Groovy 2 Cookbook

Table of Contents

Groovy 2 Cookbook

Credits

About the Authors

About the Reviewers

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Preface

The Groovy language

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Getting Started with Groovy

Introduction

Installing Groovy on Windows

Getting ready

How to do it…

There's more...

Installing Groovy on Linux and OS X

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Executing Groovy code from the command line

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Using Groovy as a command-line text file editor

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Using Groovy to start a server on the command line

How to do it...

See also

Running Groovy with invokedynamic support

Getting ready

How to do it...

There's more...

See also

Building Groovy from source

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Managing multiple Groovy installations on Linux

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Using groovysh to try out Groovy commands

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Starting groovyConsole to execute Groovy snippets

How to do it...

There's more...

Configuring Groovy in Eclipse

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Configuring Groovy in IntelliJ IDEA

Getting ready

How to do it...

There's more...

2. Using Groovy Ecosystem

Introduction

Using Java classes from Groovy

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Embedding Groovy into Java

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Compiling Groovy code

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Simplifying dependency management with Grape

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Integrating Groovy into the build process using Ant

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Integrating Groovy into the build process using Maven

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Integrating Groovy into the build process using Gradle

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Generating documentation for Groovy code

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Checking Groovy code's quality with CodeNarc

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

3. Using Groovy Language Features

Introduction

Searching strings with regular expressions

Getting ready

How to do it...

There's more...

See also

Writing less verbose Java Beans with Groovy Beans

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Inheriting constructors in Groovy classes

How to do it...

How it works...

Adding the cloning functionality to Groovy Beans

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Defining code as data in Groovy

Getting ready

How to do it...

There's more...

Defining data structures as code in Groovy

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Implementing multiple inheritance in Groovy

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Adding a functionality to the existing Java/Groovy classes

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Defining type-checking rules for dynamic code

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Adding automatic logging to Groovy classes

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

4. Working with Files in Groovy

Introduction

Reading from a file

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Reading a text file line by line

Getting ready

How to do it...

There's more...

See also

Processing every word in a text file

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Writing to a file

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Replacing tabs with spaces in a text file

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Filtering a text file's content

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Deleting a file or directory

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Walking through a directory recursively

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Searching for files

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Changing file attributes on Windows

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

Reading data from a ZIP file

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Reading an Excel file

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Extracting data from a PDF

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

5. Working with XML in Groovy

Introduction

Reading XML using XmlSlurper

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Reading XML using XmlParser

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Reading XML content with namespaces

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Searching in XML with GPath

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Searching in XML with XPath

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Constructing XML content

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Modifying XML content

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Sorting XML nodes

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Serializing Groovy Beans to XML

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

6. Working with JSON in Groovy

Introduction

Parsing JSON messages with JsonSlurper

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Constructing JSON messages with JsonBuilder

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Modifying JSON messages

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Validating JSON messages

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Converting JSON message to XML

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Converting JSON message to Groovy Bean

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Using JSON to configure your scripts

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

7. Working with Databases in Groovy

Introduction

Creating a database table

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Connecting to an SQL database

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Querying an SQL database

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Modifying data in an SQL database

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Calling a stored procedure

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Reading BLOB/CLOB from a database

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Building a simple ORM framework

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Using Groovy to access Redis

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Using Groovy to access MongoDB

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Using Groovy to access Apache Cassandra

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

8. Working with Web Services in Groovy

Introduction

Downloading content from the Internet

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Executing an HTTP GET request

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Executing an HTTP POST request

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Constructing and modifying complex URLs

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Issuing a REST request and parsing a response

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Issuing a SOAP request and parsing a response

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Consuming RSS and Atom feeds

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Using basic authentication for web service security

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Using OAuth for web service security

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

9. Metaprogramming and DSLs in Groovy

Introduction

Querying methods and properties

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Dynamically extending classes with new methods

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Overriding methods dynamically

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Adding performance logging to methods

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Adding a caching functionality around methods

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Adding transparent imports to a script

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

DSL for executing commands over SSH

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

DSL for generating reports from logfiles

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

10. Concurrent Programming in Groovy

Introduction

Processing collections concurrently

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Downloading files concurrently

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Splitting a large task into smaller parallel jobs

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Running tasks in parallel and asynchronously

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Using actors to build message-based concurrency

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Using STM to atomically update fields

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Using dataflow variables for lazy evaluation

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more...

See also

Index

Groovy 2 Cookbook

Groovy 2 Cookbook

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 authors, 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: October 2013

Production Reference: 1151013

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

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ISBN 978-1-84951-936-6

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Cover Image by Jarek Blaminsky (<milak6@wp.pl>)

Credits

Authors

Andrey Adamovich

Luciano Fiandesio

Reviewers

Kunal Dabir

Ayan Dave

Fergal Dearle

Eric Kelm

Guillaume Laforge

Acquisition Editors

Kartikey Pandey

Rebecca Youe

Lead Technical Editor

Ankita Shashi

Technical Editors

Pragnesh Bilimoria

Jinesh Kampani

Sandeep Madnaik

Chandni Maishery

Ankita Thakur

Project Coordinator

Apeksha Chitnis

Proofreaders

Ameesha Green

Katherine Tarr

Indexer

Hemangini Bari

Graphics

Ronak Dhruv

Yuvraj Mannari

Production Coordinator

Shantanu Zagade

Cover Work

Shantanu Zagade

About the Authors

Andrey Adamovich is a software craftsman with many years of experience in different lifecycle phases of software creation. He is passionate about defining good development practices, documenting and presenting architecture, the reuse of code and design patterns, the profiling and analysis of application performance, as well as extreme automation of development and operations activities.

He is a longtime Groovy user and has a deep knowledge of the language internals. He uses Groovy in his day-to-day development job for simplifying the development process, which includes: code generation, super cool DSLs, and rapid prototyping.

