1 Introduction
Version: 7.0.0-M1
1 Introduction
Many modern web frameworks in the Java space are more complicated than needed and don’t embrace the Don’t Repeat Yourself (DRY) principles.
Dynamic frameworks like Rails and Django helped pave the way to a more modern way of thinking about web applications. Grails builds on these concepts and dramatically reduces the complexity of building web applications on the Java platform. What makes it different, however, is that it does so by building on already established Java technologies like Spring and Hibernate.
Grails is a full stack framework and attempts to solve as many pieces of the web development puzzle through the core technology and its associated plugins. Included out the box are things like:
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GORM - An easy-to-use Object Mapping library with support for SQL, MongoDB, Neo4j and more.
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View technologies for rendering HTML as well as JSON
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A controller layer built on Spring Boot
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A plugin system featuring hundreds of plugins.
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Flexible profiles to create applications with AngularJS, React and more.
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An interactive command line environment and build system based on Gradle
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An embedded Tomcat container which is configured for on the fly reloading
All of these are made easy to use through the power of the Groovy language and the extensive use of Domain Specific Languages (DSLs)
This documentation will take you through getting started with Grails and building web applications with the Grails framework.
In addition to this documentation there are comprehensive guides that walk you through various aspects of the technology.
Finally, Grails is far more than just a web framework and is made up of various sub-projects. The following table summarizes some other key projects in the eco-system with links to documentation.
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
An Object Mapping implementation for SQL databases |
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An Object Mapping implementation for the MongoDB Document Database |
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An Object Mapping implementation for Neo4j Graph Database |
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A View technology for rendering JSON on the server side |
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A View technology for rendering HTML and other markup on the server |
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Asynchronous programming abstraction with support for RxJava, GPars and more |
1.1 What's new in Grails 7?
This section covers all the new features introduced in Grails 7
Overview
Grails framework 7 updates Spring Boot to version 3.4. We recommend checking the following Spring technologies release notes for more information.
The minimum Java version required to run Grails 7 has been updated to Java 17.
Ubiquitous Containerized Browser Testing with Geb
The Grails Geb Plugin has received a significant update, introducing test fixtures that enable ubiquitous containerized browser testing.
This new approach is now the recommended way to write functional tests in Grails. However, the previous method using WebDriver binaries remains supported for backward compatibility.
Key Features
By extending your test classes with ContainerGebSpec, your tests will automatically leverage a containerized browser provided by Testcontainers. This setup eliminates the need for managing browser versions and ensures consistent test environments.
Requirements
To use ContainerGebSpec, ensure that you have a compatible container runtime installed. Supported options include:
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Docker Desktop
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OrbStack (macOS only)
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Rancher Desktop
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Podman Desktop
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Colima (macOS and Linux)
How It Works
Once a compatible container runtime is installed, no additional configuration is needed. Simply extend your test classes with ContainerGebSpec (instead of GebSpec), and the following will happen:
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A container will be started automatically when you run your integration tests.
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The container will be configured to launch a browser capable of accessing your application under test.
With this setup, you gain the benefits of containerized testing, such as isolation, reproducibility, and reduced setup complexity.
1.1.1 Updated Dependencies
Grails {version} ships with the following dependency upgrades:
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Groovy 4.0.24
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GORM 9.0.0-M2
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Spring Framework 6.2.1
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Spring Boot 3.4.1
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Gradle 8.11.1
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Spock 2.3-groovy-4.0
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Grails Testing Support 4.0.0-M2
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Grails Gradle Plugin 7.0.0-M3