Generate JHipster + Svelte/Kit web applications

JHipster is a development platform to quickly generate, develop, & deploy modern web applications and micro-service architectures. The default JHipster platform supports Angular, React, and Vue as the frontend framework.

The JHipster platform allows code extension and customization via blueprints. In this blog post, we look into Svelte Hipster blueprint that generates Svelte/Kit powered frontend applications.

Svelte Hipster - A JHipster blueprint

Svelte Hipster is a JHipster blueprint that intends to use the following technical stack in generated applications:

Svelte/Kit - Client-side development framework
Tailwindcss - CSS utility framework
Cypress - End-to-End tests framework
Jest - Javascript unit tests framework
Prettier - Opinionated code formatter
ESLint - Javascript Lint tool
Husky - Git commit hooks

Install Svelte Hipster blueprint

Prerequisites

NodeJS 16.x and NPM 8.x are recommended versions
Java 11.x is minimum supported Java version

As a very first step, we need to install the generator-jhipster-svelte npm package globally. Run the below command in your favorite terminal:

npm install -g generator-jhipster-svelte@0.7.1

Generate a new monolithic application

Svelte Hipster blueprint exposes a cli to use the correct version of JHipster. Run the below command to interactively generate an application:

shipster

The shipster CLI prompts a series of questions to customize the generated web application. We chose the below options for our sample application:

? Which *type* of application would you like to create? Monolithic application (recommended for simple projects)
? What is the base name of your application? Blog
? Do you want to make it reactive with Spring WebFlux? No
? What is your default Java package name? org.github.vishal423
? Which *type* of authentication would you like to use? JWT authentication (stateless, with a token)
? Which *type* of database would you like to use? SQL (H2, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, MSSQL)
? Which *production* database would you like to use? PostgreSQL
? Which *development* database would you like to use? H2 with disk-based persistence
? Which cache do you want to use? (Spring cache abstraction) Caffeine (local cache, for a single node)
? Do you want to use Hibernate 2nd level cache? Yes
? Would you like to use Maven or Gradle for building the backend? Maven
? Do you want to use the JHipster Registry to configure, monitor and scale your application? No
? Which other technologies would you like to use?
? Besides Junit, which testing frameworks would you like to use?
? Would you like to install other generators from the JHipster Marketplace? (y/N) No

PS: Svelte Hipster blueprint is still under active development. You can refer to the documentation listing supported options and integrations.

After successful application generation, the code is formatted with opinionated Prettier configurations and stored in the local git repository with an initial commit. We can also see instructions to start the backend and frontend development servers on the console.

A sneak peek into generated application

As instructed on console, let's start the backend server with ./mvnw command. By default, the command also compiles and deploys the frontend code. If you would like to skip the execution of unit tests, then, you can use ./mvnw -DskipTests command.

You can browse the generated application at http://localhost:8080 and log-in with default admin or user credentials.

The default application consists of following screens:

Sign In
Sign Up
Forgot Password
Home
Account
- Change Password
- Settings
- Sign Out
Administration
- User Management (List, Create, Update, View, Delete)
- Loggers

In the following screencast, we navigate through generated screens and try out different flows:

Extend application to add business domain model

An application without a functional domain is not much useful. Let's extend our example application to add business domain entities. We are leveraging JHipster JDL to define structure and relationships. Refer to JDL entity fields documentation for all supported entity data types and constraints and JDL relationships documentation for supported relationships and syntax.

Save below entity JDL contents in a file (entity.jdl in this example)

entity Blog {
  name String required minlength(3)
  handle String required minlength(2)
}

entity Post {
  title String required
  content TextBlob required
  date Instant required
}

entity Tag {
  name String required minlength(2)
}

relationship ManyToOne {
  Blog{user(login)} to User
  Post{blog(name)} to Blog
}

relationship ManyToMany {
  Post{tag(name)} to Tag{entry}
}

paginate Post, Tag with pagination

Here, we define an entity named Blog, Post, and Tag. Refer to JDL documentation for supported data types and constraints.

In our domain model, a user can write multiple blogs and each blog can contain multiple posts. User is a special entity supported by JHipster to model read only relationships. Further, a post can be associated with multiple tags and same tag can be used in multiple posts.

