[Springframework-developer] Impala dynamic modules for Spring-based applications, 1.0 M6 released

[Phil Z. <phi...@re...>]

I am pleased to announce the release of Impala 1.0M6.

Impala is a dynamic module framework for Java enterprise application
development, building on the Spring framework. Impala is the simplest
and most TDD-friendly way to bring dynamic modularity into Java
applications, making it possible to build large, complex applications
which are simple to test and productive to develop. With Impala you can
dynamically add, update and remove parts of an existing application,
dramatically reducing build/deploy/test cycles. Impala remains true to
Spring's original premise of simplicity by not requiring any additional
third party tooling or runtime environment support. It just works "out
of the box".

The Impala 1.0M6 release includes a reworking of the service registry
implementation, as well as the mechanisms for exporting services to and
importing services from the service registry.

The headline improvements include the following.
  * Configuration of Impala services is now much simpler, as a new
Spring 'service' namespace has been provided for easily exporting and
importing services.
  * Service export and import can now be done not only by name but also
by type or by custom attributes, the latter using a model similar to
that used in OSGi.
  * Impala's mechanism for proxying services obtained from the service
registry has improved, and is now more easily configurable.
  * It is now possible to export and import Impala services without
having to specify an interface - proxying of the service implementation
class is now also supported.
  * Impala now supports exporting and importing services based on Spring
beans which are not singletons or not created using non-singleton
Factory beans. It does this in a way that is totally transparent to
users of the services, effectively allowing clients to treat all beans
as singletons.
  * Impala now provides implementations of java.util.List and
java.util.Map, dynamically backed by beans imported from the service
registry.

The 1.0M6 release also introduces a number of improvements to make
dynamic module reloading more robust, particularly when using the module
auto-reload feature, as well as other minor enhancements and bug fixes.
This release is an important release for Impala, as it is the last
pre-1.0 final release to include major enhancements and API changes.

For more information on this release see:
http://code.google.com/p/impala/wiki/Release1_0M6Announcement.

Phil Zoio

Impala Home:  http://impala.googlecode.com
Blog: http://impalablog.blogspot.com