Across platform is collection of modules for bootstrapping your web application
Learn moreAcross Framework helps Java developers build modular web applications using Spring
Learn more
Across Platform is a set of Across modules that help developers assemble applications.
The Across Initializr can generate a Maven project
with
Across Platform for you.
A web frontend kick-started with Thymeleaf server templates and sample controllers.
Optionally include some Web CMS features.
A web based CRUD application for managing your Spring Data backed entities.
Optionally include a simple user domain model.
Choose the option that you prefer to get started with Across Framework or Platform.
Yes. Across Framework as well as all modules built by the same team are published under the Apache 2.0 license. The source code can be found on the Foreach Bitbucket space.
You need a good grasp of Java (8) and Spring Framework. Spring MVC experience is strongly advised, and some Spring Boot knowledge might be helpful.
At the very least you should be familiar with Spring’s approach for dependency injection, the ApplicationContext and java-based configuration.
Other commonly used libraries that are useful to know are Hibernate, Spring Data, Liquibase and Thymeleaf.
Across builds much more on top of Spring Framework than on Spring Boot. Across applications execute as a Spring Boot application and use some features provided by Spring Boot (like embedded webserver, YAML configuration and devtools).
Auto-configuration, however, is not supported, which means simply adding a starter to your project will not be enough. Many available configuration classes from Spring Boot will also not work in an Across application, because they are setup for a single ApplicationContext, whereas Across uses a different hierarchy.
See the across-autoconfigure documentation for the list of supported starters, and more information on how to make others compatible.
There is often no actual limitation to using the starter libraries, but some effort might be required to get the right configuration. We can offer commercial support for this if required.
Across builds on top of Spring framework and tries to stay as compatible as possible. However, there are some very important differences regarding the ApplicationContext hierarchy, bean/module ordering and event handling.
Yes, you can, but please be aware that Across is actually better suited for developing modular monoliths and does not necessarily bring much added value for small applications often representing a single module.
The Spring Boot and Spring Cloud communities are very active when it comes to microservices and most of their features have not yet been tested in Across based applications. It might involve some more in-depth technical work to get things working correctly. We can offer commercial support for this if required.
In future releases of Across we expect to improve the out-of-the-box integration with Spring Boot and Spring Cloud libraries.
