DJHell .'s List: Mastering Grails at developerWorks

"Java™ programmers needn't abandon their favorite language and existing development infrastructure to adopt a modern Web development framework. In the first installment of his new monthly series Mastering Grails, Java expert Scott Davis introduces Grails and demonstrates how to build your first Grails application."

"Any good Web framework needs a solid persistence strategy. In this second installment of his Mastering Grails series, Scott Davis introduces the Grails Object Relational Mapping (GORM) API. See how easy it is to create relationships between tables, enforce data validation rules, and change relational databases in your Grails applications."

"Groovy Server Pages (GSP) puts the Web in the Grails Web framework. In the third installment of his Mastering Grails series, Scott Davis shows you the ins and outs of working with GSP. See how easy it is to use Grails TagLibs, mix together partial fragments of GSPs, and customize the default templates for the automatically generated (scaffolded) views."

"Many-to-many (m:m) relationships can be tricky to deal with in a Web application. In this installment of Mastering Grails , Scott Davis shows you how to implement m:m relationships in Grails successfully. See how they're handled by the Grails Object Relational Mapping (GORM) API and the back-end database. Also find out how a bit of Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript + XML) can streamline the user interface."

"Scott Davis shows you how you can add maps to a Grails application using freely available APIs and Web services in this latest installment of the Mastering Grails series. He uses the trip-planner sample application from previous installments and takes it to the next level with geocoding, Google Maps, and Grails services."

"The number of cell phone users worldwide is at 3.3 billion and rising, and Internet access from mobile phones is on a rapidly upward trajectory. Developing for the mobile Web has its unique demands. In this Mastering Grails installment, Scott Davis shows you how to make your Grails applications mobile phone friendly."

In this Mastering Grails installment, Scott Davis explores the various ways that Grails can use database tables that don't conform to the Grails naming standard. If you have Java? classes that already map to your legacy databases, Grails allows you to u

"Everything in Grails, from build scripts to individual artifacts such as domain classes and controllers, throw events at key points during an application's life cycle. In this Mastering Grails installment, you'll learn how to set up listeners to catch these events and react to them with custom behavior."

We live in the era of mashups. Creating Web pages that give users the information they want is a good start, but offering a source of raw data that other Web developers can easily mix in with their own applications is better. In this installment of Master

"Grails makes it easy to ensure that your Web applications start out bug free and stay that way. As a bonus, you can leverage your test code to produce a rich set of executable documentation that is always up-to-date. This month, Grails guru Scott Davis shows you the Grails testing ropes."

"JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) and Asynchronous JavaScript + XML (Ajax) are staples of Web 2.0 development. In this installment of the Mastering Grails series, author Scott Davis demonstrates the native JSON and Ajax capabilities baked into the Web framework."

"In this installment of Mastering Grails, series author Scott Davis puts to rest any qualms about Grails' readiness for the enterprise. You'll see how to use Grails with enterprise-caliber libraries including the Java™ Management Extensions (JMX), Spring, and log4j."

"n this installment of Mastering Grails, Scott Davis demonstrates how to make drastic changes to the look and feel of a Grails application using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), templates, tag libraries (TagLibs), and more."

"In this installment of Mastering Grails, Scott Davis shows you how to customize the standard Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that Grails generates for Web pages. Moving from primary keys to descriptive titles in URIs gives users a more memorable and more meaningful path to the resources that they seek."

"Grails provides all the basic building blocks you need to put together a secure Web application, ranging from a simple login infrastructure to role-based authorization, and in this installment of Mastering Grails, Scott Davis gives you a hands-on lesson in securing your Grails application. You'll also learn about some plug-ins that can help you extend your applications' security capabilities in new directions."

"In this Mastering Grails installment, Scott Davis shows you how to upload files to your Grails application and set up an Atom syndication feed. With these last pieces in place, Blogito becomes a full-fledged blog server."

"In this Mastering Grails installment, Scott Davis introduces you to the world of Grails plug-ins. Adding whole areas of new functionality to your applications couldn't be easier. You'll learn how plug-ins do their magic, and you'll use a plug-in to implement powerful search capabilities in the Blogito application."

"In this Mastering Grails installment, Scott Davis shows you how to create your own Grails plug-in. Once you see how effortless it is to create a plug-in, you'll understand why more than 250 Grails plug-ins are available now, with new ones being added all the time."

"In this Mastering Grails installment, Scott Davis shows you how to take advantage of the built-in mocking capabilities of the GrailsUnitTestCase and ControllerUnitTestCase classes included with Grails."