Home > Articles > Programming > Java

Introduction to Play 2 for Java

📄 Contents

  1. About Play / Setting Up a Play Environment
  2. Hello, Play!
The Play Framework presents a new paradigm for developing web applications that is web-centric and not Java API-centric and yields a high degree of scalability. In this article Steven Haines describes Play’s benefits that you can use to set up a Play development environment. He then walks you through building your first Hello, Play application.
Like this article? We recommend

Java has enough web frameworks, so why should you learn a new one? Play is not a typical Java web framework: It does not support Java EE; it does not support servlets; Play applications are not deployed to a servlet container or application server; and it isn’t even written in Java, so what makes it special?

Play changes the way that Java developers think about developing web applications: The Java Servlet API is very Java-centric whereas Play is very web-centric. The paradigm shift is to transition from thinking in terms of Java APIs and the abstraction layer on top of HTTP that it provides and instead thinking in terms of HTTP directly. Play allows you to think about web resources and the HTTP verbs used to manipulate these resources; Play allows you to build applications quickly and redeploy applications on-the-fly rather than going through a lengthy build and deployment cycle; and Play runs in a stand-alone JVM and provides the management capabilities that you need to maintain your application.

When I started exploring the Play 2 Framework, the main thing that intrigued me was its support for asynchronous messaging. In a typical web application, the web container maintains a thread pool and each request is handled by a single thread. This means that if you have 50 threads, then you can handle 50 simultaneous requests. Play abstracts the threading model from you and allows you to communicate with other components asynchronously. If you need to wait for a response from another component, your application can give up its thread and allow another request to use it until the response arrives, at which point Play will give you a thread to complete your response and return the result to the caller. So in other words, if your application makes calls to other components, then 50 threads does not equate to support for 50 simultaneous requests; you can support far more than that! This is one of the reasons that LinkedIn decided to choose the Play Framework, and knowing its scalability requirements, their decision lends a lot of credibility to Play.

About Play

The first version of the Play framework was written in Java, but the second version was rewritten in Scala (and still works equally well with Java applications). Play implements an asynchronous message-passing paradigm on top of Akka and is part of the Typesafe stack of technologies. It is part of a new domain of application frameworks designed for building reactive applications. A reactive application has the following properties:

  • Event-driven: Reactive applications are event-driven and support parallel and asynchronous processing of messages or events.
  • Scalable: Reactive applications are designed to scale elastically, such as in a cloud-based environment, so that more compute instances can be used during peak load and less compute instances can be used during light periods.
  • Resilient: Reactive applications are designed to recover from errors and automatically repair themselves to preserve the business function they are solving.
  • Responsive: Reactive applications are usually single-page web applications providing instant feedback.

These are ambitious goals and, as such, require a new approach to solving problems - fortunately Play and Akka provide this much needed new approach. This article series can help you leverage these new technologies to develop reactive applications.

Setting Up a Play Environment

In this section we set up a Play environment and build our first Play application. First, download Play from their website; you have a couple options:

  • Typesafe Activator: This is a utility that helps you get Play, Akka, and Scala set up.
  • Zip file: A self-contained zip file with the Play Framework and runtime environment.

For this example we’ll just download and decompress the zip file. After you have this directory set up, you might want to add the Play home directory to your PATH environment variable. In Windows you can do this through the Control Panel, System, and Advanced System Settings. On Linux and Mac you can do this by modifying your .bash_profile (Mac) or .bashrc (Linux) file. You can test your configuration by executing the play command:

Stevens-MacBook-Pro:~ shaines$ play
       _
 _ __ | | __ _ _  _
| '_ \| |/ _' | || |
|  __/|_|\____|\__ /
|_|            |__/

play 2.2.2 built with Scala 2.10.3 (running Java 1.7.0_25), http://www.playframework.com

This is not a play application!

Use `play new` to create a new Play application in the current directory,
or go to an existing application and launch the development console using `play`.

You can also browse the complete documentation at http://www.playframework.com.

Stevens-MacBook-Pro:~ shaines$

You should see something similar to this output if your environment is set up correctly. (The first time you run play you might see it downloading resources.) Note that this output identifies that “This is not a play application!” so we’ll need to create a new play application.

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020