Carlos Sanchez's Weblog

Warszawa (Warsaw)

Carlos Sanchez — Mon, 7 Jul 2008 08:00:00 -0400

Warszawa is the capital of Poland. During the World War II it was razed to the ground by order of Hitler, around 85% of the buildings were destroyed. After the war the old town Starowka (see below) was reconstructed and now it's an UNESCO world heritage site. The Palace of Culture and Science, built by the soviets, is the tallest building in Poland.

Entrevistado por minube.com

Carlos Sanchez — Fri, 4 Jul 2008 03:00:00 -0400

Pedro Jareño de minube.com me ha hecho una entrevista en su parada en Los Angeles durante su vuelta al mundo, por si quieres saber alguna cosa más sobre mi

minube es una web de viajes "social" con una comunidad de usuarios, muy a la web 2.0. Pedro está dando una vuelta al mundo y blogueando desde los lugares que visita para promocionar la página.

Upgrading Struts 2.0.x to 2.1.x

Carlos Sanchez — Wed, 2 Jul 2008 18:28:30 -0400

Now that Struts 2.1.2 is officially out you may want to upgrade. I've found the upgrading instructions at the Struts wiki to be extremely useful, and pretty much you'll need to read the whole thing.

Two things that I've contributed to the wiki:

Ensure no dependencies in the freemarker groupId are used as the latest version used by Struts is now under the org.freeemarker groupId and you'll get classpath conflicts if you added a freemarker dependency.

In the unit tests you may get a NullPointerException as ActionContext.getContext() does not create a context on demand, I think there are better alternatives to avoid the direct use of getContext, but this snippet will fix the problem.

ConfigurationManager configurationManager = new ConfigurationManager();
configurationManager.addContainerProvider(new XWorkConfigurationProvider());
Configuration config = configurationManager.getConfiguration();
Container container = config.getContainer();

ValueStack stack = container.getInstance(ValueStackFactory.class).createValueStack();
stack.getContext().put(ActionContext.CONTAINER, container);
ActionContext.setContext(new ActionContext(stack.getContext()));

assertNotNull(ActionContext.getContext());

Poznan, Poland

Carlos Sanchez — Wed, 2 Jul 2008 08:00:00 -0400

Poznan is one of the oldest cities in Poland, and the fifth in size. Poznan's cathedral is the oldest in the country, containing the tombs of the first Polish rulers.

New York, New York (3)

Carlos Sanchez — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:00:00 -0400

Last batch of pictures from New York, I promise .

Functional testing with Maven, Cargo and Selenium

Carlos Sanchez — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:12:40 -0400

Setting up automated functional integration tests is not too hard if you have the right tools. It can take you a bit of time to setup but in the long run you'll benefit from reduced QA times, reduced risks, a more confident development team, the ability to do safe refactorings, and many more advantages.

I'm going to explain how Maven, Selenium, Cargo and JBoss 4.2 can be setup to run automatically in a continuous integration server such as Continuum customizing the server configuration as needed and deploying any webapp automatically. Every time the webapp is changed the CI server will execute the tests against the latest version ensuring you are always in a safe state.

The biggest difference with other tutorials I've found is that most of them cover just Jetty and are not updated to the latest versions of libraries and tools, so here it is my contribution.

Architecture

A new project is setup with dependencies to the war project to be tested. Also required a dependency to selenium java client.
Cargo will download and install the application server (JBoss)
We will copy any required configuration and libraries (ie. jdbc driver)
Cargo will start the application server
The Selenium server is started
Surefire executes the junit tests that interact with the selenium server and test the running app
Cargo will stop the app server

We use profiles to enable different combination of browser/application server. By default cargo uses jetty.

Config	Profiles
JBoss 4.2 and Firefox (default)	-Pjboss42x,firefox
JBoss 4.2 and Internet Explorer	-Pjboss42x,iexplore
Jetty and Firefox	-Pfirefox
Jetty and Internet Explorer	-Piexplore

The POM

Dependencies

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>com.acme</groupId>
      <artifactId>mywebapp</artifactId>
      <version>${project.version}</version>
      <type>war</type>
    </dependency>
    <!-- the jdbc driver we need to copy to the appserver -->
    <dependency>
      <groupId>mysql</groupId>
      <artifactId>mysql-connector-java</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.openqa.selenium.client-drivers</groupId>
      <artifactId>selenium-java-client-driver</artifactId>
      <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version> <!-- required for firefox 3 else use 1.0-beta-1 -->
      <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>

Properties used in several places

Ports, where to uncompress the application server,...

