Announcing App Engine 1.4.3. Release

Just in time for spring, we have a new App Engine release to bring our Java and Python runtimes even closer to parity. For Python, we’ve launched a test library to match the existing Java testing framework, and for Java we’ve introduced the Deferred and Remote APIs. This release also introduces a new Blobstore writing feature, the experimental release of the Prospective Search API in Python, and a few goodies for Task Queue and Cron users.

Python

  • Prospective Search API: The experimental Prospective Search API allows Python runtime users to detect and take action on datastore entities that match certain criteria when they are written. For the experimental release, users will be allowed 10,000 subscriptions with the Prospective Search API. Pricing will be announced once the feature is fully launched.
  • Testbed Unit Test Framework: The Testbed suite for Python provides an easy interface for using App Engine API stubs in integration tests similar to the previously existing Java Testing Framework. You can create tests for your application that do not rely on calling App Engine production services, which speeds up the time your tests take to complete, and eliminates dependencies for your test on external services. Here at Google, we’re well known for our testing culture, and we hope that this API will allow you to develop more stable code more quickly.

Java

  • Concurrent Requests: Until now, Java applications relied on starting additional instances to dynamically scale up for higher traffic levels. Now with support for concurrent requests, each application instance may serve multiple user requests at the same time. To start, ensure your application’s code is threadsafe, then enable concurrent requests by adding the flag to your appengine-web.xml.
  • Java Remote API and Deferred API support: The Remote API and Deferred API libraries have been supported in Python for awhile, and now they can be used with Java, too! The Remote API allows you to perform operations on your application’s datastore from your local machine. This is particularly useful for work that is not well-suited to App Engine’s request/response model. The Deferred API allows users to more easily write and execute ad hoc tasks. Our docs contain more information and examples on how to use the Remote API and Deferred API in Java App Engine.

New and changed APIs

  • Files API: The new Files API in Python and Java allow you to pragmatically read and write data using Blobstore. This API can be used to generate reports, export data, or do anything that your heart desires that requires large, binary objects.

Serving Changes

  • Task Queue and Cron update: We’ve addressed some of your top requested items for Task Queues and Cron. With this release, you can now configure the specific application version to which a task queue or cron job will send requests. For those wanting to schedule cron jobs with a range syntax like “every 5 minutes from 11:00 to 17:00”, that too is available in the 1.4.3 release. Last, but not least, the Admin Console Task Queues page now displays a more accurate estimate of queue size for queues containing more than 2000 tasks.

Coming soon

Finally, we have a pre-announcement about the 1.4.4 release. In 1.4.0, we introduced a feature that allowed users to download code that they’ve deployed to App Engine. In 1.4.2 we released admin roles allowing for Owners. When 1.4.4 is released, we plan on including a change that allows both the person who uploaded the code to download it, as well as the Owner(s) of the project (as listed in the Admin Console). In preparation for this, be sure to properly assign roles to all developers on your App Engine application in the Admin Console. Alternatively, you will still be able to permanently disable the code download feature for your application.

That’s it for now, for additional information read the full release notes, including all new features and issues fixed for Java and Python. All feedback is welcome and encouraged in our groups.

Top Ten Reasons to use Google Plugin for Eclipse

As I speak at JUGs and conferences around the world, I’m often surprised that some folks have never seen some of the best features of Google Plugin for Eclipse, such as using the Eclipse debugger with a GWT app. So in no particular order, here are 10 reasons you should use Google Plugin for Eclipse (GPE).

  1. GWT+GAE made easy. GPE is the easiest way to get started with GWT and Google App Engine (GAE). Just check the SDKs box when you install the plugin through the Eclipse update site. It’s easy to upgrade the SDKs this way (Help | Check for updates), and a status bar message in Eclipse will remind you when new versions are available.
  2. Wizards. It’s easy to create your first GWT+GAE project. Click File | New | Web application project and you’ll get a sample app that you can run locally to kick the tires and then deploy to Google App Engine. Beyond creating a new project, there are wizards to create new UiBinder templates, ClientBundles, GWT modules, and entry points. To use the wizards, click File | New and look for the items with the GWT toolbox logo (or click File | New | Other… and browse to the Google Web Toolkit folder).
  3. GWT Designer, now bundled with GPE, lets you quickly create a GUI. To see it in action, create a class that extends GWT’s Composite class, then right-click on the file and Open With | GWT Designer. When the editor opens, click on the Design tab at the bottom. After GWT Designer launches, click a tool on the palette (say, LayoutPanel), then click on the empty design window to drop the widget in place. Click the source tab to see the code that GWT Designer wrote for you. It’s a great way to learn the new cell widgets like CellTable and TextColumn, and GWT Designer has a built-in WYSIWYG CSS editor, too.
  4. Quick fixes and warnings help you write good GWT code quickly. For example, when you create an interface that extends GWT’s RemoteService class, GPE will prompt you to create the corresponding async interface required for GWT-RPC. Just click Ctrl+1 (Quick Fix) on the red squiggly and away you go.
  5. Dev mode integration lets you test your code quickly. Run As | Web Application starts GWT development mode and the App Engine dev server (if applicable) so you can test your code in the browser. When dev mode starts, look for the Development Mode tab in Eclipse and double-click the URL to launch your app in the default browser. With GWT dev mode running, you can make changes to your Java code, hit Refresh in the browser, and see your changes live.
  6. Debugging in dev mode rocks. Set a breakpoint in Eclipse, right-click on your project, and Debug As | Web Application. Switch to the browser and run your code. Eclipse will open the Debug perspective where you can step through your code line-by-line, inspect variables, etc.
  7. One-click deploy to Google App Engine. Just click the Google App Engine logo on the toolbar.
  8. Maven support. GPE works with Maven projects via m2eclipse (see setup instructions). Check out a Maven project like the Expenses GWT+GAE sample app into your workspace, then click File | Import | Existing maven project and point it to the pom.xml file. Maven will download all the jars and plugins required in the POM, and GPE will configure the project with the GWT and/or App Engine SDKs from the POM. You can then run Maven commands externally or Run As | Web Application in Eclipse.
  9. Testing. Run As | GWT JUnit Test lets you easily run test cases that extend GWTTestCase.
  10. SpeedTracer. You can launch SpeedTracer from within Eclipse. Click the green stopwatch icon on the GPE toolbar. GPE will compile your app, run it, and launch SpeedTracer in Chrome to profile your app.

