Version @version@ built on @builddate@.
Release Notes for Vaadin Framework @version@
- Overview
- Enhancements in Vaadin @version-minor@
- Complete change log for Vaadin @version@
- Migrating from Vaadin 6 to Vaadin 7
- Vaadin @version@ dependencies
- Upgrading to Vaadin @version-minor@
- Supported technologies
- Vaadin on the Web
Overview
Vaadin is a Java framework for building modern web applications that look great, perform well and make you and your users happy. Vaadin is available under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (see the license.html in the Vaadin ZIP or JAR package).
The easiest ways to install Vaadin are:
- If using Maven, define it as a dependency or use any of the available archetypes (only vaadin-application is available for Vaadin 7 at the time of this release) to create a new project
- If using Eclipse, use the Vaadin Plugin for Eclipse, which automatically downloads the Vaadin libraries
It is also available as a ZIP package downloadable from Vaadin Download page.
Package Contents
Inside the ZIP installation package you will find:
- Separate server-side (vaadin-server) and client-side (vaadin-client, vaadin-client-compiler) development libraries
- Precompiled widget set (vaadin-client-compiled) for server-side development
- Shared library (vaadin-shared) for both server- and client-side libraries
- Built-in themes (vaadin-themes) and the theme compiler (vaadin-theme-compiler)
- Dependency libraries provided under the lib/ folder
See the README.TXT in the installation package for detailed information about the package contents. Book of Vaadin (for Vaadin 7) gives more detailed instructions.
For server-side development, copy the vaadin-server, vaadin-client-compiled, vaadin-shared, vaadin-theme-compiler, and vaadin-themes from the main folder and the dependencies from the lib folder to the WEB-INF/lib folder of your Vaadin project. (The vaadin-client-compiled is necessary if you do not wish to compile the widget set by your own, which you need to do if you use almost any add-on components.)
For pure client-side development, you only need the vaadin-client and vaadin-client-compiler JARs, which should be put to a non-deployed project library folder, such as lib. You also need them if you compile the widget set for any reason, such as using Vaadin add-ons, or create new server-side components integrated with client-side widgets.
Enhancements in Vaadin @version@
In addition to many fixes and smaller features and changes, @version@ introduces the following major changes since the last beta release:
- The ColorPicker component is now included in the Vaadin core framework
- Sass compiler can now be used in client-side projects.
The following major changes were introduced in the earlier @version-minor@ releases:
- GWT is now built into Vaadin Framework
- New SuperDevMode allows debugging client-side Java code in the browser without any plugins
- Navigation API for view navigation
- View navigation with bookmarking/linking with URI fragments and browser history support
- Access control for views, view change confirmation
- Component and UI extensions
- Resource loading (JS/CSS) by the framework
- Complete overhaul of the client-server communication architecture
- All add-on components that have widgets need to be ported to Vaadin 7
- Integration of a GWT widget is done in a connector class
- Component-to-widget mapping now defined on the client-side, in the connector
- No more Paintable or VariableOwner
- Server-side component and client-side widget can have a shared state object which is automatically synchronized
- Both client-side and server-side can make RPC calls to the other side
- Communicated in the next request/response
- No return values
- Typically for communicating events
- Support for JavaScript components - GWT integration code not required
- Handle JavaScript callbacks on the server-side
- UIDL is deprecated
- Compatibility layer for Vaadin 6 included for easy migration
- Form is deprecated and form hand is replaced with the FieldGroup
- Get computed style of a component from the browser
- Support for border, padding, and margin in core layout components
- Applications are now written by extending the UI class
- UIs use heartbeat to detect closing
- The Application class is removed altogether
- ApplicationServlet is replaced with VaadinServlet
- ApplicationResource is replaced with ConnectorResource
- Themeing is now done with Sass
- Sass themes are compiled on-the-fly when loading the theme (for development), or manually with the theme compiler (for production)
- Pure CSS themes are supported, but should include legacy-styles.css
- SASS themes need to (and CSS themes can) be compiled to a single CSS stylesheet with the vaadin-theme-compiler
- Add-ons can modify the startup page
- All addListener() methods have changed to listener-specific methods, such as addClickListener(), addValueChangeListener(), etc.
- Packaging has changed, now in a ZIP package (see Package Contents above)
- The Panel and Window (and in UI in early betas) no longer
extend ComponentContainer, but SingleComponentContainer, which has
no addComponent() method
- The UI, Panel, and Window no longer have default content (used to be a VerticalLayout), but you must set the content component explicitly with the setContent() method or in the constructor
- If the content is a layout, you need to add other components to the layout component with addComponent() instead of the container
There are many other enhancements. Most of them are described in more detail in the mini-tutorials in the Vaadin Wiki.
ChangeLog
For a complete list of changes in this release, please see the list of closed tickets.
Migrating from Vaadin 6
All Vaadin 6 applications need some changes when migrating to Vaadin 7. The most obvious changes are in the application/window API and require extending either UI or UI.LegacyApplication instead of Application. A detailed list of migration changes are given in the Vaadin 7 Migration Guide.