<properties>
    <cargo.install.directory>${project.build.directory}/installs</cargo.install.directory>
    <selenium.port>14444</selenium.port>
    <servlet.port>18880</servlet.port>
    <selenium.background>true</selenium.background>
  </properties>

Plugin configuration

JDBC driver

Copy mysql jdbc driver to the app server lib folder

<plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>copy-jdbc-lib</id>
            <phase>generate-resources</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>copy-dependencies</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
              <includeGroupIds>mysql</includeGroupIds>
              <outputDirectory>${lib.target}</outputDirectory>
            </configuration>
          </execution>
        </executions>
      </plugin>

Cargo

Install the application server in an early phase so we can customize it with our configuration files (see profiles). Then start before integration tests and stop afterwards. Parameters are used so different profiles can use different application servers.

      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.codehaus.cargo</groupId>
        <artifactId>cargo-maven2-plugin</artifactId>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>install</id>
            <phase>generate-resources</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>install</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
          <execution>
            <id>start-container</id>
            <phase>pre-integration-test</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>start</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
              <wait>false</wait>
            </configuration>
          </execution>
          <execution>
            <id>stop-container</id>
            <phase>post-integration-test</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>stop</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
        </executions>
        <configuration>
          <container>
            <containerId>${container.name}</containerId>
            <zipUrlInstaller>
              <url>${container.url}</url>
              <installDir>${cargo.install.directory}/${container.name}</installDir>
            </zipUrlInstaller>
            <log>${project.build.directory}/logs/${container.name}.log</log>
            <output>${project.build.directory}/logs/${container.name}.out</output>
            <timeout>600000</timeout>
          </container>
          <configuration>
            <!--
            <home>${project.build.directory}/${container.name}conf</home>
            <type>existing</type>
            -->
            <properties>
              <cargo.servlet.port>${servlet.port}</cargo.servlet.port>
              <cargo.jboss.configuration>default</cargo.jboss.configuration>
              <cargo.rmi.port>1099</cargo.rmi.port>
            </properties>

            <deployables>
              <!-- application to deploy -->
              <deployable>
                <groupId>com.acme</groupId>
                <artifactId>mywebapp</artifactId>
                <type>war</type>
                <properties>
                  <context>acontext</context>
                </properties>
              </deployable>
            </deployables>
          </configuration>
        </configuration>
      </plugin>

Selenium

Make surefire skip tests during test phase and run them in the integration-test phase. Pass some properties as system properties so they are accessible from the junit test case.

      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
        <configuration>
          <!-- Skip the normal tests, we'll run them in the integration-test phase -->
          <skip>true</skip>
          <systemProperties>
            <property>
              <name>browser</name>
              <value>${browser}</value>
            </property>
            <property>
              <name>servlet.port</name>
              <value>${servlet.port}</value>
            </property>
            <property>
              <name>selenium.port</name>
              <value>${selenium.port}</value>
            </property>
          </systemProperties>
        </configuration>
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <phase>integration-test</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>test</goal>
            </goals>
            <configuration>
              <skip>false</skip>
            </configuration>
          </execution>
        </executions>
      </plugin>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
        <artifactId>selenium-maven-plugin</artifactId>
        <!-- to run headless in a Unix server with a virtual framebuffer X server Xvfb
             you need to call first the goal selenium:xvfb ie. "mvn clean selenium:xvfb install"
             see http://mojo.codehaus.org/selenium-maven-plugin/examples/headless-with-xvfb.html -->
        <executions>
          <execution>
            <id>start-selenium</id>
            <phase>pre-integration-test</phase>
            <goals>
              <goal>start-server</goal>
            </goals>
          </execution>
        </executions>
        <configuration>
          <background>${selenium.background}</background>
          <port>${selenium.port}</port>
          <logOutput>true</logOutput>
        </configuration>
      </plugin>

Application server profiles

We can configure a different profile for each application server and set some specific application server configuration.

<profiles>
    <profile>
      <id>jboss42x</id>
      <activation>
        <activeByDefault>true</activeByDefault>
      </activation>
      <properties>
        <container.name>jboss42x</container.name>
        <container.url>http://internap.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/jboss/jboss-4.2.1.GA.zip</container.url>
        <jboss.version>4.2.1.GA</jboss.version>
        <jboss.conf.directory>${cargo.install.directory}/${container.name}/jboss-${jboss.version}/jboss-${jboss.version}/server/default</jboss.conf.directory>
        <lib.target>${jboss.conf.directory}/deploy/lib</lib.target>
        <war.target>${jboss.conf.directory}/deploy</war.target>
      </properties>

