Removing servletContext from BootStrap.init closure

[gsartori]

Since we can inject ServletContext in BootStrap.groovy I am proposing to cleanup the init closure from this:

class BootStrap {

    def init = { servletContext ->
    }
    def destroy = {
    }
}

to this:

class BootStrap {

    ServletContext servletContext

    def init = {
    }

    def destroy = {
    }

}

Benefits:

• Compatible with the current solution, porting a Grails application requires no init code change
• By itself it documents how to retrieve the ServletContext from other artifacts like Controllers, Services, etc..
• If we are using the IntelliJ COMMUNITY EDITION without the Grails plugin, the IDE will still support code completion on servletContext
• It's cleaner

[matrei]

Would it not be more clean and correct to just add the type to the Closure parameter?

class BootStrap {

    def init = { ServletContext servletContext ->
    }

    def destroy = {
    }
}

[jeffscottbrown]

Maybe @jeffscottbrown has the history why this particular object is injected as a parameter?

I honestly don't remember but in the 100s of Grails apps that I have been involved with I don't think I have ever referenced the servletContext in that context. Of course it is possible I am forgetting one or some, but I wouldn't miss it if weren't there.

[gsartori]

@jeffscottbrown @matrei we are using it to get the contextPath.

My proposal exists not because I don't think it can be useful, but because I don't see the reason to pass, as a variable, an object that is a Singleton (and without altering its state). It is alreday available as something that is "decoupled" but Grails is "wiring" it into a closure call (?!)

So I'm not proposing to remove it, not even to change grails-core, but just the application template. Infact it already works with no changes to Grails.

[jeffscottbrown]

Be aware that I think with code like this if no changes were made to core, while inside of the init closure I think you would have access to 2 references that point to the servletContext, one is the field servletContext and the other is the implicit “it” arg to the closure.

class BootStrap {
    ServletContext servletContext

    def init = {
    }

    def destroy = {
    }
}

[gsartori]

To be honest I've already done the changes to grails-core to avoid passing servletContext to the init closure, if it is fine with everybody I will submit the PR.

[gsartori]

It's a minor thing but I think we should document it in the Grails 7 release notes