Scala + Eclipse + WebServer = A web app

Question

I want to develop a rather simple web application in Scala, with Lift or Play framework, using Eclipse as an environment and some simple webserver like Jetty. However, to my inexpressibly great surprise, I cannot setup the whole thing to work together. I also could not find any sensible simple and clear guide on how to do this. After a half day of searching, I came to an opinion that everyone around seem to use a mix of sbt/maven and feel it ok migrating from one to another and writing project config files manually just to get a simple blank project to begin with.

There is no plain simple way to create even an empty project. With Java I remember that it was a couple of clicks - to integrate a webserver into Eclipse, create a simple web app project and run it right from there. Where had gone the power and simplicity of Scala in this case? And that's only if I want to try Lift. What if I would like to try Play also, should I travel the same path again?

Is there anywhere a simple and complete guide that describes how to setup the environment so that it is possible to start developing the apps right away?

UPDATE: I have reached a successful Play project integration with Eclipse, with all the capabilities that Play has out-of-the-box, thanks to the advice of Peter Gwiazda. I am using this setup for developing right now. However, my question of interest remains: what are other ways to acheive similar functionality with other frameworks such as Lift, Scalatra and others?

Answer 1

With Playframework 2.0 it's pretty simple. Just follow the tutorial http://www.playframework.org/documentation/2.0/ScalaTodoList

With Play you don't need anything else - Play already contains a server.

IMHO Play is way easier to work with than Lift.

Answer 2

EDIT
OK, you asked for it ;-)

Here's a bleeding edge setup for Scalatra with SBT Coffeescript & LESS (see HERE for SBT-Eclipse dependency management)

1) eclipsify a test project

2) in project root create "build.sbt" file:

import AssemblyKeys._
import Keys._

name := "your project name"

version := "1.0"

scalaVersion := "2.9.1"

fork in run := true 

resolvers ++= Seq(
  "Sonatype OSS Snapshots" at "http://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots/",
  "Typesafe repository" at "http://typesafe.artifactoryonline.com/typesafe/ivy-releases/"
) 

seq(webSettings :_*)

seq(assemblySettings: _*)

seq(coffeeSettings: _*)

seq(lessSettings:_*)

(LessKeys.mini in (Compile, LessKeys.less)) := false

libraryDependencies ++= Seq(
  "org.scalatra"    %% "scalatra"   % "2.1.0-SNAPSHOT",
  "org.scalatra"    %% "scalatra-scalate"   % "2.1.0-SNAPSHOT",
  "org.scalatra"    %% "scalatra-lift-json"     % "2.1.0-SNAPSHOT",
  "org.scalatra"    %% "scalatra-anti-xml"  % "2.1.0-SNAPSHOT",
  "org.scalatra"    %% "scalatra-fileupload"    % "2.1.0-SNAPSHOT",
  "org.eclipse.jetty" % "jetty-webapp" % "8.1.0.RC2" % "test;container;provided",
  "javax.servlet"   % "javax.servlet-api" % "3.0.1" % "provided"
)

unmanagedBase <<= baseDirectory { base => base / "/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/lib/" }

3) create folder "project" in root with plugins.sbt file:

libraryDependencies <+= sbtVersion(v => "com.github.siasia" %% "xsbt-web-plugin" % (v+"-0.2.10"))

resolvers += Resolver.url("sbt-plugin-releases", new URL("http://scalasbt.artifactoryonline.com/scalasbt/sbt-plugin-releases/"))(Resolver.ivyStylePatterns)

addSbtPlugin("com.typesafe.sbteclipse" % "sbteclipse-plugin" % "2.0.0-M3")

addSbtPlugin("com.eed3si9n" % "sbt-assembly" % "0.7.2")

addSbtPlugin("me.lessis" % "coffeescripted-sbt" % "0.2.2")

addSbtPlugin("me.lessis" % "less-sbt" % "0.1.9")

4) from terminal/command prompt start sbt & enable code reloading:

# sbt
> ~;container:start;container:reload /

Open up the Scalatra Book and start hacking ;-)

ORIGINAL
Have to mention it, but a micro framework a la Scalatra, Spray, or Unfiltered might be of interest as well.

That is, if you're not looking for the kitchen sink that Lift and Play provide; if you are looking for the kitchen sink and want to get rolling quickly, Play 2.0 does indeed look quite nice.

Answer 3

Disclaimer: I'm a member of the Vaadin team.

You could also try out Vaadin which works perfectly with Scala, HOWTO here. You can also use Maven or SBT if you want. You should also check out Scaladin, the semi-official Scala wrapper for Vaadin.

Vaadin is a component based library (just one JAR with no dependencies) and it allows you to create your Ajax and HTML5 enabled UI in pure Scala without any HTML templates, RPC, XML or JavaScript.