AWS AppConfig Java Sample

V2-2024

Overview

This project is a demo of Amazon Q Developer agent for Code Transformation. This is a Java 1.8 based microservice application which displays free list of movies for the month based on configuration stored in AWS AppConfig service using AWS SDK. This application was first open sourced in 2020 and uses legacy versions of libraries such as Spring Boot 2.x, Log4j 2.13.x, Mockito 1.x, Javax and Junit 4.

The Amazon Q Developer Agent for Code Transformation can upgrade the JDK version along with dependencies and associated code changes. You can JetBrains/Visual Studio Code or Command line interface for upgrades. Amazon Q first builds your code in the source language version and verifies that it has the information necessary to transform your code. After Amazon Q successfully transforms your code, you verify and accept the changes in your integrated development environment (IDE)/CLI. Currently, Amazon Q can upgrade Java 8 and Java 11 code to Java 17/21 code.

Refer to following blog posts for additional information

1. https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/devops/three-ways-amazon-q-developer-agent-for-code-transformation-accelerates-java-upgrades/
2. https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/devops/using-amazon-q-developer-cli-for-custom-java-application-transformations/
3. https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/devops/amazon-q-developer-java-upgrades-a-deep-dive-into-new-selective-transformation-feature

CI/CD Pipeline Configuration

In preparation for Amazon Q Developer code transformation, this project includes pre-configured CI/CD pipelines that automatically adapt to both Java 8 (pre-transformation) and Java 17 (post-transformation) code. These pipelines ensure your build process works seamlessly before, during, and after the Q Developer transformation process:

GitHub Actions Workflow

The .github/workflows/q-code-transformation.yml file provides:

• Dynamic Java version detection based on commit messages
• Automatic dependency installation for the movie-service-utils library
• Build verification and dependency artifact generation
• Q Developer integration for code transformation workflows

Usage:

1. Push code to branches matching Q-TRANSFORM-issue-* pattern
2. The workflow automatically detects Java version and uses appropriate runtime
3. Artifacts are generated for Q Developer transformation process

GitLab CI Configuration

The .gitlab-ci.yml file provides:

• Intelligent Java version detection by scanning pom.xml content
• Dynamic Maven image selection (Java 8 or Java 17)
• Complete build pipeline with compile, test, and package stages
• Docker containerization with Kaniko
• Q Developer transformation support with required artifacts

Pipeline Stages:

1. detect-java-version: Scans pom.xml and sets appropriate Maven image
2. install-dependency: Installs first-party movie-service-utils JAR
3. build: Compiles the application using detected Java version
4. test: Runs unit tests with JUnit reporting
5. package: Creates Docker image with version-appropriate base image
6. q-code-transformation: Generates dependencies for Q Developer (pre-transformation only)

Key Features:

• Pre-transformation: Uses Java 8 with Maven 3.8 for legacy code
• Post-transformation: Automatically switches to Java 17 with compatible Maven version
• Artifact optimization: Prevents upload size errors while maintaining functionality
• Q Developer compatibility: Provides required job structure and artifacts

Branch Patterns:

• Regular branches: Run standard build, test, and package pipeline
• q/transform-* branches: Include Q Developer transformation job for pre-transformation builds

Getting Started with CI/CD

1. For GitHub: Push to a branch matching Q-TRANSFORM-issue-*
2. For GitLab: Push to any branch (regular pipeline) or q/transform-* (with Q transformation)
3. Monitor builds: Check pipeline status in respective CI/CD interface
4. Artifacts: Download generated dependencies or Docker images as needed

Both pipelines are designed to work seamlessly with Amazon Q Developer's code transformation process while providing robust build and deployment capabilities.

Installation Instructions

Dependencies Setup

Before building the application, you need to install the movie-service-utils dependency in your local Maven repository. This utility library is available in two versions to support different Java versions:

For Java 1.8 Version

mvn install:install-file \
  -Dfile=./movie-service-utils/built-library/0_1_0/movie-service-utils-0.1.0.jar \
  -DgroupId=com.amazonaws.samples \
  -DartifactId=movie-service-utils \
  -Dversion=0.1.0 \
  -Dpackaging=jar

For Java 17 Version

mvn install:install-file \
  -Dfile=./movie-service-utils/built-library/0_2_0/movie-service-utils-0.2.0.jar \
  -DgroupId=com.amazonaws.samples \
  -DartifactId=movie-service-utils \
  -Dversion=0.2.0 \
  -Dpackaging=jar

For Java 21 Version

mvn install:install-file \
  -Dfile=./movie-service-utils/built-library/0_3_0/movie-service-utils-0.3.0.jar \
  -DgroupId=com.amazonaws.samples \
  -DartifactId=movie-service-utils \
  -Dversion=0.3.0 \
  -Dpackaging=jar

Local

1. Compile the application in Local IDE
2. Follow the STEP 1 in AWS section below to set up AppConfig Configuration in your default AWS account profile
3. Open a browser and go to http://localhost:8080/movies/getMovies
4. You should be able to see list of paid movies

