Google Checkout API Java SDK released

Posted by Patrick Chanezon, Google Checkout Team

"Plan to throw one away; you will anyway", Fred Brooks, The Mythical Man-Month

In May, we released Java sample code for the Google Checkout API that simplified integration and had no dependency on JDK version. Today we're releasing the final update of that sample code, including bug fixes and new API features--you can download it here.

In addition to the final update for the Java sample code, we're simultaneously releasing the new Google Checkout API Java SDK. The SDK is a replacement for the sample code and will be the focus of our future development. We're doing this because while extending the sample code was simple, it required modifying the sample servlet in order to specify your own handlers. This made including the sample code in your application, as well as upgrading to a new version, not at all straightforward.

The SDK solves these issues: it provides a binary dependency that includes parsers, generators, servlets and default demo handlers, as well as a sample web.xml, and a new configuration file, checkout-config.xml, to specify your handlers for callbacks and notifications declaratively. With the SDK, enabling Google Checkout in your application is just a matter of dropping a jar in WEB-INF/lib, pasting a few lines in your web.xml, and copying checkout-config.xml to WEB-INF--as described in the documentation.

The previous sample web application, and new ones, will live in the samples directory of the new open source project.
Developers who are using the sample code are advised to migrate their application to the SDK, since all future development will be focused on the SDK: it should amount to a small straightforward refactoring that is described in the documentation.

As with the sample code, the SDK is a Community-supported open source project. We intend to release a minor update with bug-fixes every two months or so. If you need a bug-fix urgently and can not wait for the update release, you have two options:

1. Modify the source-code available under the project/ directory of your SDK bundle and build a new library for your use. The project/ directory is setup to be an Eclipse as well as a NetBeans project.
2. Download the source-code from the subversion repository and build a release yourself. Here are the instructions on how to download and build the project from Eclipse.

You are welcome to log any bugs or suggested bug-fixes under the Issues page.

We hope that this SDK will help you implement Google Checkout even more easily in your applications, and will ease the maintenance of your application as we add new features to the API and the SDK. As alway, please let us know what you think in the comments.

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