Java EE project
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Functional Overview
 

This section provides a functional overview of the Java EE subproject in WTP.

Java EE Project Creation

Project creation wizards, operations and the data models that drive the operations are used to create Java EE projects. The project creation wizards can be launched using the File > New > Project menu action. The Java EE projects include Enterprise Application, Web, Application Client, Enterprise Java Bean and Connector projects. These Java EE projects can be created for Java EE specification level 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 Java EE 5 and 6 and targeting to a Java EE specification compatible application server. A Java EE runtime target (target server) should be predefined for project creation. The runtime targets are a mechanism to set the JRE and Server classpath on a Java EE project for compile time. The Java EE module projects Web, Application Client, Enterprise JavaBean and Connector projects can be created as standalone or can be nested under a new or existing Enterprise Application project. The api that are available to create the Java EE projects are discussed in the Api Overview section.

Java EE Archive Import

Import wizards and operations and data models that drive the operations are used to import Java EE archives (ear, war,jar.rar) into the workbench. The import wizards can launched using the File > Import menu action. The Java EE archives can be imported into new or existing Java EE projects. For new projects, a runtime target (target server) must be predefined. When importing into an existing project, the user has the option to overwrite the contents of the project with that of the archive and also delete the project and create and new one. The Enterprise Application wizard has more options to import modules nested in a EAR file. The api that are available to import Java EE archives are discussed in the Api Overview section.

Java EE Module Export

Export wizards , operations and data models that drive the operations are used to export Java EE projects into deployable archives (ear, war, jar, rar). The export wizards can be launched using File > Export menu action. The export wizards have the option to include Java source also using export of the Java EE projects. The export of an Enterprise Application project also exports all the associated modules into the ear that can be deployed to a Java EE application server.

Java EE Project Explorer contributions

The Project Explorer provides a single, consistent view that allows users to explore rich levels of content. Physical and logical content is integrated seamlessly to allow users to browse Eclipse resources, Java packages and classes, navigable models of configuration information, Databases, Database Servers and Web Services among other enhanced content. Java EE deployment descriptor models are contributed for fast visual inspection of a modules content, and several menu actions are available for related activities (Run on server, open editor etc...)

Java EE Server Deployment

Built on WTP's' common project's "Deployment Assembly" framework, Each Java EE project has the flexibility to assemble source from various locations, and map folders, libraries, and classpath entries into a given deployment directive

Java EE Validation

Underlying in memory models are used to validate relevant artifacts, the various validator's are built on WTP's validation framework. Utilizing JDT(Java) api's and deployment descriptor model's - Specification rules are checked to catch problems at development time, and to ensure deployment to various runtimes goes smoothly.

Subproject and plugin dependencies
 

The Java EE project is comprised of jst.common , jst.j2ee , jst.servlet , jst.ejb , and jst.web subprojects. The following diagram visualizes the dependencies among these components, and the relevant WST subcomponent dependencies.

 

Figure 1: Component dependencies relevant to the Java EE project

 

Within the Java EE project, the org.eclipse.jst.j2ee.core plugin defines the EMF metamodels that are used to work with Java EE artifact deployment descriptors. Each Java EE plugin builds on top of these. Each logical type of artifact has one plugin each for non-UI and UI functionality. The non-UI component generally contains Operations and Edit Models among other things. The UI component generally contains Wizards, Wizard Pages, and possibly Editor or Editor Pages. Two plugins are outside of this pattern: org.eclipse.jst.j2ee.migration.ui and org.eclipse.jst.j2ee.navigator.ui which provide functionality that crosses all module types. Future iterations on the design could result in breaking these into separate, module-type specific contributions.

 

Figure 2: Plugin dependencies within the Java EE project