Learn to deploy a Java Spring app to Azure App Service and set up a CI/CD workflow using GitHub Actions

GitHub Actions gives you the flexibility to build an automated software development lifecycle workflow. You can write individual tasks ("Actions") and combine them to create a custom workflow. Workflows are configurable automated processes that you can set up in your repository to build, test, package, release, or deploy any project on GitHub.

With GitHub Actions you can build end-to-end continuous integration (CI) and continuous deployment (CD) capabilities directly in your repository.

1. You will need a GitHub account. If you do not have one, you can sign up for free here

2. Microsoft Azure Account: You will need a valid and active Azure account for this lab. If you do not have one, you can sign up for a free trial.

Fork this repo and open the sample app code in VS Code to get started.

Create a Wildfly based web app hosted in Azure by following the guidance in this article: https://github.com/Azure-Samples/app-service-wildfly

We'll use GitHub actions to automate our deployment workflow for this web app.

1. Navigate to the sample CI/CD workflow file workflow.yml in your GitHub repo under .github/workflows/ folder path

2. Modify the values of the environment variables based on your Azure app:

env:
  AZURE_WEBAPP_NAME: your-app-name    # set this to your application's name
  AZURE_WEBAPP_PACKAGE_PATH: '.'      # set this to the path to your web app project, defaults to the repository root
  JAVA_VERSION: '1.8'                # set this to the Java version to use
  AZURE_WEBAPP_PUBLISH_PROFILE: ${{ secrets.AZURE_WEBAPP_PUBLISH_PROFILE }}     # set GH repo secret with the publish profile of the web app

1. In the portal, Overview page, click on "Get publish profile". A publish profile is a kind of deployment credential, useful when you don't own the Azure subscription. Open the downloaded settings file in VS Code and copy the contents of the file.

   

2. We will now add the publish profile as a secret associated with this repo. On the GitHub repository, click on the "Settings" tab.

   

3. Go to "Secrets". Create a new secret called "AZURE_WEBAPP_PUBLISH_PROFILE" and paste the contents from the settings file.

   

4. Once you're done editing the workflow by configuring the required environment variables, click on "Start commit". Committing the file will trigger the workflow.

5. You can go back to the Actions tab, click on your workflow, and see that the workflow is queued or being deployed. Wait for the job to complete successfully.

6. Browse your app by pasting the URL of your Azure web app: https://AZURE_WEBAPP_NAME.azurewebsites.net

7. Make any changes by editing the app contents and commit the changes. Browse to the Actions tab in GitHub to view the live logs of your Action workflow which got triggered with the push of the commit.

8. Once the workflow successfully completes execution, browse back to your website to visualise the new changes you introduced!

• Author : Antonio Goncalves
• Level : Intermediate
• Technologies : Java EE 7 (JPA 2.1, CDI 1.1, Bean Validation 1.1, EJB Lite 3.2, JSF 2.2, JAX-RS 2.0), Java SE 7 (because that's the minimum required by Java EE 7), Twitter Bootstrap (Bootstrap 3.x, JQuery 2.x, PrimeFaces 6.x)
• Application Servers : WildFly 10, WildFly 11
• Summary : A Petstore-like application using Java EE 7

Download the code from GitHub

Do you remember the good old Java Petstore ? It was a sample application created by Sun for its Java BluePrints program. The Java Petstore was designed to illustrate how J2EE (and then Java EE) could be used to develop an eCommerce web application. Yes, the point of the Petstore is to sell pets online. The Petstore had a huge momentum and we started to see plenty of Petstore-like applications flourish. The idea was to build an application with a certain technology. Let's face it, the J2EE version was far too complex using plenty of (today outdated) design patterns. When I wrote my Java EE 5 book back in 2006, I decided to write a Petstore-like application but much simpler. But again, it's out-dated today.

What you have here is another Petstore-like application but using Java EE 7 and all its goodies (CDI, EJB Lite, REST interface). It is based on the Petstore I developed for my Java EE 5 book (sorry, it's written in French). I've updated it based on my Java EE 6 book, and now I'm updating it again so it uses some new features of Java EE 7 described on my Java EE 7 book. The goals of this sample is to :

• use Java EE 7 and just Java EE 7 : no external framework or dependency (except web frameworks or logging APIs)
• make it simple : no complex business algorithm, the point is to bring Java EE 7 technologies together to create an eCommerce website

If you want to use a different web interface, external frameworks, add some sexy alternative JVM language... feel free to fork the code. But the goal of this EE 7 Petstore is to remain simple and to stick to Java EE 7.