      <dependencies>
        <dependency>
          <groupId>org.jboss</groupId>
          <artifactId>jboss</artifactId>
          <version>${jboss.version}</version>
          <type>zip</type>
          <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
      </dependencies>
      <build>
        <plugins>
          <!-- copy to the application server directory any customized configuration files that we need -->
          <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
            <executions>
              <execution>
                <phase>process-resources</phase>
                <configuration>
                  <tasks>
                    <copy todir="${jboss.conf.directory}" overwrite="true">
                      <fileset dir="${basedir}/src/test/${container.name}"/>
                    </copy>
                  </tasks>
                </configuration>
                <goals>
                  <goal>run</goal>
                </goals>
              </execution>
            </executions>
          </plugin>
        </plugins>
      </build>
    </profile>

Browser profiles

As with the application servers we have a profile for each browser

<profile>
      <id>firefox</id>
      <activation>
        <activeByDefault>true</activeByDefault>
      </activation>
      <properties>
        <browser>*firefox</browser>
      </properties>
    </profile>
    <profile>
      <id>iexplore</id>
      <properties>
        <browser>*iexplore</browser>
      </properties>
    </profile>
    <profile>
      <id>otherbrowser</id>
      <properties>
        <browser>*custom ${browserPath}</browser>
      </properties>
    </profile>

Enabling testing during development

Make selenium not to run in the background so we can execute tests from the IDE

    <profile>
      <id>dev</id>
      <properties>
        <selenium.background>false</selenium.background>
      </properties>
    </profile>

Repositories

Required for Selenium dependencies

<repositories>
    <repository>
      <id>openqa.org</id>
      <name>OpenQA Repository</name>
      <url>http://archiva.openqa.org/repository/releases</url>
      <snapshots>
        <enabled>false</enabled>
      </snapshots>
      <releases>
        <enabled>true</enabled>
      </releases>
    </repository>
    <!-- for selenium 1.0-SNAPSHOT -->
    <repository>
      <id>snapshots.openqa.org</id>
      <name>OpenQA Sanpshots Repository</name>
      <url>http://archiva.openqa.org/repository/snapshots</url>
      <snapshots>
        <enabled>true</enabled>
      </snapshots>
      <releases>
        <enabled>false</enabled>
      </releases>
    </repository>
  </repositories>

Running in the build server

In an Unix server without X running you can still run Selenium tests using Xvfb (virtual framebuffer X server) by calling selenium:xvfb provided it's properly configured.

Also you can pass the path to the browser binary if not in the PATH

mvn clean selenium:xvfb install -Dbrowser="*firefox /usr/lib64/firefox-1.5.0.12/firefox-bin"

The JUnit test

public class SeleniumHelloWorldTest
    extends TestCase
{
    private DefaultSelenium selenium;

    private String baseUrl;

    @Override
    public void setUp()
        throws Exception
    {
        super.setUp();
        String port = System.getProperty( "servlet.port" );
        baseUrl = "http://localhost:" + port;
        selenium = createSeleniumClient( baseUrl );
        selenium.start();
    }

    @Override
    public void tearDown()
        throws Exception
    {
        selenium.stop();
        super.tearDown();
    }

    protected DefaultSelenium createSeleniumClient( String url )
        throws Exception
    {
        String browser = System.getProperty( "browser" );
        String port = System.getProperty( "selenium.port" );
        return new DefaultSelenium( "localhost", Integer.parseInt( port ), browser, url );
    }

    public void testHelloWorld()
        throws Exception
    {
        selenium.open( baseUrl + "/mycontext/" );
        assertTrue( selenium.isTextPresent( "acme" ) );
    }
}

Debugging and troubleshooting (update)

You can check JBoss logs in target/logs/jboss42x.out and Selenium server logs in target/selenium/server.log

References

Other wiki entries and blogs

New York, New York (2)

Carlos Sanchez — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:01:31 -0400

A lot more pictures from my trip to New York.

New York, New York

Carlos Sanchez — Tue, 27 May 2008 13:29:49 -0400

Some pictures from last year' trip to New York

From Empire State building

Times Square

Central Park

Eclipse IAM passes creation review, Maven support at Eclipse Foundation soon

Carlos Sanchez — Thu, 22 May 2008 15:33:45 -0400

This week we have gone through the creation review for Eclipse IAM (Eclipse Integration for Apache Maven), and so we are starting with the paperwork at the Eclipse Foundation to create the project in the incubator and start moving the code from Q4E, the codebase will be donated to IAM as start point.

Development won't stop in the meantime and we don't expect any interruption for Q4E users.

Speaking at CommunityOne on Monday

Carlos Sanchez — Fri, 2 May 2008 18:55:12 -0400

Seems that I have been volunteered to do a lightening talk at CommunityOne on Monday at the Moscone as part of the Atlassian session.

Thanks to Cenqua' Pete for offering free drinks in exchange (he hasn't realized yet the mistake he has made) and entertainment like last year (hopefully with some differences in critical parts).

See you there.