He has Master's degree in Computer Science from the Latvian State University.

I would like to thank my wife Lena for her patience and understanding that gave me enough time and energy to focus on the book. Many thanks to my friends, Sergey and Dmitry, who attentively reviewed book chapters and shared their insightful comments. And, of course, I'm very grateful to Luciano for the exciting experience we had together while working on this book.

Luciano Fiandesio is a programmer, technology enthusiast, and entrepreneur living in Zurich, Switzerland. Luciano has been working for the last 18 years in 12 different countries as an architect and developer for large corporations and small start-ups: Nokia, European Central Bank, BNP Paribas, and Ericsson are among his clients. He loves coding and designing solutions that are both elegant and rock solid. When not busy learning the next big thing, he likes playing with his analog cameras and cooking Italian food. Two years ago, he started a consulting company focused on software factory automation, Aestas IT, where Groovy plays a big role. He holds a Master's degree in Literature and Philosophy from Rome University.

I'd like to thank Andrey, my business partner, friend, and co-author on this book; Laura, my life partner for her patience; Matteo, my brother, for his help; and Pierluigi for reviewing the book.

About the Reviewers

Ayan Dave is a software engineer that takes pride in building and delivering high quality applications using languages and components in the JVM ecosystem. He is passionate about software development and enjoys exploring open source projects. He is enthusiastic about Agile and Extreme Programming, and frequently advocates for them. Over the years, he has provided a consulting service to several organizations and has played many different roles. Most recently, he is the Architectus Oryzus for a project team with big ideas, and he subscribes to the idea that running code is the system of truth.

He has a Master's degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Houston-Clear Lake and holds PMP, PSM-1, and OCMJEA certifications. He is also a speaker on various technical topics at local user groups and community events. He currently lives in Columbus, Ohio, where he works with Quick Solutions Inc. In the digital world, he can be found at http://daveayan.com.

Fergal Dearle has been writing code since he started writing BASIC as a bellbottom-wearing teenager in the 70s. The jeans aren't bellbottoms anymore and the code is in Groovy, not BASIC but he's still wearing jeans and he's still coding. Recently, he can be found mostly working on web-based projects in Groovy on Grails as his framework of choice. He is the author of Groovy for Domain Specific Languages and is a passionate advocate of Agile methods.

Eric Kelm is senior software developer with over nine years of experience as a developer, senior developer, and technical lead, delivering top-notch solutions to customers. His current focus is developing Java web applications, particularly with the Groovy-based Grails framework.

He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the Sam Houston State University. Along with his day-to-day work, he also shares his insights into some of his technical solutions with a broader audience through his blog http://asoftwareguy.com.

Guillaume Laforge is the project lead of the Groovy language. He works for Pivotal, formerly the SpringSource division of VMware. Guillaume co-authored the Groovy in Action best-seller, and speaks regularly about Groovy, Domain-Specific Languages, and various Groovy related topics at conferences worldwide.

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Preface

Groovy 2 Cookbook consists of problem-solving recipes for Groovy, one of the most flexible programming languages we have ever used. Th book contains solutions to more than 100 common problems, shown with more than 500 Groovy code snippets.

There are a few unique things about this book:

As a cookbook, it's intended to save your time by providing solutions to the most common problems you'll encounter.

Most of the examples can be run as Groovy scripts or directly in the GroovyConsole. As a result, whether you're sitting by a computer or n a plane, you get the benefit of seeing their exact output.

The book covers not only the Groovy language, but also has several recipes on Groovy libraries and tools, including Gradle, concurrent programming and functional testing.

Th book covers Groovy 2.0 and 2.1.

The Groovy language

Groovy arises from the self-imposed limitations of the Java language. Java is an old language, originally conceived in 1990 and released at the beginning of 1996 (Java 1.0). We are looking at a 20 year life span that, in our field, is equivalent to an ice age. Java was portable (remember the motto write once, run anywhere?), sported a truly object-oriented core, and provided an automatic management of memory. The Java platform evolved in two directions: Java Virtual Machine, an outstanding piece of software engineering, which has become increasingly powerful and more performant over the years, and the actual Java language. The latter unquestionably matured and changed since its origin, but it did so in a unnerving slow-motion pace. The reason for this pondered evolution lies in the strong ties that the Java language historically had with the enterprise world. This bond acted as a double-edged weapon. It gave the language the massive adoption and popularity that it enjoys today, but it tampered the ability to quickly adapt to an ever-changing IT landscape.

In order to counteract the lethargic adoption of new features in Java, new languages based on the JVM started to see the light. Groovy is one of these languages, along with Scala, Clojure, JRuby, Jython and many others. So what is Groovy? Groovy is an optionally typed, dynamic language for the JVM with many features influenced by languages Python, Ruby, and Smalltalk, making them available to Java developers using a Java- syntax. Groovy is designed to work seamlessly with Java at every level, from syntax alignment to bytecode generation (although it creates different bytecode). The language evolved from being a limited scripting language to a fully-fledged programming language that can be used in very different contexts, such as web applications and services, backend servers, background jobs, desktop applications.

The dynamic nature of the language allows a degree of flexibility hardly achievable with Java. Thanks to the language's metaprogramming features, it is possible to modify or augment the code and behavior at runtime or even at compile time (using AST) and create Domain-Specific Languages (DSL) in a breeze. Furthermore Groovy adds a huge number of convenience methods and approaches that simplify your code and make it more powerful.

We, the authors, have been programming in Groovy for many years now. We hope that through this book, we will be able to convey the great fun and productivity boost that we enjoyed by using this language.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Getting Started with Groovy, covers the installation process on different operating systems and the basic tools that come with the language distribution.