Question

I recently stumbled upon Play framework while evaluating frameworks to use in a project.
I need to use Java language and JVM (so grails is not an option).

From initial impression Play framework looks very similar to Django (or Rails), but Spring Roo looks interesting because I use Spring framework for core components.

Is there any advantage of using Spring Roo if i already use core Spring framework (say for e.g. integration)?

Is there any known major issues with Spring Roo? (e.g. like losing control over code as it generates for us)

Answer 1

This is my private impression, so it might be (very) subjective. I’m also a Play advocate.

I was enforced to give Spring MVC a try… That was some kind of %$%@$%#… uncomfortable to me, having to worry about XML files…

So I found Roo which can scaffold apps quite nice (especially compared to Spring) I thought that it’s sensible to use it, however it also takes too much effort to keep an eye on all depended files while your project is growing (I don’t know, maybe wrong IDE, maybe not too much patience…) After a week I was ready to go back to PHP, forever 😉

Finally I found Play and that’s the point for me, I don’t need to deal no more with XML ‘support’ which driven me crazy. Common structure is much cleaner than in Spring-*. I don’t need to care about configuring tomcat or redeploying the app. Everything works just from the first step. Only thing I need to do is to… develop!

So, concluding I think that you should give Play a chance, maybe it will be a better choice than celebrating uncomfortable habits. Maybe. You have to choose yourself.

BTW: both are really different approaches, you won’t judge it correctly without solid comparison of both solutions with the same topic.