Post and Tag entities are also marked to represent data in a paginated manner.

Run the below command to import entities domain model into our example application:

shipster import-jdl entity.jdl

Since we are updating our application to include business domain model, you will notice prompts to review the updated code. For now, we accept all modifications by entering a key. The new and updated files are not committed to Git and you can always review those using your favorite diff tool.

Restart the application with ./mvnw command and log in with default admin credentials. Under the Entities menu, you will see Blog, Post, and Tag menu items. In the development profile, JHipster application also uses the faker.js library to generate test data.

In the following screencast, we navigate through newly generated entity screens and create a new blog post:

Validate generated application code

So far we have generated an application and extended it to add a business domain model. However, we still haven't looked into the verification of generated code.

Svelte Hipster blueprint supports validation of generated code via two means:

Jest + Svelte Testing Library to validate an individual svelte component
Cypress tests to validate end to end business flow

In the current release, we generate a limited set of unit tests. In the current form, these help to assert all associated library integrations. However, there is a ticket to improve overall unit test coverage and ensure the robustness of generated code.

Run the below command to execute unit tests:

npm run test

You might observe a unit test failure. We have addressed that issue in the main code and the fix should be available in the next release.

We generate an exhaustive suite of end-to-end tests to ensure generated code meets functional requirements. Run the below command to execute cypress tests:

npm run e2e

After completion, you can see a summary report like below:


====================================================================================================

  (Run Finished)


       Spec                                              Tests  Passing  Failing  Pending  Skipped
  ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │ ✔  account/change-password.spec.js          00:12        7        7        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  account/register.spec.js                 00:15       10       10        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  account/reset/init-password.spec.js      00:04        5        5        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  account/settings.spec.js                 00:10        4        4        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  admin/logger.spec.js                     00:11        7        7        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  admin/user-management/user-create.s      00:15        7        7        -        -        - │
  │    pec.js                                                                                      │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  admin/user-management/user-delete.s      00:06        3        3        -        -        - │
  │    pec.js                                                                                      │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  admin/user-management/user-list.spe      00:12        7        7        -        -        - │
  │    c.js                                                                                        │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  admin/user-management/user-update.s      00:16        7        7        -        -        - │
  │    pec.js                                                                                      │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  admin/user-management/user-view.spe      00:03        2        2        -        -        - │
  │    c.js                                                                                        │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  entities/blog/blog-create.spec.js        00:05        4        4        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  entities/blog/blog-delete.spec.js        00:06        3        3        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  entities/blog/blog-list.spec.js          00:04        3        3        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  entities/blog/blog-update.spec.js        00:11        5        5        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  entities/blog/blog-view.spec.js          00:03        2        2        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  entities/post/post-create.spec.js        00:12        4        4        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  entities/post/post-delete.spec.js        00:07        3        3        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  entities/post/post-list.spec.js          00:06        5        5        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  entities/post/post-update.spec.js        00:09        5        5        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  entities/post/post-view.spec.js          00:02        2        2        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  entities/tag/tag-create.spec.js          00:04        4        4        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  entities/tag/tag-delete.spec.js          00:05        3        3        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  entities/tag/tag-list.spec.js            00:06        5        5        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  entities/tag/tag-update.spec.js          00:05        5        5        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  entities/tag/tag-view.spec.js            00:02        2        2        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  footer.spec.js                           550ms        1        1        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  home.spec.js                             00:03        4        4        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  login.spec.js                            00:06        8        8        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  navbar.spec.js                           00:11       14       14        -        -        - │
  ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ ✔  routes.spec.js                           00:04        7        7        -        -        - │
  └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
    ✔  All specs passed!                        03:47      148      148        -        -        -

Wrapping things up

In this post, we looked into an interactive way to generate an application and use entity JDL extend to add business domain models. We also looked into generated UI and approaches to validate the generated code. As Svelte Hipster blueprint is an open-source project and under active development, you can also contribute to its growth.

If you have a suggestion then, feel free to raise a ticket.

If you like the Svelte Hipster project then, give it a star on GitHub and retweet this blog.

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