org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons
Interface GrailsApplication

All Superinterfaces:

ApplicationContextAware

All Known Implementing Classes:

DefaultGrailsApplication

public interface GrailsApplication
extends ApplicationContextAware

The main interface representing a running Grails application. This interface's main purpose is to provide a mechanism for analysing the conventions within a Grails application as well as providing metadata and information about the execution environment.

The GrailsApplication interface interfacts with ArtefactHandler instances which are capable of analysing different artefact types (controllers, domain classes etc.) and introspecting the artefact conventions

Implementors of this inteface should be aware that a GrailsApplication is only initialised when the initialise() method is called. In other words GrailsApplication instances are lazily initialised by the Grails runtime.

Since:

0.1 Created: Jul 2, 2005

Author:

Graeme Rocher, Steven Devijver

See Also:

initialise(), ArtefactHandler

Field Summary

static String	APPLICATION_ID The id of the grails application within a bean context
static String	CONFIG_CLASS The name of the class that provides configuration
static String	DATA_SOURCE_CLASS
static String	ENV_APPLICATION Deprecated. Use Environment.APPLICATION instead.
static String	ENV_DEVELOPMENT Deprecated. Use Environment.DEVELOPMENT instead.
static String	ENV_PRODUCTION Deprecated. Use Environment.PRODUCTION instead.
static String	ENV_TEST Deprecated. Use Environment.TEST instead.
static String	ENVIRONMENT Deprecated. Use Environment.KEY instead.
static String	ENVIRONMENT_DEFAULT Deprecated. Use Environment.DEFAULT instead.
static String	GLOBAL_PLUGINS_DIR Deprecated. Use BuildSettings.GLOBAL_PLUGINS_DIR instead.
static String	PLUGINS_DIR Deprecated. Use BuildSettings.PLUGINS_DIR instead.
static String	PROJECT_CLASSES_DIR Deprecated. Use BuildSettings.PROJECT_CLASSES_DIR instead.
static String	PROJECT_META_FILE
static String	PROJECT_RESOURCES_DIR Deprecated. Use BuildSettings.PROJECT_RESOURCES_DIR instead.
static String	PROJECT_TEST_CLASSES_DIR Deprecated. Use BuildSettings.PROJECT_TEST_CLASSES_DIR instead.
static String	PROJECT_WORK_DIR Deprecated. Use BuildSettings.PROJECT_WORK_DIR instead.
static String	WORK_DIR Deprecated. Use BuildSettings.WORK_DIR instead.

