Ballerina is not just a programming language for writing enterprise integrations as programs. It also provides a complete tool chain for developers to make their life easier when developing such services.

1. Senior Lead - Solutions Engineer, WSO2
Exploring Ballerina Toolset
Chanaka Fernando

2. • Test framework
• Document generation
• Composer
• IDE plugins (IDEA, Atom, VS code, Sublime,
Vim)
• Docker support
Ballerina is a complete tool chain
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3. Ballerina test framework
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4. • Test Driven Development (TDD) is here to stay
• Unit testing is not an afterthought
• Why bring in another dependency
• Write tests in Ballerina
• Clients, Back ends, Services all in Ballerina
Ballerina can test itself
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5. • File naming convention to automatically detect tests
• Special command option to run tests from ballerina
CLI
$ ballerina test <package-name>
testPackage
Ballerina unit tests
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hello.bal hello_test.bal

6. Ballerina unit test example
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hello.bal hello_test.bal

7. Document generation
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8. • Keep documentation along with source code
• Generate documentation through CLI
• Use docerina maven plugin to auto generate
from build
• Nicely formatted documentation
Why write documentation
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9. Doc annotations
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public annotation Description {
string value;
}
public annotation Param attach resource, function, connector, action, typemapper {
string value;
}
public annotation Return attach function, action, typemapper {
string value;
}
public annotation Field attach struct {
string value;
}

10. Doc annotations - example
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@Description { value:"Gets the message payload in XML format"}
@Param { value:"req: The request message" }
@Return { value:"xml: The XML representation of the message payload" }
public native function <Request req> getXmlPayload () (xml);

11. Composer
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12. • Visual programming done right
• Sequence diagram metaphor
• Parity between code and visual representation
• Visual/Code/Swagger views
• Complex programs can be modularized
• More details on separate session
Draw integrations with composer
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13. Draw integrations
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14. Split view (Source/Design)
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15. Multiple design views
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16. Run/Debug programs
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17. Try-It
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18. IDE plugins
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19. • Syntax highlighting
• Suggestions
• Ability to run/debug code in Intellij IDEA
• Run main/service programs
Ballerina Intellij IDEA plugin
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20. 20
Ballerina project type in Intellij IDEA

21. Debug ballerina with IDEA
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22. • Visual Studio Code
• Atom
• Sublime Text 3
• Vim
More Ballerina plugins
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23. Docker support
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24. • Pre-built docker base image
• CLI commands to build docker images
Ballerina is container native
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$ ballerina docker hello.bal
$ ballerina docker helloService.balx
create docker image from a file
create docker image for a package

25. • Visit Ballerina website
https://ballerinalang.org/
• Start with examples
https://ballerinalang.org/docs/by-example/
• Contribute
https://github.com/ballerinalang
Download and getting started
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26. wso2.com
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