AWS

STEP 1: Create application, environments and configuration profile in AWS AppConfig

1. Open the AWS Systems Manager console.
2. In the left navigation pane, choose AWS AppConfig and click Get Started
3. If the AWS AppConfig welcome page appears, click Create application on the left navigation.
4. For Name, enter a name for the application. (MyContainerApplication) You can add an optional description and apply tags to the application. Choose Create application.
5. After the application is created, you are directed to a page with Environments and Configuration Profiles Choose Create environment, and then enter a name (MyContainerApplicationProductionEnvironment) and optional description for the environment. You can also optionally add tags and configure Amazon CloudWatch alarms for this environment.
6. In the top navigation, choose the application name, and on the Configuration Profiles and Feature flags tab, choose Create configuration profile and Freeform configuration.
7. Enter a name (MyContainerApplicationConfigurationProfile) and optional description for the configuration profile.
8. Under Configuration source, choose AWS AppConfig hosted configuration.Under Content, choose JSON, paste the following content, and then choose Next.

    {
  "movies": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "movieName": "The Shawshank Redemption"
    },
    {
      "id": 2,
      "movieName": "City of God"
    },
    {
      "id": 3,
      "movieName": "Memento"
    },
    {
      "id": 4,
      "movieName": "The Intouchables"
    },
    {
      "id": 5,
      "movieName": "Stardust"
    },
    {
      "id": 6,
      "movieName": "Apocalypto"
    },
    {
      "id": 7,
      "movieName": "Taxi Driver"
    },
    {
      "id": 8,
      "movieName": "No Country for Old Men"
    },
    {
      "id": 9,
      "movieName": "Planet 51"
    },
    {
      "id": 10,
      "movieName": "The Beach"
    }
  ]
}

9. (Optional) You can add validators to validate the configuration. For information, check about validators in the AWS AppConfig documentation.
10. Choose Create configuration profile.
11. Choose Start deployment.
12. Choose the environment, hosted configuration version, deployment strategy, and an optional description to start the deployment process.
13. To create a custom deployment strategy, choose Create Deployment Strategy. Or choose one of the predefined deployment strategies provided by AWS AppConfig. For more information, check creating a deployment strategy in the AWS AppConfig documentation. For the purposes of this post, we chose the AppConfig.Linear50PercentEvery30Seconds deployment strategy.

Note: Depending on the deployment strategy you selected, this operation might take few minutes to complete. The configuration is available to the application as soon as the deployment state is Complete.

**V1 - 2020 **

Note: Use this version only if you want to try out AppConnfig related features.

Overview

This is a demo of the AWS AppConfig Java application as explained in the blog post Application configuration deployment to container workloads using AWS AppConfig. This demo shows how to integrate a Java Microservices application with AWS AppConfig service along with implementing an in-memory cache to efficiently manage the application configuration.

AWS AppConfig helps AWS customers to quickly roll out application configurations across applications hosted on EC2 instances, containers, AWS Lambda, mobile apps, IoT devices, and on-premise servers in a validated, controlled and monitored way.

This sample code explains

1. How to separate application configuration from application code for a containerized application.
2. Use AWS AppConfig to manage and deploy the application configuration.
3. How to automate and efficiently manage application configurations in a containerized application.

This demo uses Cloudformation templates to deploy an Amazon Elastic Container Service Cluster and a AWS Fargate Task. Users would clone this repository, build a docker image and push to Amazon Elastic Container Registry and interact with the AWS AppConfig Service.

This application has a Caching layer built in to cache the responses from AWS AppConfig Service. The Subsequent calls to fetch the configuration value checks the cache first and returns the response from the cache. If the cache is empty, then it makes a call to AWS AppConfig API to fetch the value. The Cache expiry is based on TTL set in properties.

Installation Instructions

For Java 1.8 Version

mvn install:install-file \
  -Dfile=./movie-service-utils/built-library/0_1_0/movie-service-utils-0.1.0.jar \
  -DgroupId=com.amazonaws.samples \
  -DartifactId=movie-service-utils \
  -Dversion=0.1.0 \
  -Dpackaging=jar

For Java 17 Version

mvn install:install-file \
  -Dfile=./movie-service-utils/built-library/0_2_0/movie-service-utils-0.2.0.jar \
  -DgroupId=com.amazonaws.samples \
  -DartifactId=movie-service-utils \
  -Dversion=0.2.0 \
  -Dpackaging=jar

For Java 21 Version

mvn install:install-file \
  -Dfile=./movie-service-utils/built-library/0_3_0/movie-service-utils-0.3.0.jar \
  -DgroupId=com.amazonaws.samples \
  -DartifactId=movie-service-utils \
  -Dversion=0.3.0 \
  -Dpackaging=jar

Local

1. Compile the application in Local IDE
2. Follow the STEP 1 in AWS section below to set up AppConfig Configuration in your default AWS account profile
3. Open a browser and go to http://localhost:8080/movies/getMovies
4. You should be able to see list of paid movies

AWS

**STEP 1: Create application, environm