Java Today

JSF 2.0 eliminates need for faces-config.xml in many cases
In a new blog, Ryan Lubke writes that changes in JSF 2.0 will eliminate the need for faces-config.xml for many developers. "Using [the annotations] ManagedBean, FacesConverter, FacesValidator, and FacesRenderer allows the developer to skip editing the face-config.xml. The other common complaint with the faces-config.xml has been with navigation rules. To ease the pain there, we've added implict navigation."

SigTest 2.1 MR has been released
The SigTest open source project (based on Sun's SigTest tools product), a collection of tools for comparing APIs and measuring the test coverage of an API, has just released SigTest 2.1 Milestone Release. "With SigTest 2.1, we are expanding the SigTest project to include other tools based on the same signature testing technology as the SigTest tool itself. SigTest now includes API Coverage tool functionality, a static analysis tool used to analyze code coverage of a program or API. SigTest 2.1 also includes a new analysis mode for migration compatibility."

Writing Your First Ruby-on-Rails Web Application
Running JRuby on the JVM is an increasingly popular option, and in a new SDN article, Rick Palkovic walks you through Writing Your First Ruby-on-Rails Web Application. "Writing a Ruby-on-Rails web application is easy using the NetBeans IDE with its integrated JRuby interpreter and its support for the GlassFish application server and the MySQL relational database management system (RDBMS). This article shows you how to create a simple Ruby-on-Rails program in the OpenSolaris operating environment without typing a single line of code."

Weblogs

Java plug-in wish list: JVM scope
I really liked the improvements in the second generation plug-in and I am using it as the deployment method for my current project. One thing in particular, though, I think is still needed: JVM scope. —  Gabriele Carcassi

Discovering ResourceBundles at runtime
Have you ever wanted your application to discover new resource bundle localizations at startup time? You can do that, and here's how. —  John O'Conner

TOTD # 71: JRuby and GlassFish Integration Test #2: JRuby 1.2.0 RC1 + Rails 2.2.x + GlassFish v3 Prelude
TOTD #70 shows the first integration integration tests that I typically run to ensure that the latest JRuby and GlassFish versions work nicely with each other. The second test (explained in this blog) ensures that the same application can be deployed using GlassFish v3 Prelude. —  Arun Gupta

Forums

Issues understanding appling WSIT to an exisitng web service
We are trying to understand how to apply WSIT to a series of web services which we have up and running. Unfortunately the Metro Guide, while covering a lot of ground, does not really answer our questions directly so I am having to read between the lines. I have gone about as far as I can without getting some further pointers.  — 

Re: Glassfish in-memory cluster not working
When instances are across machines, you need to front it with a load balancer to not only balance/distribute load but also provide consistent session identification from the LB to the browser For your immediate experimentation, you can stop the cluster, create an additional instance on your mac or pc, restart node agent and cluster, and use the browser to move from one instance on one machine to another instance on the same machine after creating a session. In this case, you can see session information without LB. — 

Implementing unsupported fonts in swing components.
Please correct me if I have misunderstood or am down right wrong about any of the following. I haven't had a chance to go in depth into the font rendering code. It recently came to my attention that components such as labels, buttons, textfields etc can only support truetype, opentype and type 1. As the project I am working on currently has custom rendering of these and other font types I would like to have standard components displaying some other font types using our existing code,. —