This is an example Ratpack app, based on the Vert.x version. It is a subset port of http://groovyconsole.appspot.com/.
It is also using the Ratpack Gradle plugin as the development environment.
To run this app, you need Java 7 (Vert.x requires Java 7).
Check this project out, cd into the directory and run:
./gradlew run
This will start the ratpack app. In your browser go to http://localhost:5050.
The Gradle Ratpack plugin builds on the Gradle Application plugin. This means it's easy to create a standalone distribution for your app.
Run:
./gradlew installApp
cd build/install/groovy-web-console/
bin/groovy-web-console
Your app should now be running (see http://gradle.org/docs/current/userguide/application_plugin.html) for more on what the Gradle application plugin can do for you.
One of the key Ratpack features is support for runtime reloading. The src/ratpack/ratpack.groovy file (which defines
the request routes and handlers) can be changed at runtime.
Furthermore, full reloading of supporting classes (i.e. src/main/groovy) is enabled via
SpringSource's SpringLoaded library.
See src/ratpack/ratpack.groovy and src/main/groovy/groovywebconsole/ReloadingThing.groovy for instructions on how to test
the SpringLoaded based reloading.
The Ratpack Gradle plugin has special support for IntelliJ IDEA. To open the project in IDEA, run:
./gradlew idea
If you have the idea command line tool installed you can then run:
idea groovy-web-console.ipr
In the “Run” menu, you will find a run configuration for launching the Ratpack app from within your IDE. Hot reloading
is supported in this mode. See src/main/groovy/groovywebconsole/ReloadingThing.groovy for details.
There are no published docs for Ratpack at this time.
To learn more, check out the source @ https://github.com/ratpack/ratpack/tree/vertx or open this project in IDEA and dig through the source there.