B4J Tutorial Pakai framework v6

aeric · 2025-11-11T15:36:36+0000

Part #2: Server Configuration

The server configuration is handled by EndsMeet library.

The server is initialized with some default settings.
The server settings can be modified by calling:
B4X:
```
App.LoadConfig
```
This will create a config.ini file inside the Objects folder when the server starts.
You can open the file using any text editor and update the settings.
Line begins with # is disabled.
B4X:
```
#API_VERSIONING=True
```
All the key-values in config.ini file are read into a global map object name ctx in Main module.
By default, some of these keys such as port and ssl settings are no longer required and removed when the server starts.
Please note that not all settings can be changed using the config.ini

App constants

APP_TITLE
Set the title for the browser tab
APP_TRADEMARK
Set the name beside the logo on navigation bar
APP_COPYRIGHT
Set the copyright text at the footer
HOME_TITLE
Set the title appearing on home page
ROOT_URL
default: http://127.0.0.1
Set the server URL appears in html especially for loading asset files. Use a domain name during production.
ROOT_PATH
default: <empty>
You can set to the value to other name e.g /web

Server settings

PORT
default: 8080
Set the server port. Make sure the port number is not used by another service or blocked by the firewall.
REDIRECT_TO_HTTPS
default: False
Force the server redirect to SSL port and use HTTPS protocol

SSL settings

During development, you can use CMD to call keytool in the JDK path to generate a self signed keystore file.
Put this file in Objects folder and leave the SSL_KEYSTORE_DIR setting as <empty>.
During production, you can use a real certificate or generate one using LetsEncrypt.

SSL_ENABLED
default: False
SSL_PORT
default: 0
Set SSL port to use HTTPS protocol. This is recommended in production.
SSL_KEYSTORE_DIR
default: <empty>
Set directory where the SSL keystore is located
SSL_KEYSTORE_FILE
default: <empty>
Set the keystore file name
SSL_KEYSTORE_PASSWORD
default: <empty>
Set the keystore password

API settings

API is now optional in Pakai framework v6.00
If you want to integrate API into your server, you need to add WebApiUtils library into your project.

API_NAME
default: api
API_VERSIONING
default: False
If set to True, you need to handle the uri elements in Api handlers.
API_VERBOSE_MODE
default: True
Set the API response in verbose format
API_ORDERED_KEYS
default: True
Set whether the generated API response keys follow specified order

Set Configuration Programmatically

There are other settings available in EndsMeet class that can be set without using config file.
You can set their values after initialized the App object.
Here are the available settings in EndsMeet class that can be overridden:

ApiSettings (api)

- Name

- Versioning

- PayloadType

- ContentType

- EnableHelp

- VerboseMode

- OrderedKeys

SslSettings (ssl)

- Enabled

- Port

- KeystoreDir

- KeystoreFile

- KeystorePassword

CorsSettings (cors)

- Enabled

- Path

- Settings

EmailSettings (email)

- SmtpUserName

- SmtpPassword

- SmtpServer

- SmtpUseSsl

- SmtpPort

StaticFilesSettings (staticfiles)

- Folder

- Browsable

By default, Payload and ContentType are set to application/json for API settings
This is how to set the values:

B4X:

App.api.ContentType = "application/xml"
' or use WebApiUtils constants
App.api.ContentType = WebApiUtils.MIME_TYPE_XML

aeric · 2025-11-11T15:48:18+0000

Part #3: Database Configuration

The database configuration is handled by Database class.

In Pakai framework, we use MiniORMUtils to simplify connectivity between database backend.
MiniORMUtils is currently supporting SQLite, MariaDB and MySQL database.
The server settings is set by selecting the Build Configurations from B4J IDE dropdown menu.
By default, SQLite is used especially during development.
A config file with the database type is generated when you compile the project.
For example, the config file for SQLite will look like this:
sqlite.ini:
```
## SQLite configuration:

DbType=SQLite
DbDir=
DbFile=pakai.db
```
You can change the DbFile as you like e.g app.sqlite
You can leave DbDir as <empty> to store the file inside Objects directory.
During production, if you leave the value as empty, it means same location of the jar file.
If you want to save the file in a different location, you need to set it using forward slash or escape character e.g C:/app/db or C:\\app\\db

SQLite

DbType
Indicate the type of database
DbFile
Set the database file name
DbDir
Default: <empty>
Set the directory of database

MariaDB / MySQL

DbType
Indicate the type of database
DbName
Set the name of database
DbHost
Set the server name or IP of database
DbPort
default: 3306
Set the server port of database
DriverClass
Set the driver class of database
JdbcUrl
Set the jdbc url of database
User
Set the user name of database
Password
Set the user password of database
MaxPoolSize
Set the server maximum pool size

aeric · 2025-11-11T16:29:12+0000

Part #4: Routing Server Handler

EndsMeet has 4 http methods available:

Get
Post
Put
Delete

Each route needs to match the handler class correctly.

B4X:

App.Get("", "ProductsHandler")
App.Get("/categories", "CategoriesHandler")

In version 1.60, Rest sub is added to consolidate all 4 http methods into one.

B4X:

App.Rest("/api/products/*", "ProductsHandler")
App.Rest("/api/categories/*", "CategoriesHandler")

If we are not building an API server, we can write a simple If-Else to check and call the sub to output the html back to HTMX on the frontend.
We don't need to separate Web and API handlers. Hence, no need to follow conventions like in previous versions.

Here is what our server handler looks like in Pakai v6.00

B4X:

Sub Handle (req As ServletRequest, resp As ServletResponse)
    Request = req
    Response = resp
    Method = req.Method
    Log($"${Request.Method}: ${Request.RequestURI}"$)
    Dim path As String = req.RequestURI
    If path = "/categories" Then
        RenderPage
    Else If path = "/api/categories/table" Then
        HandleTable
    Else If path = "/api/categories/add" Then
        HandleAddModal
    Else If path.StartsWith("/api/categories/edit/") Then
        HandleEditModal
    Else If path.StartsWith("/api/categories/delete/") Then
        HandleDeleteModal
    Else
        HandleCategories
    End If
End Sub

aeric · 2025-11-11T16:41:22+0000

I will write separate tutorials for using MiniHtml and MiniORMUtils on Pakai framework v6

B4J Tutorial Pakai framework v6

aeric

Expert

aeric

Expert

aeric

Expert

aeric

Expert