Now, many Moons overdue, and for that, I apologize to both the Spring and
Apache Geode communities for the delay, however, I am extremely pleased to
officially announce the release of *Spring Data Geode* with support for
Apache Geode 1.0.0-incubating.M3. Bits in Maven Central [1].
*So, why should Apache Geode developers use Spring to build enterprise
applications that use Apache Geode?*
1. Spring has highly consistent, robust and comfortable/familiar
programming model that is second to none.
2. But, more importantly, SDG protects developers from unexpected changes,
such as API breaking changes introduced between versions of Apache Geode,
or for instance, GEODE-37 [2], the new package structure (com.gemstone.gemfire
-> org.apache.geode), which will affect your applications.
3. SDG makes it easy to switch between Apache Geode and Pivotal GemFire if
the time ever arises where you need the added support. It is as simple as
switching the dependency from...
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.data</groupId>
<artifactId>*spring-data-geode*</artifactId>
<version>*1.0.0.APACHE-GEODE-INCUBATING-M3*</version>
</dependency>
To...
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.data</groupId>
<artifactId>*spring-data-gemfire*</artifactId>
<version>*1.8.4.RELEASE*</version>
</dependency>
NOTE: versions very after time.
4. By using Spring, and SDG specifically, you can easily integrate with the
vast array of other powerful Spring technologies, all OSS (e.g. Spring
Session [Data GemFire|Geode] [3] for Session replication, or Spring XD [4]
for streaming).
See *Luke Shannon* and I's presentation [5] (slides 6-14) on all ways in
which Apache Geode (and/or Pivotal GemFire) has been weaved into the fabric
of Spring.
5. Finally, SDG has just answered the question on how to "*get up and
running as quickly and easily as possible*" by combing Spring Boot with
SDG's new, but complimentary *Annotation configuration model*.
For instance, to create a "managed"/Manager, Geode peer/cache server
application with an embedded Locator that you can easily and quickly
connect to using *Gfsh* in order to inspect or get/put data into the
declared (Example) Region, just define...
@SpringBootApplication
@CacheServerApplication
@EnableLocator
@EnableManager
@Import(ExampleApplicationConfiguration.class)
public class ExampleApplication {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SpringApplication.run(ExampleApplication.class, args);
}
@Configuration
static class ExampleApplicationConfiguration {
@Bean(name = *"Example"*)
LocalRegionFactoryBean<String, String> exampleRegion(GemFireCache
gemfireCache) {
LocalRegionFactoryBean<String, String> exampleRegion = new
LocalRegionFactoryBean<>();
exampleRegion.setCache(gemfireCache);
exampleRegion.setClose(false);
return exampleRegion;
}
}
}
In subsequent releases, this configuration will be simplified even further
by introducing convenient configuration for Regions based on the
application domain model classes and/or when using the SD *Repository*
abstraction [6]. I.e. this configuration will become something like...
@SpringBootApplication
@CacheServerApplication
@EnableLocator
@EnableManager
@WithLocalRegions({ "Example" })
public class ExampleApplication {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SpringApplication.run(ExampleApplication.class, args);
}
}
The @WithLocalRegions with even allow a entityScan attribute referring to
either a class (used as the root), or package containing your application
domain objects to "determine" the required Regions. Your application domain
objects would typically be annotated with the @Region annotation anyway
when using the SD *Repository* abstraction, like so...
@Region("People")
class Person {
...
}
By inspecting this class, or the package (and sub-packages) this class is
in, we can determine the Regions your application will need to persist your
data.
Simple, quick and easy!
To see more information on the release, see my blog post on spring.io [7].
We are planning a series of blogs and examples to really help solidify the
use of Apache Geode in your applications.
Stay tuned for more!
--
-John
[1] http://search.maven.org/#search%7Cga%7C1%7Cspring-data-geode
[2] https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GEODE-37
[3]
http://docs.spring.io/spring-session/docs/1.2.2.RELEASE/reference/html5/#httpsession-gemfire
[4] http://projects.spring.io/spring-xd/
[5]
http://www.slideshare.net/john_blum/spring-data-and-inmemory-data-management-in-action
[6]
http://docs.spring.io/spring-data-gemfire/docs/current/reference/html/#gemfire-repositories
[7]
https://spring.io/blog/2016/10/11/spring-data-geode-1-0-0-apache-geode-incubating-m3-released