Any custom client-side widgets need to be ported to use the new client-server communication API, or the Vaadin 6 compatibility API.
Vaadin 6 add-ons (ones that contain widgets) do not work in Vaadin 7 - please check the add-ons in Vaadin Directory for Vaadin 7 support.
Vaadin @version@ Dependencies
When using Maven, Ivy, Gradle, or other dependency management system, all Vaadin dependencies are downloaded automatically. This is also the case when using the Vaadin Plugin for Eclipse.
The Vaadin ZIP installation package includes the dependencies in the lib subfolder. These need to be copied to the WEB-INF/lib folder of the web application that uses Vaadin.
The dependencies are listed in the Vaadin Framework Terms and Conditions. Some are explicit dependencies packaged and distributed as separate JARs, while some are included inside other libraries.
Bean Validation
If you use the bean validation feature in Vaadin 7, you need a Bean Validation API implementation. You need to install the implementation JAR in the WEB-INF/lib directory of the web application that uses validation.
Upgrading to Vaadin @version-minor@
Upgrading the Eclipse Plugin
This release requires that you use the experimental Vaadin Plugin for Eclipse. Its update site is http://vaadin.com/eclipse/experimental. Please see the installation instructions for more details.
General Upgrading Instructions
When upgrading from an earlier Vaadin version, you must:
- Recompile your classes using the new Vaadin version. Binary compatibility is only guaranteed for maintenance releases of Vaadin.
- Recompile any add-ons you have created using the new Vaadin
- Unless using the precompiled widget set, recompile your widget set using the new Vaadin version
Remember also to refresh the project in your IDE to ensure that the new version of everything is in use.
By using the "?debug" URL parameter, you can verify that the version of the servlet, the theme, and the widget set all match.
Eclipse users should always check if there is a new version of the Eclipse Plug-in available. The Eclipse Plug-in can be used to update the Vaadin version in the project (Project properties » Vaadin).
Maven users should update the Vaadin dependency version in the pom.xml unless it is defined as LATEST . You must also ensure that the GWT dependency uses the correct version and recompile your project and your widget set.
Liferay and other portal users must install the Vaadin libraries in
Notes and Limitations for Google App Engine
The following instructions and limitations apply when you run a Vaadin application under the Google App Engine.
-
Applications must use GAEVaadinServlet instead of VaadinServlet in web.xml.
-
Session support must be enabled in appengine-web.xml:
<sessions-enabled>true</sessions-enabled>
-
Avoid using the session for storage, usual App Engine limitations apply (no synchronization, that is, unreliable).
-
Vaadin uses memcache for mutex, the key is of the form _vmutex<sessionid>.
-
The Vaadin VaadinSession class is serialized separately into memcache and datastore; the memcache key is _vac<sessionid> and the datastore entity kind is _vac with identifiers of the type _vac<sessionid>.
-
DO NOT update application state when serving an ConnectorResource (such as ClassResource.getStream()).
-
The application remains locked during uploads - a progress bar is not possible
For other known problems, see open tickets at developer site dev.vaadin.com.
Supported Technologies
Vaadin 7 is compatible with Java 6 and with most operating systems supporting the Java 6 or newer. Vaadin 7 is especially supported on the following operating systems:
- Windows
- Linux
- Mac OS X
Vaadin 7 requires Java Servlet API 2.4 but also supports later versions and should work with any Java application server that conforms to the standard. The following application servers are supported:
- Apache Tomcat, version 5.0 or newer
- Oracle WebLogic® Server, version 10.3 or newer
- IBM WebSphere® Application Server, version 6.1 or newer
- JBoss Application Server, 4.0.0 or newer
- Jetty, version 5.0 or newer
- Glassfish, version 2.0 or newer
Vaadin 7 supports the JSR-286 Portlet specification. All portals that implement either of the portlet specifications should work. The following portals are supported:
- Liferay Portal 5.2 or newer
- GateIn Portal 3.1 or newer
- eXo Platform 3 or newer
Vaadin also supports Google App Engine.
Vaadin supports the following desktop browsers:
- Mozilla Firefox 17 or newer
- Internet Explorer 8-10
- Safari 6
- Opera 12
- Google Chrome 23
Additionally, Vaadin supports the built-in browsers in the following mobile operating systems:
- iOS 5 and later
- Android 2.3 and later
Vaadin SQL Container supports the following databases:
- HSQLDB
- MySQL
- MSSQL
- Oracle
- PostgreSQL
Vaadin on the Web
- vaadin.com - The developer portal containing everything you need to know about Vaadin
- demo.vaadin.com - A collection of demos for Vaadin
- vaadin.com/learn - Getting started with Vaadin
- vaadin.com/forum - Forums for Vaadin related discussions
- vaadin.com/book - Book of Vaadin - everything you need to know about Vaadin
- vaadin.com/api - Online javadocs
- vaadin.com/directory - Add-ons for Vaadin
- vaadin.com/pro-account - Commercial support and tools for Vaadin development
- vaadin.com/services - Expert services for Vaadin
- vaadin.com/company - Information about the company behind Vaadin
- dev.vaadin.com - Bug tracker
- How to get the source code of Vaadin