The only external framework used are Arquillian, Twitter Bootstrap and PrimeFaces. Arquillian is used for integration testing. Using Maven profile, you can test services, injection, persistence... against different application servers. Twitter Bootstrap and PrimeFaces bring a bit of beauty to the web interface.

Being Maven centric, you can compile and package it without tests using mvn clean compile -Dmaven.test.skip=true, mvn clean package -Dmaven.test.skip=true or mvn clean install -Dmaven.test.skip=true. Once you have your war file, you can deploy it.

Launching tests under WildFly is straight forward. You only have to launch WidlFly and execute the tests using the Maven profile :

mvn clean test -Parquillian-wildfly-remote

Or if you prefer the managed mode :

mvn clean test -Parquillian-wildfly-managed

Once deployed go to the following URL and start buying some pets: http://localhost:8080/applicationPetstore.

The admin REST interface allows you to create/update/remove items in the catalog, orders or customers. You can run the following curl commands :

• curl -X GET http://localhost:8080/applicationPetstore/rest/categories
• curl -X GET http://localhost:8080/applicationPetstore/rest/products
• curl -X GET http://localhost:8080/applicationPetstore/rest/items
• curl -X GET http://localhost:8080/applicationPetstore/rest/countries
• curl -X GET http://localhost:8080/applicationPetstore/rest/customers

You can also get a JSON representation as follow :

• curl -X GET -H "accept: application/json" http://localhost:8080/applicationPetstore/rest/items

Check the Swagger contract on : http://localhost:8080/applicationPetstore/swagger.json

The persistence.xml defines a persistence unit called applicationPetstorePU that uses the default JBoss database :

<jta-data-source>java:jboss/datasources/ExampleDS</jta-data-source>

By default, the application uses the in-memory H2 database. If you log into the WildFly Admin Console, go to http://localhost:9990/console/App.html#profile/datasources;name=ExampleDS and you will see the H2 Driver as well as the Connection URL pointing at the in-memory H2 database jdbc:h2:mem:test;DB_CLOSE_DELAY=-1;DB_CLOSE_ON_EXIT=FALSE

If instead a H2 in-memory database you want to use PostgreSQL, you need to do the following steps.

This good article explains you how.

1. Go to $WILDFLY_HOME/modules/system/layers/base/ and create the folder org/postgresql/main
2. Copy the Postgresql JDBC driver jar file (eg. postgresql-42.1.4.jar) to the new folder $WILDFLY_HOME/modules/system/layers/base/org/postgresql/main
3. Create the file $WILDFLY_HOME/modules/system/layers/base/org/postgresql/main/module.xml with the following content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<module xmlns="urn:jboss:module:1.1" name="org.postgresql">
    <resources>
        <resource-root path="postgresql-42.1.4.jar"/>
    </resources>
    <dependencies>
        <module name="javax.api"/>
        <module name="javax.transaction.api"/>
    </dependencies>
</module>

4. Reference the module as a driver in WildFly configuration

WILDFLY_HOME/bin $ ./jboss-cli.sh
You are disconnected at the moment. Type 'connect' to connect to the server or 'help' for the list of supported commands.
[disconnected /] connect
[standalone@localhost:9990 /] /subsystem=datasources/jdbc-driver=postgresql:add(driver-name=postgresql,driver-module-name=org.postgresql, driver-class-name=org.postgresql.Driver)
{"outcome" => "success"}

In the Wildfly Admin Console check the default datasource ExampleDS. As you can see, it points to an in-memory H2 database. Make the following changes so it points at Postgres:

1. Attribute Tab: Change the driver to postgresql
2. Connection Tab: Change the Connection URL to jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/postgres
3. Security Tab: Change User name to postgres and no password

Once Postgres is up and running, you can hit the button Test Connection. It should be ok.

The easiest is to use the Docker file to start Postgres

$ docker-compose -f src/main/docker/postgresql.yml up -d

When, like me, you have no web designer skills at all and your web pages look ugly, you use Twitter Bootstrap ;o)

I use:

• Font Awesome
• Silk Icons which are in Creative Commons

Arquillian for the integration tests.

Some people who worked on this project :

• Antoine Sabot-Durand
• Brice Leporini
• Hervé Le Morvan

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

This project welcomes contributions and suggestions. Most contributions require you to agree to a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant us the rights to use your contribution. For details, visit https://cla.opensource.microsoft.com.

When you submit a pull request, a CLA bot will automatically determine whether you need to provide a CLA and decorate the PR appropriately (e.g., status check, comment). Simply follow the instructions provided by the bot. You will only need to do this once across all repos using our CLA.

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact [email protected] with any additional questions or comments.