Introduction

Welcome to the Grails documentation, this documentation is as up-to-date as possible, but if you find any inconsistency or gaps in the documentation please don't hesitate to report it to the Mailing Lists or update it yourself via the Wiki.

The Background

The rise of Ruby on Rails has signified a huge shift in how we build web applications today, it is a fantastic framework with a growing community. There is, however, space for another such framework that integrates seamless with Java. Thousands of companies have invested in Java and these same companies are losing out on the benefits of a Rails-like framework. Enter Grails.

The Elevator Pitch

Grails is not just a Rails clone, it aims to provide a Rails-like environment that is more familiar to Java developers and that uses idioms that Java developers are more familiar with making the adjustment in mentality to a dynamic framework less of a jump. The concepts within Grails like interceptors, tag libs, Groovy Server Pages (GSP) make those in the Java community feel right at home.

The Additional Power

Grails' foundation on solid Open Source technologies such as Spring, Hibernate and SiteMesh give it even more potential in the Java space with Spring providing powerful inversion of control and MVC, Hibernate - stable and mature object relational mapping technology with the ability to integrate with legacy systems and SiteMesh - flexible layout control and page decoration.

Grails complements these with additional features taking advantage of the coding by convention paradigm such as:

• Dynamic Tag Libraries
• Grails Object Relational Mapping
• Groovy Server Pages
• Scaffolding

To get started now Download Grails, Install it and Try it!