ZK 3.6.3 and ZK5.0rc with Glassfish V3 and EE6

In my previous post I described how to get a EE6 web application using the ZK3.6.3 framework on Glassfish V3. I noted while redeploying or undeploying the web-application it made the GF instance plus the JVM crash (running Ubuntu 9.04,9.10 and JDK 1.6.b16).

This problem does NOT exist anymore with the latest build from last week. Make sure you update to build b72. Start the updatetool in glassfish-home/bin. (you might have to start it several times, I got several times time-out errors, or better click on the reminder if you choose the automatic update check feature).

Glassfish V3b72

ZK NB Plugin News

As expected, as a matter of not even days, the Netbeans plugin for ZK 3.6.3 was released. Download it from sourceforge.net.

You might also notice they released a plugin for the release candidate of ZK5 (which you find in the same download section). Though the plugin creates a J2EE 1.4 web application, it might be worth installing to test the features of the upcoming version.

ZK 3.6.3 with Netbeans 6.8 Beta on Glassfish V3

I am using Netbeans 6.8B for a few days and mainly testing if my existing JEE5 projects can be opened, deployed and executed on GF3. I am using ZK as Web/Ajax Framework. Usually the ZK team releases a new NB plugin to help you to create ZK based Java Web projects. Currently the plugin supports 3.6.2, some days back ZK 3.6.3 was released, so I guess in a few days time we will have a 3.6.3 plugin. The plugin creates a skeleton for a JEE5 webproject and I doubt they will support Java EE6 before EE6 is finally released (December?).

I was curious to see if I get the latest ZK running on GF V3 as a JEE6 application.

Part 1: ZK 3.6.2 with Netbeans 6.8B as EE5 Web Project

First, lets try first to add the 3.6.2. plugin to NB 6.8B

ZK plugin 3.6.2

Release Fever Update

Quite a number of new releases (that bother me) hit us the last few days (weeks) and more to come.

• Ubuntu 9.10 (the broken Koala) (link)
• Netbeans 6.8 BETA (link)
• Java EE6 in NB 6.8B (official release eventually in December) (link)
• ZK 3.6.3 (link)

From the bookshelf

New on my packt bookshelf to read:

• ZK Developers Guide
  The book was published in early 2008, so it wont reflect the latest versions. The basics wont change.
• JBoss Drools Business Rules
  A less technical approach to Drools.

I will update you with my review soon.

News: Android, ZK, Motorola

• Android SDK 1.5r3
  Without big announcements the third release of the SDK is available for download at android.com (link)
• Motorola goes Android
  Despite (or maybe because of) its declining mobile business Motorola starts a new platform for Android support coming with tools (still in beta), marketplace and more. The tool are available only for Windows and Mac OSX. Find more infos at MOTODEV (link).
• Singapore Android usergroup
  A dedicated group with regular meetups and own website (link)
• ZK 5
  We are getting closer to major release 5 by Potix. You can find some general info at zkss.org (link). A preview version is also available for download (link).

News: Netbeans 6.7, ZK

• Netbeans 6.7
  Finally the production version was released. With some great new features like Hudson,Kenai Integration  and Load-on-demand, Fullscreen-mode and many more, a major step forward for the Netbeans community. More infos and download at netbeans.org (link)
• ZK 3.6.2
  With a few days delay after releasing the latest version 3.6.2, the newest Netbeans plugin is available as well. Download at sourceforge.net (link).

Nominate ZK for SF CCA

You might want to nominate the ZK framework for the SourceForge Community Choice Award.

News: ZK 3.0.2 released

As expected the updated Netbeans plugin followed the latest release quickly.
Version 3.0.2 is available for download at sourceforge.net (link)

Tutorial: Reading from the DB with Netbeans and ZK (Part 2)

In this part 2 we modify the ZK project from part 1 and add data binding and a detail view.

Before we start adding the new functions, you might want to look in some of the project settings that are default when you create a new ZK360 type web project. Both context path (under Project properties|Run), as well the Display Name in the web.xml (under project explorer|configuration files) . You better change the default to avoid confusion when starting to create the second project.

I recommend to have a look at these 2 documents: ZK Developers Guide and the ZK Reference Doc (link), giving you more insights how ZK works and how feature rich it is. I noticed the available Netbeans palette does not show all available features, so you are better of browsing the docs and look at the sourcecode of the ZK Explorer application (Live Demo).

Back to part 2.

Requirements:

• Netbeans 6.5 with a running derby DB and the sample database (customer table)
• Installed ZK 3.6.0 plugin
• The project from part 1 (link)

Content

1. Open the ZKReadDB project from part 1
2. Change the controller class
3. Activate the Data Binding Manager
4. Make the listbox work witha model and refer the listitems to the fields
5. Implement the detail view
6. Add the detail view with textboxes
7. The complete index.zul and controller.java