Method Summary

void	addArtefact(Class artefact) Adds the given artefact, attempting to determine type from
GrailsClass	addArtefact(String artefactType, Class artefactClass) Registers a new artefact
GrailsClass	addArtefact(String artefactType, GrailsClass artefactGrailsClass) Registers a new artefact
void	addOverridableArtefact(Class artefact) Adds an artefact that can be overriden by user defined classes
void	configChanged() Fired to inform the application when the Config.groovy file changes
Class[]	getAllArtefacts() Retrieves all java.lang.Class instances considered Artefacts loaded by the Grails class loader
Class[]	getAllClasses() Retrieves all java.lang.Class instances loaded by the Grails class loader
GrailsClass	getArtefact(String artefactType, String name) Gets the GrailsClass associated with the named artefact class i.e. to get the GrailsClass for controller called "BookController" you pass the name "BookController"
GrailsClass	getArtefactByLogicalPropertyName(String type, String logicalName) Retrieves an artefact by its logical property name.
GrailsClass	getArtefactForFeature(String artefactType, Object featureID) Get an artefact GrailsClass by a "feature" which depending on the artefact may be a URI or tag name for example
ArtefactHandler	getArtefactHandler(String type) Returns the ArtefactHandler for the given type
ArtefactHandler[]	getArtefactHandlers() Obtain a list of all the artefact handlers
ArtefactInfo	getArtefactInfo(String artefactType) Obtain all the class information about the artefactType specified
GrailsClass[]	getArtefacts(String artefactType) Get an array of all the GrailsClass instances relating to artefacts of the specified type.
ArtefactHandler	getArtefactType(Class theClass) Returns the ArtefactHandler for the given class or null
Class	getClassForName(String className) Retrieves a class for the given name within the GrailsApplication or returns null
ClassLoader	getClassLoader() Returns the class loader instance for the Grails application
groovy.util.ConfigObject	getConfig() Returns the ConfigObject instance
Map	getFlatConfig() Returns the flatten ConfigObject for use from Java classes
ApplicationContext	getMainContext() Returns the Spring context for this application.
Map	getMetadata() Get access to the project's metadata, specified in application.properties This provides access to information like required grails version, application name, version etc but NOT general application settings.
ApplicationContext	getParentContext() Returns the Spring application context that contains this application instance.
Resource	getResourceForClass(Class theClazz) Retrieves a Resource instance for the given Grails class or null it doesn't exist
boolean	hasArtefactHandler(String type) Test whether an artefact handler exists for a given type
void	initialise() Initialise this GrailsApplication
boolean	isArtefact(Class theClazz) Call this to find out if the class you have is an artefact loaded by grails.
boolean	isArtefactOfType(String artefactType, Class theClazz) Check if the specified artefact Class has been loaded by Grails already AND is of the type expected
boolean	isArtefactOfType(String artefactType, String className) Check if the artefact Class with the name specified is of the type expected
boolean	isInitialised() Returns whether this GrailsApplication has been initialised or not
boolean	isWarDeployed() Returns true if this application has been deployed as a WAR file
void	rebuild() Rebuilds this Application throwing away the class loader and re-constructing it from the loaded resources again.
void	refresh() This method will refresh the entire application
void	refreshConstraints() This method will rebuild the constraint definitions
void	registerArtefactHandler(ArtefactHandler handler) Register a new artefact handler
void	setMainContext(ApplicationContext context) Sets the main Spring context for this application.

Methods inherited from interface org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextAware

setApplicationContext

Field Detail

WORK_DIR

static final String WORK_DIR

Deprecated. Use BuildSettings.WORK_DIR instead.

The name of the system property whose value contains the location, during development, of the Grails working directory where temporary files are generated to

See Also:

Constant Field Values

PROJECT_WORK_DIR

static final String PROJECT_WORK_DIR

Deprecated. Use BuildSettings.PROJECT_WORK_DIR instead.

The directory where temporary project resources and plug-ins are kept

See Also:

Constant Field Values

PLUGINS_DIR

static final String PLUGINS_DIR

Deprecated. Use BuildSettings.PLUGINS_DIR instead.

The path to the plug-ins directory for the application

See Also:

Constant Field Values

GLOBAL_PLUGINS_DIR

static final String GLOBAL_PLUGINS_DIR

Deprecated. Use BuildSettings.GLOBAL_PLUGINS_DIR instead.

The path to the global plug-ins directory for the application

See Also:

Constant Field Values

PROJECT_RESOURCES_DIR

static final String PROJECT_RESOURCES_DIR

Deprecated. Use BuildSettings.PROJECT_RESOURCES_DIR instead.

The name of the system property whose value contains the location, during development, of the current Grails projects resources directory

See Also:

Constant Field Values

PROJECT_CLASSES_DIR

static final String PROJECT_CLASSES_DIR

Deprecated. Use BuildSettings.PROJECT_CLASSES_DIR instead.

The name of the system property whose value contains the location, during development, of the current Grails projects resources directory

See Also:

Constant Field Values

PROJECT_TEST_CLASSES_DIR

static final String PROJECT_TEST_CLASSES_DIR

Deprecated. Use BuildSettings.PROJECT_TEST_CLASSES_DIR instead.

The name of the system property whose value contains the location, during development, of the current Grails projects resources directory

See Also:

Constant Field Values

APPLICATION_ID

static final String APPLICATION_ID

The id of the grails application within a bean context

See Also:

Constant Field Values

ENVIRONMENT

static final String ENVIRONMENT

Deprecated. Use Environment.KEY instead.

Constant used to resolve the environment via System.getProperty(ENVIRONMENT)

ENVIRONMENT_DEFAULT

static final String ENVIRONMENT_DEFAULT

Deprecated. Use Environment.DEFAULT instead.

