How to Use JPOX in NetBeans 4.0

March 6, 2005 on 10:45 pm | In Java, NetBeans |

JPOX is the most popular implementation of the JDO specifications. However, the downside of using JPOX for object-relational mapping is the need to enhance classes after they have been compiled. Thankfully, developers can take advantage of the Ant-based nature of NetBeans projects to automate this task. Here, I show you how to do this.

First, download JPOX Core and JPOX Enhancer.

Next, copy JPOX Enhancer and its dependencies to a folder of your choice, and copy JPOX Core to the library folder within your NetBeans project (which is usually /lib).

Last, override the -pre-dist target in build.xml with the JDO enhancement task. This instructs Ant to enhance the compiled classes before packaging the project.

    <target name="-pre-dist">
        <echo message="==================================================================="/>
        <echo message="Enhancing the MODULE files"/>
        <echo message="==================================================================="/>

        <property name="jpox.dir" value="/Users/jeyoung/Dev/JPOX"/>

        <copy todir="${build.classes.dir}">
            <fileset dir="${src.dir}"
                 includes="**/*.jdo,**/*.properties,**/*.dtd,**/*.xml"/>
        </copy>

        <path id="module.enhancer.classpath">
            <fileset dir="${jpox.dir}" includes="*.jar"/>
            <pathelement location="${build.classes.dir}"/>
            <pathelement location="${build.web.dir}/WEB-INF/lib/jpox-1.1.0-beta-1.jar"/>
        </path>

        <taskdef name="jpoxenhancer"
                 classpathref="module.enhancer.classpath"
                 classname="org.jpox.enhancer.tools.EnhancerTask" />

        <jpoxenhancer classpathref="module.enhancer.classpath"/>

     </target>

Once this is done, the meta-data for the object-relational mapping of your classes can be modified at will, and the next time the project is built, the compiled classes will automatically be enhanced.

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