Object Computing, Inc. has announced the release of JHipster Micronaut Blueprint 1.0, a collaboration of Object Computing, Micronaut Foundation and JHipster, to build a Micronaut option for JHipster server-side applications. Also known as MHipster, this new framework generates monolith- or microservices-based applications with key features and integrations to facilitate quicker deployments to production.
Formerly known as Project Particle, Micronaut is a full-stack JVM-based framework for creating microservice-based, cloud-native and serverless applications that can be written in Java, Groovy, and Kotlin. Graeme Rocher, architect at Oracle and creator of Grails and Micronaut, first introduced Micronaut at the Greach conference in March 2018.
The framework features a dependency injection and aspect-oriented programming runtime that uses no reflection, resulting in faster startup times and lower memory consumption. Micronaut is cloud-native and offers integrations such as AWS, GCP, Azure and Oracle Cloud, among others
Initially released in October 2013, JHipster (a portmanteau blend of "Java" and "Hipster"), is a full-stack platform to generate, develop and deploy web applications and microservices. JHipster blueprints, a Yeoman generator designed to extend the functionality of JHipster sub-generatory, enhance JHipster with new features through other programming languages. In addition to Micronaut, other officially supported blueprints include Kotlin, Vue.js, .NET, Node.js and Quarkus. The Micronaut blueprint uses a Micronaut application for all server-side code and supports both monolithic and microservice architectures. Currently, the blueprint itself supports Angular and React frontends. Other frontend blueprints (like Vue.js) may or may not work.
The mhipster command in the 1.0.0 release provides support for technologies such as JWT, OAuth 2.0, Maven, Gradle, various databases and caching frameworks.
JHipster requires Docker Compose, Node.js and a JDK. Micronaut itself supports Java 8 and above, however most JHipster applications are Java 11 and above.
The JHipster Generator and the Micronaut Blueprint may be installed with:
npm install -g generator-jhipster@6.10.5 generator-jhipster-micronaut@1.0.0
Next, a project folder should be created and opened:
mkdir my-first-mhipster && cd my-first-mhipster
Finally, the MHipster CLI may be started with:
mhipster
The CLI starts a wizard where the user is prompted to select an application type: monolithic or microservice. Then the various technologies may be selected including the database, build tool and frontend. Internationalization support and test frameworks may be added as well. The generator creates the project including source code and configuration inside a Git repository. Now the application is ready and JHipster entities may be added to create more functionality.
The next version of Micronaut Blueprint will be based on the recently released JHipster 7.0.0 which contains breaking changes. Native image support will also be added, however supporting all the various technologies, including reactive programming, could be a challenge. There are also plans to support MongoDB and other databases in the blueprint.
A Getting Started with the JHipster Micronaut Blueprint webinar has been scheduled for May 7th, 2021, for those who may be interested in learning more about the Micronaut blueprint.