GWT and Mule Playing Together

Mule is a leading open source solution for organizations to integrate and harmonize disparate systems within their enterprise. It also provides a fast track to SOA enable many of the functions within the organization and bring down barriers to application development and integration.

GWT (Google Web Toolkit) is a popular and leading framework for building AJAX web applications. There are a number of ways for GWT applications to communicate, the standard one is through its built-in RPC mechanism but there is no easy way for your GWT applications to talk with Mule endpoints directly.

SOAFaces is a lightweight framework that ties GWT and Mule together and makes it possible for GWT apps to access the Mule API and services directly from the AJAX client. This is done through the SOAFaces UniversalClient java interface which is very similar to the MuleClient interface found in the Mule APIs. The UniversalClient allows for messages to be invoked on Mule endpoints (SOA endpoints) and objects/data to be passed and returned directly from the GWT client code. All this is done without the need to use the GWT RPC mechanism. Simply use the UniversalClient interface in much the same way you would traditionally use the MuleClient interface in the Mule framework.

SOAFaces provides three sub APIs to develop with:

org.sofaces.services.*

This is the main package that includes the UniversalClient interface and facilitates the communication and marshaling (JSON or GWT/Java serializable objects) between GWT client and Mule/SOA back end services. This package can be used independently with any custom GWT application and in any j2ee app server. Mule endpoints can be invoked and messages will be routed to a MuleClient proxy on the j2ee back end. This is all transparent to the GWT/SOAFaces developer. Mule requests from GWT are proxied through the webserver and out to the Mule services bus, with all marshaling handled by SOAFaces.

org.soafaces.bundle.client.*

This package in SOAFaces makes it easy to build modular GUI applications (called Weblets) in GWT that have convenient access to SOA services like Mule (using UniversalClient interface). This package also provides a simple and optional API to persist the state of GWT POJO objects, so building modular web apps is easier and with less hassle using SOAFaces!

org.soafaces.bundle.workflow.*

This package in SOAFaces allows building back end server components called Tasklets. Tasklets can be used in jobs and workflows to execute back end batch type processing. Tasklets can be chained together to form more complex workflows and allowing message passing between the Tasklets which provides for rich functionality to be supported. Refer to JobServer for an example of a job scheduling engine that implements the Tasket API and for running and managing jobs.

The SOAFaces framework brings together these APIs for building Mule and GWT powered applications making accessing Mule a quick hop away from your AJAX apps.

For more information please refer to the SOAFaces website.

JobServer 2.6.0 beta released - packed with enterprise features

Grand Logic is pleased to announce the release of JobServer 2.6.0. This release includes improved SOA and enterprise capabilities along with significant architectural improvements and reliability features.

Some of the new capabilities in this release include:

• Support for the latest version of Mule (version 2.2.1)
• High-availability features with support for hot fail-over of job scheduling
  
• Tiered architecture allowing web tier, job processing/scheduling tier, and database tier to be on separate host machines
• Support for web tier clustering - running JobServer's web GUI Workbench tools across a cluster of Tomcat servers
• Support for running Weblets/GWT and Mule/SOA services across cluster of machines
  

This release presents a number of key enterprise features that allows JobServer to play vital role in an organization's IT computing environment. Run and schedule jobs easier than ever before and now you have access the best SOA tools and APIs to build rich web based and SOA applications using GWT and Mule.

Never before is has it been easier to build Mule applications and deploy them in your IT environment. Build web GUIs for your Mule services in highly modular way using JobServer's tools and plugin SDK. Build your Mule services and deploy them in JobServer and easily build GWT powered GUI interfaces to your Mule services. JobServer makes using Mule easy.

JobServer Weblet/Mule architecture diagram

JobServer Job scheduling/processing architecture diagram

Download and test drive JobServer 2.6.0 now and learn more about JobServer's powerful plugin SDK, SOAFaces, that makes extending and customizing JobServer and developing custom jobs and SOA applications easier while using some of the best Java/AJAX and web/SOA open source technology available to developers.

About Grand Logic
Grand Logic is a privately held company focused on delivering quality software to its customers. It is founded on the principle that when innovation, dedication, and hard work come together great things can happen.

JobServer Now Supports GWT and SOA

With the latest release of JobServer 2.4.6, JobServer now support building GWT and SOA powered applications. JobServer is a great environment for building jobs and backend tasklets and now it is a great way to build and deploy GWT/SOA powered application. Check out JobServer powerful open source framework, SOAFaces. SOAFaces makes building and deploying GWT and SOA driving applications a snap.

JobServer provides a unique GWT application building tool that allows developers to build modular and component based GWT and SOA powered applications. JobServer Standard edition is now available for free!

Download and test drive JobServer 2.4.6 now and learn more about JobServer's powerful plugin SDK, SOAFaces, that makes extending and customizing JobServer and developing custom applications easier while using some of the best Java/AJAX and web/SOA open source technology available to developers.

About Grand Logic
Grand Logic is a privately held company focused on delivering quality software to its customers. It is founded on the principle that when innovation, dedication, and hard work come together great things can happen.

JobServer 2.4.6 - Free Edition is Here

Grand Logic is pleased to announce the release of JobServer 2.4.6. Starting with this release JobServer Standard Edition is available free! JobServer gives you the ability to build jobs and GWT/SOA powered applications.

Jobs can be built from modular building blocks and scheduled with JobServer's powerful job scheduler. JobServer also provides a unique GWT application building tool that allows developers to build modular and component based GWT and SOA powered applications. JobServer Standard edition is now available for free!

JobServer Standard is the entry level version but is fully featured. It comes with a built-in and lightweight database, which helps make it convenient to setup and get started out of the box - in minutes.All you need to have installed is the JDK. It supports most of the major functionality found in the high-end versions and is most applicable to environments with under a few hundred jobs/applications and moderate load. Developers wanting to develop new SOAFaces components in their development environment will find it handy. Even use it in Production environments and watch JobServer make your job scheduling chores and critical business transactions manageable and breeze to administer and monitor. Use JobServer in your Production environment and rest easy that your job processing is being handled reliably.

Download and test drive JobServer 2.4.6 now and learn more about JobServer's powerful plugin SDK, SOAFaces, that makes extending and customizing JobServer and developing custom jobs and applications easier while using some of the best Java/AJAX and web/SOA open source technology available to developers.

About Grand Logic
Grand Logic is a privately held company focused on delivering quality software to its customers. It is founded on the principle that when innovation, dedication, and hard work come together great things can happen.