Instant Play Framework Starter

By Daniel Dietrich

Get to grips with a new technology, understand what it is and what it can do for you, and then get to work with the most important features and tasks.A practical, quick, and hands-on guide to the Play Framework.This book is written for readers interested in developing web applications with Java or Scala. A basic knowledge of either Java or Scala is helpful. Prior experience with Play is not required.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Release date: May 23, 2013
• ISBN: 9781782162919

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Table of Contents

Instant Play Framework Starter

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

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1. Instant Play Framework Starter

So, what is Play?

Installation

Step 1 – What do I need?

Step 2 – Downloading Play

Step 3 – Setting the PATH environment variable

Step 4 – Testing the Play installation

And that's it!

Quick start – Creating your first Play application

Step 1 – Creating a new Play application

Structure of a Play application

The app/ folder

The conf/ directory

The project/ folder

The public/ folder

The test/ folder

Step 2 – Using the Play console

Starting our application

Play console commands

Closing the console

Step 3 – Modifying our application

Fast turnaround – change your code and hit reload!

Stripped down and optimized stack traces

Step 4 – Setting up your preferred IDE

IntelliJ IDEA

Eclipse

Other IDEs

Top features you need to know about

1 – Designing a Play application

Introducing our sample application

Defining the domain model

The Java model

The Scala model

Designing the HTTP interface with the routes file

Defining the application routes

Dynamic request paths and variables

Testing the routes

Handling HTTP requests by controller actions

Providing dummy implementations

URL redirection with reverse routes

Implementing controller actions

The Java code

The Scala code

What comes next

Composing the UI from view templates

Syntax of view templates

View parameters

View imports

View expressions

Composing view templates

Example

Nesting view templates

Implementing the phone book views

Prerequisites

The index view template

The list view template

The main view template

Fine-tuning the CSS style

Providing some test data

2 – Dealing with user input

Defining a form

The server side

Binding data with a Java form

Binding data with a Scala form

The client side

Validating user input

The server side

Defining constraints in Java

Defining constraints in Scala

The client side

Using form template helpers

3 – Connecting to a database

Accessing data with Ebean for Java

Customizing the configuration

Creating the database schema

Implementing the model

Running the application

Accessing data with Anorm for Scala

Customizing the configuration

Creating the database schema

Implementing the model

Running the application

Accessing data with Slick for Scala

Customizing the configuration

Implementing the model

The data access object

The data access layer

Generating the database schema

People and places you should get to know

Official sites

Articles and tutorials

Community

Blogs

Twitter

Instant Play Framework Starter

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Instant Play Framework Starter

Copyright © 2013 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: May 2013

Production Reference: 1170513

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

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Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78216-290-2

www.packtpub.com

Credits

Author

Daniel Dietrich

Reviewers

Takafumi Ikeda

Jérôme Leleu

Acquisition Editor

James Jones

Commissioning Editor

Sharvari Tawde

Technical Editors

Sharvari Baet

Chirag Jani

Soumya Kanti

Project Coordinator

Suraj Bist

Proofreader

Paul Hindle

Production Coordinator

Aparna Bhagat

Cover Work

Aparna Bhagat

Cover Image

Valentina Dsilva

About the Author

Daniel Dietrich is a Senior Software Engineer living in Kiel, Germany. He studied Computer Science with Mathematics as a subsidiary subject and earned his diploma degree at the Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel. He specializes in enterprise grade frontend and backend development with a current focus on building a financial risk services platform.

Daniel has been developing software for over 25 years, thereof, 15 years professionally. He started to program at the age of 11. His creative work was influenced by computer competitions during the 90s. In the late 90s, he began to develop web applications.

Daniel worked as a Software Developer for