Constants that indicates whether this GrailsApplication is running in the default environment

See Also:

Constant Field Values

ENV_DEVELOPMENT

static final String ENV_DEVELOPMENT

Deprecated. Use Environment.DEVELOPMENT instead.

Constant for the development environment

ENV_APPLICATION

static final String ENV_APPLICATION

Deprecated. Use Environment.APPLICATION instead.

Constant for the application data source, primarly for backward compatability for those applications that use ApplicationDataSource.groovy

ENV_PRODUCTION

static final String ENV_PRODUCTION

Deprecated. Use Environment.PRODUCTION instead.

Constant for the production environment.

ENV_TEST

static final String ENV_TEST

Deprecated. Use Environment.TEST instead.

Constant for the test environment.

CONFIG_CLASS

static final String CONFIG_CLASS

The name of the class that provides configuration

See Also:

Constant Field Values

DATA_SOURCE_CLASS

static final String DATA_SOURCE_CLASS

See Also:

Constant Field Values

PROJECT_META_FILE

static final String PROJECT_META_FILE

See Also:

Constant Field Values

Method Detail

getConfig

groovy.util.ConfigObject getConfig()

Returns the ConfigObject instance

Returns:

The ConfigObject instance

getFlatConfig

Map getFlatConfig()

Returns the flatten ConfigObject for use from Java classes

Returns:

The flattened config

getClassLoader

ClassLoader getClassLoader()

Returns the class loader instance for the Grails application

Returns:

The ClassLoader instance

getAllClasses

Class[] getAllClasses()

Retrieves all java.lang.Class instances loaded by the Grails class loader

Returns:

An array of classes

getAllArtefacts

Class[] getAllArtefacts()

Retrieves all java.lang.Class instances considered Artefacts loaded by the Grails class loader

Returns:

An array of classes

getMainContext

ApplicationContext getMainContext()

Returns the Spring context for this application. Note that this will return null until the application is fully initialised. This context contains all the application artifacts, plugin beans, the works.

setMainContext

void setMainContext(ApplicationContext context)

Sets the main Spring context for this application.

getParentContext

ApplicationContext getParentContext()

Returns the Spring application context that contains this application instance. It is the parent of the context returned by getMainContext().

getClassForName

Class getClassForName(String className)

Retrieves a class for the given name within the GrailsApplication or returns null

Parameters:

className - The name of the class

Returns:

The class or null

refreshConstraints

void refreshConstraints()

This method will rebuild the constraint definitions

To do:

move this out? Why ORM dependencies in here?

refresh

void refresh()

This method will refresh the entire application

rebuild

void rebuild()

Rebuilds this Application throwing away the class loader and re-constructing it from the loaded resources again. This method can only be called in development mode and an error will be thrown if called in a different enivronment

getResourceForClass

Resource getResourceForClass(Class theClazz)

Retrieves a Resource instance for the given Grails class or null it doesn't exist

Parameters:

theClazz - The Grails class

Returns:

A Resource or null

isArtefact

boolean isArtefact(Class theClazz)

Call this to find out if the class you have is an artefact loaded by grails.

Parameters:

theClazz - A class to test

Returns:

True if and only if the class was loaded from grails-app/

Since:

0.5

isArtefactOfType

boolean isArtefactOfType(String artefactType,
                         Class theClazz)

Check if the specified artefact Class has been loaded by Grails already AND is of the type expected

Parameters:

artefactType - A string identifying the artefact type to check for

theClazz - The class to check

Returns:

True if Grails considers the class to be managed as an artefact of the type specified.

Since:

0.5

isArtefactOfType

boolean isArtefactOfType(String artefactType,
                         String className)

Check if the artefact Class with the name specified is of the type expected

Parameters:

artefactType - A string identifying the artefact type to check for

className - The name of a class to check

Returns:

True if Grails considers the class to be managed as an artefact of the type specified.

