The JBoss Integration Plug-in for IntelliJ IDEA.

Abstract

This paper is the final in a series of papers that describe a new plug-in for enabling the integration of the IntelliJ IDEA IDE with the JBoss application server. The JBoss plug-in was first conceived and implemented by Martin Fuhrer at Fuhrer Engineering. Parts 1, 2 and 3 discussed how to download and install the plug-in, how to create a project containing a web module, a session bean, a servlet, and an application module for deployment to JBoss. This paper discusses deployment and execution, showing how to create a remote deployment method using SSH Transfer, and a run configuration for both local and remote deployment. 1 PREPARING FOR DEPLOYMENT Without an automated environment, deployment is often a painful process resulting in developers spending a great deal of time performing application deployment tasks. Most organizations strive for better management of this critical phase in the development cycle. By automating these tasks, a team can execute deployment in less time with more repeatable, predictable and measurable results. The IntelliJ IDEA provides built-in deployment support for J2EE applications that we will use via the JBoss plug-in. This integrated deployment environment will allow us to connect to the JBoss application server and copy the application module (the EAR file) to it automatically. For remote deployment, before deploying the application to the JBoss server, you have to create a deployment method. Local deployment is the simplest and does not require any additional setup, but in most environments, the application server resides on a remote THE JBOSS INTEGRATION PLUG-IN FOR INTELLIJ IDEA 12 JOURNAL OF OBJECT TECHNOLOGY VOL. 4, NO. 9 machine. There are several remote deployment methods available. The following deployment methods are available in IntelliJ IDEA via the JBoss plug-in: Local This deployment method is used when the JBoss server is running on the developer’s machine. No additional setup is required. SSH Transfer Provides a secure connection between the local client and a remote host. To make the application accessible by the JBoss server, the EAR file is transferred to the remote machine using an SSH (Secure Shell Client) connection prior to deployment. The SSH connection is using SSH2 with either password or public key authentication. You have to specify a temporary directory on the remote machine where the EAR file is temporarily stored, e.g. /tmp. FTP Transfer This works exactly like the SSH transfer deployment method, but an FTP connection is used to transfer the EAR file instead of an SSH connection. The FTP connection may be either active or passive. Shared Filesystem This may be used when both the local developer’s machine and the remote deployment machine have a common filesystem, e.g. through NFS, Samba, or whatever. You have to specify a local path and a remote path, both pointing to the same shared directory. HTTP Callback With HTTP callback the EAR file isn't transferred to the remote machine, but the JBoss server is told to open an HTTP connection back to the developer’s machine and load the EAR file from there. This implies that the developer’s machine has to be visible by the remote machine, i.e. the developer’s machine may not be connected to the network through DHCP. To create a new SSH Transfer deployment method select the File:Settings menu item to bring up the Settings dialog box. Select the JBoss Plugin control device, as shown in Figure 1.1. Figure 1.1 The JBoss Plugin Control Device