Supporting REST via Spring Roo in #SAPNWCloud: A lazy developer’s challenge

[richard_hirsch]

I remember reading a blog from dagfinn.parnas entitled “Exposing a REST API from #SAPNWCloud” in which he describes how to create an application on NetWeaver Cloud that supports REST.

Although Dagfinn used Apache Jersey, there was still a great of development work that was necessary.

A Challenge

I thought to myself – I like a challenge - what about trying to create the same app without any Java coding.

I used Spring Roo and used these commands:

project --topLevelPackage net.rhirsch.test --projectName restpoc

persistence setup --provider ECLIPSELINK --database HYPERSONIC_IN_MEMORY

entity jpa --class ~.domain.FeedEntry --testAutomatically

field string --fieldName senderName --sizeMax 50

field string --fieldName senderEmail

field boolean --fieldName isComment

field string --fieldName parent

field date --fieldName timeCreated --type java.util.Date

field string --fieldName feedText

json add --class ~.domain.FeedEntry

web mvc setup

web mvc all --package ~.controller

web mvc json add --jsonObject ~.domain.FeedEntry --class ~.controller.FeedEntryController

nwcloud enable-deploy

nwcloud enable-jpa

quit

I changed the nwcloud.properties file to contain my properties

I then used maven to deploy the application to the NetWeaver Cloud:

mvn -Dmaven.test.skip=true package nwcloud:deploy nwcloud:start

The Results

A nice web User Interface.

I also got a working REST interface:

The generated REST interface is a bit flaky but it works.

Conclusion

Motto: Never underestimate the power of Spring Roo + NetWeaver Cloud.

JSON, REST, Persistence, WebUI in 16 lines of Roo code and a few maven commands.

Dagfinn’s application is probably a better foundation for a real app but for a quick prototype – nothing beats Roo.