Java Shindig: how to connect to real database (Updated July-2011)

I decided finally to switch to Java Shindig from PHP Shindig due to the better support and development of the first one. I had my working shindig installation for PHP with my own social database. I wanted to have the same with Java Shindig. It turned out to be much harder to set it up in Java (maybe because of my java and maven ignorance). In PHP I only changed the database settings and added my own PersonService, AppDataService implementations. In Java the concept is the same but the way it is done was not that obvious for me. So, here is what I did.

1) I downloaded the shindig trunk from here:


2) To use database in Shindig one could take advantage of existing in shindig "samples" project that uses JPA and EclipseLink to connect to the database from Java. This how I compile the project:
3) First of all we need to add JPASocialModule.java into Shindig's Guice modules. This module will provide real database implementations for PersonService, AppDataService, etc. One should add this module in java/server/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml. Some default Guice modules should be removed from this file in order to avoid compilation problems. This is how this file looks for me.

I also had to change the SocialApiGuiceModule.java to add a sample OAuthDataStore. I also had to change the JPASocialModule.java to add a sample implementation for MediaItemService, MessageService, AlbumService. 4) We will have to recompile shindig with database support now. We have to change 3 files. trunk/pom.xml - add samples module to default "all" and "run" and to dependencyManagement.
trunk/java/server/pom.xml - add dependency on shindig-samples

trunk/java/samples/pom.xml - add dependency on mysql driver (since I use mysql database)


Now to compile the project with maven command as in 2)

5) Generate signing keys for oAuth with the following commands.
Add the keys information into java/common/conf/shindig.properties. Don't forget the full path to your oauthkey.pem!! 6) Add your database information to java/samples/src/main/resources/socialjpa.properties. I use mysql database, so my settings are mysql specific. 7) Create database shindig and give access to it for user "shindig" with password "shindig". 8) Compile now the project and run jetty server according to 2). The tables will be created in the database based on shindig's default database structure. 9) When database is created, add manually a row to the Person table with oid = 1, person_id = 1 and display_name = Shindig User 10) Run the jetty server as explained in 2) (Ignore errors that tables already exist). Now execute a social request in your browser. You should get back a json response (I had to reload page 3 times to get it) So, this is a proof-of-concept step on how to connect Shindig to a real database. Next will be how to change shindig classes to connect to my own database!