Since:

0.5

getArtefact

GrailsClass getArtefact(String artefactType,
                        String name)

Gets the GrailsClass associated with the named artefact class

i.e. to get the GrailsClass for controller called "BookController" you pass the name "BookController"

Parameters:

artefactType - The type of artefact to retrieve, i.e. "Controller"

name - The name of an artefact such as "BookController"

Returns:

The associated GrailsClass or null

Since:

0.5

getArtefactType

ArtefactHandler getArtefactType(Class theClass)

Returns the ArtefactHandler for the given class or null

Parameters:

theClass - The class

Returns:

The ArtefactHandler

getArtefactInfo

ArtefactInfo getArtefactInfo(String artefactType)

Obtain all the class information about the artefactType specified

Parameters:

artefactType - An artefact type identifier i.e. "Domain"

Returns:

The artefact info or null if the artefactType is not recognized

Since:

0.5

getArtefacts

GrailsClass[] getArtefacts(String artefactType)

Get an array of all the GrailsClass instances relating to artefacts of the specified type.

Parameters:

artefactType - The type of artefact to retrieve, i.e. "Controller"

Returns:

An array of GrailsClasses which may empty by not null

Since:

0.5

getArtefactForFeature

GrailsClass getArtefactForFeature(String artefactType,
                                  Object featureID)

Get an artefact GrailsClass by a "feature" which depending on the artefact may be a URI or tag name for example

Parameters:

artefactType - The type ID of the artefact, i.e. "TagLib"

featureID - The "feature" ID, say a URL or tag name

Returns:

The grails class or null if none is found

Since:

0.5

addArtefact

GrailsClass addArtefact(String artefactType,
                        Class artefactClass)

Registers a new artefact

Parameters:

artefactType - The type ID of the artefact, i.e. "TagLib"

artefactClass - The class of the artefact. A new GrailsClass will be created automatically and added to internal structures, using the appropriate ArtefactHandler

Returns:

The new grails class for the artefact class

Since:

0.5

addArtefact

GrailsClass addArtefact(String artefactType,
                        GrailsClass artefactGrailsClass)

Registers a new artefact

Parameters:

artefactType - The type ID of the artefact, i.e. "TagLib"

artefactGrailsClass - The GrailsClass of the artefact.

Returns:

The supplied grails class for the artefact class

Since:

0.5

registerArtefactHandler

void registerArtefactHandler(ArtefactHandler handler)

Register a new artefact handler

Parameters:

handler - The new handler to add

hasArtefactHandler

boolean hasArtefactHandler(String type)

Test whether an artefact handler exists for a given type

Parameters:

type - The type of the handler

Returns:

True if it does

getArtefactHandlers

ArtefactHandler[] getArtefactHandlers()

Obtain a list of all the artefact handlers

Returns:

The list, possible empty but not null, of all currently registered handlers

initialise

void initialise()

Initialise this GrailsApplication

isInitialised

boolean isInitialised()

Returns whether this GrailsApplication has been initialised or not

Returns:

True if it has been initialised

getMetadata

Map getMetadata()

Get access to the project's metadata, specified in application.properties

This provides access to information like required grails version, application name, version etc but NOT general application settings.

Returns:

A read-only Map of data about the application, not environment specific

getArtefactByLogicalPropertyName

GrailsClass getArtefactByLogicalPropertyName(String type,
                                             String logicalName)

Retrieves an artefact by its logical property name. For example the logical property name of BookController would be book

Parameters:

type - The artefact type

logicalName - The logical name

Returns:

The GrailsClass or null if it doesn't exist

addArtefact

void addArtefact(Class artefact)

Adds the given artefact, attempting to determine type from

Parameters:

artefact - The artefact to add

isWarDeployed

boolean isWarDeployed()

Returns true if this application has been deployed as a WAR file

Returns:

True if the application is WAR deployed

addOverridableArtefact

void addOverridableArtefact(Class artefact)

Adds an artefact that can be overriden by user defined classes

Parameters:

artefact - An overridable artefact

configChanged

void configChanged()

Fired to inform the application when the Config.groovy file changes

getArtefactHandler

ArtefactHandler getArtefactHandler(String type)

Returns the ArtefactHandler for the given type

Parameters:

type - The artefact handler type

Returns:

The artefact handler