Haven’t tried it yet? Install Google Plugin for Eclipse now.

See you at PyCon 2011

As many of you may know, Python is one of the official languages here at Google. Guido van Rossum, the creator of Python, is a Googler too—so naturally we’re thrilled to be supporting PyCon 2011 USA, the largest annual gathering for the community using and developing the open-source Python programming language. The PyCon conference days will be March 11th to the 13th, preceded by two tutorial days, March 9th and 10th. For those of you with coding in mind, the Sprints run afterwards from March 14th-17th. All-in-all that’s nine days of Python nirvana!!

In addition to having many Googlers in attendance, some of us will be presenting as well.

• On Wednesday, March 9th at 2 PM, I will be leading a Google App Engine tutorial with fellow teammate Ikai Lan. Tutorials have gotten so popular at PyCon, they’ve now been expanded into a two-day affair!

• On Friday the 11th, the very first day of sessions, App Engine engineer Brett Slatkin will kick things off with his talk, “Creating Complex Data Pipelines in the Cloud” using the new App Engine Pipeline API at 10:25 AM.

• After lunch on Friday, I’ll take my Google hat off momentarily to discuss Python 3 in my talk subtitled “The Next Generation is Here Already” at 1:35 PM. It is mostly a repeat of the well-received talk I gave last year but with updates. The main point is to introduce folks to the next version of the language and discuss how its backwards-incompatibility will affect users, when users should port their apps to Python 3, what the differences from Python 2 are, etc. My job is to calm and soothe, dispelling any FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) about Python 3.

• On Saturday morning at 9:25 AM, Python creator, BDFL, and App Engine engineer Guido van Rossum will do his annual Q&A session for all conference attendees in a fireside chat session.

• Later Saturday morning at 11:05 AM, I’m looking forward to speaking about “Running Django Apps on Google App Engine.” This is exciting for me, not only because it’s a relatively new topic, but it represents a major change for Django developers: being able to write Django apps that run on NoSQL or non-relational databases — it’s been only RDBMSs all this time. Furthermore, with Django-nonrel, you can move Django projects/apps between traditional hosting and App Engine, helping to break that “vendor lock-in” issue that many have had concerns about when hosting apps in the cloud. A good part of my talk does focus on porting apps from App Engine to Django however.

• Right after my talk, at 11:45 AM comes another famous Googler, author of Python in a Nutshell, co-editor of the Python Cookbook, and a long-time member of the Python community, Alex Martelli. Alex’s invited talk on “API Design anti-patterns” will be insightful and cerebral, sure to cause many future hallway discussions.

• Late Saturday afternoon at 4:15 PM, Google engineer Augie Fackler will deliver his talk entitled, “HTTP in Python: which library for what task?” There are many libraries that do HTTP. Which ones should you use and when? What are the benefits and tradeoffs?

• Finally, several members of the Google App Engine team, App Engine forum gurus, and experienced App Engine users are attending PyCon this year. I’m hoping to establish an OpenSpace session one of the conference evenings where we can meet other users, chat about best practices, and do some informal Q&A letting people ask anything they want (except “When will you support newer versions of Python?”). :-)

You can find the entire PyCon schedule online. It’s interactive if you log-in, allowing you to bookmark sessions you’re interested in attending. This will be PyCon’s biggest year yet, so hopefully you can join us in Atlanta next week! Keep an eye out on the PyCon blog to get the latest news, and be sure to follow the Twitter hashtag (#pycon).

We invite you to join Google team members at all our talks, plus stop by our booth to meet our technical staff as they demo select developer tools and APIs. We’ll have handouts there and also encourage you to try a short coding puzzle for a prize!