Project Helidon ready for prime time: With 1.0 comes greater API stability

Project Helidon was announced six months ago but this new open source Java microservices framework has already started taking shape. Version 0.11.0 was released last month and now the project is ready for prime time!

Version 1.0 brings much greater API stability now that the team has finished the API changes they’ve been working on over the past few months. When version 0.11.0 was announced, one of the biggest highlights was that the team had made some API changes in preparation for 1.0, so when you upgraded to 0.11.0, you had to make changes to your application.

If you are upgrading from 0.11.0, keep in mind that media support has moved to a top level media component, which means you might have to change your dependencies and Java imports. For more details about the API changes, read this wiki.

If you are upgrading from 0.10.5 or earlier, you’ll probably need to change your application due to a number of API changes that were made since then.

Last but not least, Helidon 1.0 supports MicroProfile 1.2 with updated versions of the components.

For more information about improvements and fixes, check out the release notes.

Project Helidon overview

Project Helidon (which means swallow in Greek) is meant to make the experience of building microservices more pleasant – you could, of course, use Java EE for that but when there’s a framework readily available, why not use it?

We wanted to create a lightweight set of libraries that didn’t require an application server and could be used in Java SE applications. These libraries could be used separately from each other, but when used together would provide everything a developer needs to create a microservice: configuration, security, and a web server.

– Dmitry Kornilov

SEE ALSO: “If you’re a Java developer and you’re writing microservices, Helidon is a great choice”

Features

Simple & fast

It’s easy to use Helidon; since the project is a collection of libraries running on a fast Netty core, you won’t have to worry about extra overhead or bloat.

Reactive WebServer

Helidon Reactive WebServer is lightweight, flexible and reactive and acts as a simple to use -not to mention fast- foundation for your microservices.

Observable and resilient

If writing cloud-ready applications that integrate with Prometheus, Zipkin and Kubernetes is what you want, then Helidon is the right project for you. Did we mention that it offers support for health checks, metrics, tracing and fault tolerance?

MicroProfile support

Helidon supports MicroProfile and provides familiar APIs like JAX-RS, CDI and JSON-P/B. The MicroProfile implementation runs on Helidon Reactive WebServer.

The foundation of Helidon is composed of three elements:

• WebServer: A programmatic HTTP API with reactive features, powered by Netty.
• Config: A flexible configuration framework with support for multiple sources and formats
• Security: A tool-chain to handle authentication, authorization and context propagation.

Users can choose from one of two programming models:

• Helidon SE: a functional programming style that uses the Helidon WebServer, Config and Security APIs directly. This way, you’ll have full transparency and control. JDK is used as runtime.
• Helidon MP is more declarative and supports the MicroProfile family of APIs. If you’re a Java EE/Jakarta EE developer, you should be familiar with this model.

Have a look at the quickstart examples before you get started with either of the two programming models and don’t forget to read our interview with Dmitry Kornilov.

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