Installation

• in command prompt, under your project directory

  grails install-plugin console

• access the console under ${contextPath}/console, e.g. http://localhost:8080/consoleDemo/console

Usage

• Run your web application using grails run-app, then use a browser to navigate to the /console page of your app - most likely http://localhost:8080/<app-name>/console
• Type any Groovy commands in the console text area, then press "Execute"
• Keyboard Shortcuts:
• Ctrl + Enter - Execute
• Esc - Clear output
• The following implicit variables are available:
• grailsApplication - GrailsApplication instance, e.g.

grailsApplication.domainClasses.each {
   println "There are ${it.clazz.count()} instances of $it.clazz.simpleName"
}

• ctx - Spring ApplicationContext, e.g.

import groovy.sql.Sql
def dataSource = ctx.dataSource
def sql = Sql.newInstance(dataSource)
sql.eachRow("select * from information_schema.system_tables", {
   println it.TABLE_NAME
})

• session - the current HTTP session

session.attributeNames.each { name ->
   println name.padRight(40) + session.getAttribute(name)
}

• request - the current HTTP request, e.g.

def params = ['requestURI', 'requestURL', 'forwardURI']
params.each {
   println it + "\t" + request."$it"
}

• config - the current Grails config, e.g.

config.flatten().each { name, value ->
   println name.padRight(40) + value
}

• Result Area
• The results area displays the output of println statements and the return value of the last line executed (in blue).
• Exceptions are also shown in the results area but with a red background
• Additionally the execution time of your script is shown along with the output or exception

Concepts

• The console plugin relies on Groovy Shell. Lookup Groovy Shell documentation for more information.
• The Groovy Shell uses the Grails classloader, so you can access any class or artifact (e.g. domain classes, services, etc.) just like in your application code.

Security Warning

• IMPORTANT In the current version, no security feature is implemented and the '/console' path is accessible from anywhere. You're strongly encouraged to guard access to the console using a security plugin, for example Spring Security Core or Shiro.

Reference

• The code editor is powered by CodeMirror

Development

• The source code for the plugin is available at https://github.com/burtbeckwith/grails-console

Questions, issues, etc.

• If have questions or suggestions about the plugin, ask on the Grails User mailing list. Report bugs in JIRA.

Authors

• Siegfried Puchbauer
• Mingfai Ma
• Burt Beckwith
• Matt Sheehan
• Mike Hugo