JavaOne starts next Monday

Carlos Sanchez — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:05:55 -0400

If nothing goes wrong I'll be next week in San Francisco "attending" JavaOne. "Attending" means I'll just go to the RedMonk Unconference on Monday CommunityOne and networking at the evening parties (as usual)

I'll drive from LA to SF on Friday or Saturday and back the next weekend, hopefully doing some sightseeing, anyone around for a drink during the weekend ?

Q for Eclipse 0.6.0 released

Carlos Sanchez — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:52:44 -0400

A new release of Q4E is out, 0.6.0, with WTP support and the ability to do a exclude all/force version from the dependency analysis UI. I particularly like the exclude all because if you had to do it by hand you would go to each dependency and add the exclusions. This way you select the dependency you don't want and Q4E will add all necessary exclusions for you.

At last, the long awaited WTP support is present on a public release. Enhanced support for resource processing and fine-grained control of the incremental builds is also supported, along with dependency management features available right from your favorite dependency analysis view.

What's new

Welcome Mike Poindexter as a new q4e committer.
Web Tools Platform (WTP) support, see the demo video
Ability to choose which goals get executed during the incremental build.
Profile view displays the available and enabled profiles.
Files generated by maven are marked derived in eclipse.
Dependency management functions (Force Version and Exclude All) available from the dependency analysis view.

Installation instructions.

Teotihuacan, Mexico

Carlos Sanchez — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:00:00 -0400

Pictures from the Teotihuacan pyramids close to Mexico City. Really impressive.

Teotihuacán was, at its height in the first half of the 1st millennium CE, the largest pre-Columbian city in the Americas. The city during its existence was larger than any European city of the same era including Rome.

Mexico City

Carlos Sanchez — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:23:48 -0400

Pictures from EclipseCON

Carlos Sanchez — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:37:31 -0400

For those considering goign to next EclipseCON, this is the kind of people you'll find there

would you buy anything from this guy?

McLovin from SuperBad (or not)

Fertilizacion cruzada

Love is in the air

Everybody wants a picture with Lynn

Spanish table

Slides from EclipseCON

Carlos Sanchez — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:51:40 -0400

You can get now my talk slides from the official EclipseCON page for Q4E, Maven integration for Eclipse and Maven, Eclipse and OSGi working together. Here are the direct links:

Q4E has WTP support, from today!

Carlos Sanchez — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:09:26 -0400

Abel has been rushing to get WTP support working just in time for my talk at EclipseCON. Nice job!

Check the screencast. You will need the development verson of Q4E 0.6.0 until it is released (using the update site at http://q4e.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/updatesite-dev/)

The talk went well, not much to do it 10 min though. Will be posting the slides soon.

Letters from EclipseCON

Carlos Sanchez — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:39:42 -0400

Yesterday's Maven, Eclipse and OSGi working together tutorial went fairly well, I thought I would have plenty of time but had to rush through the end. The room (small one) was packed, with aournd 50 people, and the feedback collected by the Eclipse Foundation was 17 positive, 0 negative, so not bad, considering that the tutorial was pretty hardcore stuff and some people were definitely not expecting it (next time I need to make that more clear). I'll post the material online soon.

Tomorrow I'll be giving a short talk about Q4E, more user oriented, at 16:50, room 209/210.

Monday ended with the usual suspects (and recently joined ones) like Lynn Gayowski (Eclipse Foundation) and Adrian Mos (Inria), having some beers (free of course), and deciding to make a t-shirt for foreigners (US foreigners) with sentences like "Smart people thinks in Celsius" or "Smart people use colored bank notes" :D

Seems that today is going to end the same way as yesterday, having some beers during the receptions. Come around and say hi

See you Monday at EclipseCON

Carlos Sanchez — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:15:50 -0400

Monday 8:00 Maven, Eclipse and OSGi working together tutorial

Wednesday 16:50 Q4E, Maven integration for Eclipse short talk

Show up or find me at the bar

Q for Eclipse 0.5.0 released

Carlos Sanchez — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 08:00:00 -0400

A new release of Q4E is out, 0.5.0. Thanks to all the people involved for making such a quick turn around and keep a constant release cycle.

Besides many bug fixes and small improvements, the main changes are:

Ability to import pom projects
Maven execution can now be canceled.
New dependency analysis view! It is now possible to display the project dependencies and analyze them to assess where the actual dependencies and versions come from.
Improved handling of resources:

If filtering is configured for resources, it is honored.
Inclusion/Exclusion patterns for resources are honored. Now it is possible to share a folder for java sources and resources.
Note that resources are no longer added to the build path as source folders.

The dependency graph is no longer a pop up window. It has its own Eclipse view.
Allow maven goals to use artifacts in the workspace when launched from q4e, even if they are not installed on the repository

An example of the new Dependency analysis view