox-target
  • open webstart/feature.xml (should open in the eclipse feature editor)
  • Press the "export deployable feature" icon in the top-right corner
    • Choose equinox-target/dist/webstart as output directory
    • Under JAR signed, provide your keystore
    • Under Java Web Start, provide the location the JNLP will be downloaded from (eg. http://localhost:8080/webstart) and the JVM spec (1.5+)
    • Click Finish
  • Run it using one of the following options:
    • on the console, cd to equinox-target/dist/webstart and execute javaws adempiere-equinox.jnlp
    • in a web-container, link a webapp to equinox-target/dist/webstart and download the app from webstart/adempiere-equinox.jnlp

ZK Web UI

  • Install as described above
  • install a tomcat-5.5.28
  • ln -s ADEMPIERE_INSTALLwebapp/bridge tomcat-5.5.28/webapps/adempiere
  • rm -rf tomcat-5.5.28/work/* (ensure using current build)
  • fire up tomcat: catalina.sh jpda run (jpda for remote debugging)
  • http://localhost:8080/adempiere/index.zul
  • Enjoy

Development cycle

Though initial setup seems to be quite expensive, the development turnaround cycle is not.

A fine tool is the OSGi console, a text console currently launched at standalone and web deployment. The terminal window after start simply accepts keyboard input, type "help" for available commands:

* help
* ss - short status of all bundles
* refresh <bundle id>

Now what to do if you want to change a plugin and test it?

  • If you changed code in a plugin, open its MANIFEST.MF
  • deploy it: utils_dev/RUN_plugin <project name>
  • choose the standalone or the web OSGi container - wherever you want to test
  • attach to the OSGi console running, refresh the bundle and test.

Webstart can only be tested by deploying all features which is quite time consuming. Do it after everything runs in the standalone container.

Running standalone within Eclipse

Alternatively, you can run/debug Adempiere standalone within Eclipse.

  • Select Run -> Run configurations...
  • create new OSGI Framework
  • Under bundles Deselect All, and then select org.adempiere.client and any other plugins you want to use
  • Click Add Required Bundles
  • Run

Screenshot of an example Eclipse run configuration for swing client

Core Interfaces/Extension Points

Id Status Description
org.adempiere.base.IResourceFinder Implemented Finds resources in each plugin, use since client code is in base, requiring resource from client
org.adempiere.base.IDictionaryService Implemented Dictionary migration - 2pack being one possible implementation, used by plugin utilities
org.compiere.apps.form.FormPanel Implemented FormPanel - a freely programmable Form for the Swing Client
org.adempiere.base.IColumnCallout Implemented Callout - called whenever a column on a table changes its value
org.adempiere.base.IModelValidator Planned Modelvalidator - called whenever a record is saved
org.adempiere.osgi.IMenuAction Implemented Menu Action - called whenever a window menu is created

Tutorials

Learning Points Encountered

  • client code in base: this code has no access eg. on resources in client.
    • First core interface defined: IResourceFinder
    • Adempiere.class.getResource() converted to Adempiere.getResource() - which in turn uses IResourceHandler
  • Postgres Driver in tools is java 1.6? - Have to use a 1.6 VM!
  • ZK Servlets do not save ServletConfig - Workaround checked in
  • Standard Equinox bridging webapp incompatible with up-to-date equinox - updated version provided.
  • a4e: The resource '.../External Plug-in Libraries/.classpath' does not exist
    •  ? workaround: rm -rf ../External Plug-in Libraries ?

See Also

Further Reading