site/src/site/releasenotes/groovy-2.5.adoc

(Material on this page is still under development!)

[[Groovy2.5releasenotes-Macros]]
== Macro support
With Groovy 2.5, you can write macros in Groovy!

Details: TBD

[[Groovy2.5releasenotes-NewAstTransforms]]
== New AST Transformations

* `@MapConstructor` adds a `Map`-based constructor to a class. This allows a usage
style similar to Groovy's named parameters but doesn't use the no-arg constructor
and then call setters. This may be useful if you have final properties or wish the
 class file to have the `Map` constructor for integration purposes
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7353[GROOVY-7353]).
* `@AutoImplement` allows you to provide dummy implementations of any abstract
methods that might be inherited from super classes or interfaces
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7860[GROOVY-7860]).

[[Groovy2.5releasenotes-AstTransformImprovements]]
== AST Transformation improvements

* `@Canonical` becomes a meta-annotation allowing more flexible usage of the annotation attributes
from its constituent annotations
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-6319[GROOVY-6319]).
* `@Immutable` now supports Java's `Optional` container class
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7600[GROOVY-7600])
and handles inheritance hierarchies
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7162[GROOVY-7162]).
* `@Delegate` can now be used on getters
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7769[GROOVY-7769]).
* `@TupleConstructor` now supports `pre` and `post` closure conditions to match the functionality provided by `@MapConstructor`
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7769[GROOVY-7769]).
* `@TupleConstructor` and `@Builder` should be able to use defined setters rather than the field directly
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7087[GROOVY-7087]).
* Most annotations check property and field names provided to annotation attributes
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7087[GROOVY-7087]).

[[Groovy2.5releasenotes-Toolimprovements]]
== Tool improvements

Some improvements were made to Groovysh shell and the Groovy Console:

* `groovysh` should offer easier access to grapes
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-6514[GROOVY-6514]).
* `groovyconsole` now provides an ASMifier tab within the AstBrowser
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-8091[GROOVY-8091]).

[[Groovy2.5releasenotes-OtherImprovements]]
== Other improvements

* Groovy's CliBuilder now supports annotation style definitions
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7825[GROOVY-7825]).
* Alternative to `with` called `tap` that has an implicit `return delegate`
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-3976[GROOVY-3976]).
* Various JSON customization options are now supported
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-3976[GROOVY-6975] and
link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-3976[GROOVY-6854]).
* Method parameter names are now accessible at runtime
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7423[GROOVY-7423]).

[[Groovy2.5releasenotes-Breakingchanges]]
== Breaking changes

A few issues fixed might also be considered breaking changes in some
situations:

* @TupleConstructor could use the order of properties listed in 'includes' when that option is used
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-8016[GROOVY-8016])
* @ToString could output properties in a predefined order when 'includes' is used
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-8014[GROOVY-8014])
* AstNodeToScriptAdapter should output source using the recommended modifier order
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7967[GROOVY-7967])
* ObjectRange iterator returns null instead of NoSuchElementException
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7961[GROOVY-7961])
* IntRange iterator returns null instead of NoSuchElementException
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7960[GROOVY-7960])
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7937[GROOVY-7937])
* o.c.g.r.t.DefaultTypeTransformation does not apply the right toString on primitive arrays when transforming to String
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7853[GROOVY-7853])
* Remove synchronized methods of groovy.sql.Sql and document it as not thread-safe
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7673[GROOVY-7673])
* InvokerHelper formatting methods have inconsistent API
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7563[GROOVY-7563])
* Fix up transforms (apart from TupleConstructor) which are affected by empty includes default
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7529[GROOVY-7529])
* TupleConstructor with empty includes includes all
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7523[GROOVY-7523])
* TupleConstructor overwrites empty default constructors
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7522[GROOVY-7522])
* ResourceGroovyMethods/NioGroovyMethods BOM behavior is inconsistent
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7465[GROOVY-7465])
* API inconsistency between takeWhile, dropWhile and collectReplacements for CharSequences
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7433[GROOVY-7433])
* @ToString could support non-field properties
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-7394[GROOVY-7394])
* same linkedlist code different behavior between groovy and java
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-6396[GROOVY-6396])
* CLONE - same linkedlist code different behavior between groovy and java (fix priority of DGM methods vs actual methods on an object)
* Accessing private methods from public ones using categories and inheritance causes MissingMethodException
(link:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GROOVY-6263[GROOVY-6263])

[[Groovy2.5releasenotes-JDKrequirements]]
== JDK requirements changes

Groovy 2.5 requires JDK7+ to build and JDK7 is the minimum version of the JRE that we support.

[[Groovy2.5releasenotes-Moreinformation]]
== More information

You can browse all the link:../changelogs/changelog-2.5.0.html[tickets closed for Groovy 2.5 in JIRA].