Griffon (framework)

Infobox Software
name = Griffon



caption =
author =
developer =
released =
latest release version = 0.0.1
latest release date =
operating system = Cross platform
platform = Cross platform (JVM)
language =
programming language = Groovy
genre = Rich Internet Applications
license = Apache License 2.0
website = http://groovy.codehaus.org/Griffon

Griffon is an open source Rich Internet Application framework which leverages the Groovy programming language (which is in turn based on the Java platform). Griffon is intended to be a high-productivity framework by rewarding use of the Model-View-Controller paradigm, providing a stand-alone development environment and hiding much of the configuration detail from the developer. A significant portion of the build environment is directly derived from the Grails codebase and hence follows many of its conventions.

The first release is the fruit of the effort by the Groovy Swing team and an attempt to take the best of rapid application development, as indicated by its Grails-like structure, the agility of the Groovy, and the availability of components for Swing.

Griffon aims to reduce the typical confusion that occurs with traditional Swing development. Due to the MVC structure of Griffon, developers never have to go searching for files or be confused on how to start a new project. Everything begins with:

griffon create-app

The generated project follows this structure:

%PROJECT_HOME% + griffon-app + conf ---> location of configuration artifacts like builder configuration + keys ---> keys for code signing + webstart ---> webstart and applet config + controllers ---> location of controller classes + i18n ---> location of message bundles for i18n + lifecycle ---> location of lifecycle scripts + models ---> location of model classes + resources ---> location of non code resources (images, etc) + views ---> location of view classes + lib + scripts ---> scripts + src + main ---> optional; location for Groovy and Java source files (of types other than those in griffon-app/*)

The builder infrastructure enables seamless integration of different widget libraries such as Swing, JIDE, and SwingX.

Griffon’s built-in scripts include targets for desktop, webstart, and applets. The baseline requirement is Java 5 or higher.

In the first release, three sample applications are included :
* Greet, a Groovy Twitter client featured in the JavaOne Script Bowl,
* GrailsSnoop, a Grails documentation browser, and
* WidgetsKitchenSink, a WIP showing components in the included widget sets.

See also

*Agile software development
*List of Rapid Application Development tools

External links

* [http://shemnon.com/speling/2008/09/announcing-griffon-00-1.html First release announcement (Blog) ]
* [http://groovy.codehaus.org/Griffon Project Homepage]
* Article by Guillaume Laforge (Project Lead of the Groovy Language) : [http://glaforge.free.fr/weblog/index.php?itemid=250 Griffon shows its claws: Grails-like rich Swing client framework released]
* Articles in DZone : [http://groovy.dzone.com/news/hello-griffon Getting Started with Swing MVC Development on Griffon] , [http://groovy.dzone.com/announcements/griffon-00-released Griffon: Grails-like Framework for Swing] , [http://groovy.dzone.com/news/playing-anagrams-griffon Porting to Griffon]
* Articles by the Griffon team : [http://shemnon.com/speling/2008/08/griffon-and-greet-starting-to.html Griffon and Greet: Starting to get Groovy ] [http://www.jroller.com/aalmiray/entry/revisiting_the_hidden_threading_rule Revisiting the hidden threading rule] , [http://www.jroller.com/aalmiray/entry/griffon_takes_flight Griffon takes flight] , [http://jameswilliams.be/blog/entry/2008/9/10/Awakening+the+Griffon Awakening the Griffon]
* Article by a technical writer in the NetBeans Docs team at Sun Microsystems: [http://blogs.sun.com/geertjan/entry/notes_on_converting_netbeans_grails Notes on Converting NetBeans Grails Support to NetBeans Griffon Support] , [http://blogs.sun.com/geertjan/entry/the_5_best_things_about The 5 Best Things About Griffon ] , [http://blogs.sun.com/geertjan/entry/griffon_identifying_the_dark_underbelly Griffon: Identifying the Dark Underbelly of Java ]
* Griffon continues the heritage of Groovy and Grails by extending the power of a dynamic language, convention over configuration, and advanced builders (SwingBuilder, SwingXBuilder, JideBuilder, and GraphicsBuilder) to make desktop java easier. It is an understatement to say that "Griffon is to desktop Java as Grails is to Web Applications". Watch out the Griffon is alive.