PlayConsole

Using the Play 2.0 console

Launching the console

The Play 2.0 console is a development console based on sbt that allow you to manage the complete development cycle of a Play application.

To launch the console, enter any existing application directory and run the play script:

$ cd /path/to/any/application
$ play 

console.png

Getting help

Use the help command to get basic help about the available commands:

[My first application] $ help

Running the server in development mode

To run the current application in development mode, use the run command:

[My first application] $ run

consoleRun.png

In this mode, the server will be launched with the auto-reload feature enabled, meaning that for each request Play will check your project and recompile required sources. If needed the application will restart automatically.

If there are any compilation errors you will see the result of the compilation directly in your browser:

errorPage.png

To stop the server, you can press the Crtl+D key, and you will be returned to the Play console prompt.

Compiling

In Play 2.0 you can also compile your application without running the server. Just use the compile command:

[My first application] $ compile

consoleCompile.png

Launch the interactive console

Typing console you can enter the interactive Scala console, allowing to test your code interactively:

[My first application] $ console

consoleEval.png

Using sbt features

The Play console is just a normal sbt console, so you can use any sbt features like the triggered execution.

For example, using ~ compile

[My first application] $ ~ compile

The compilation will be triggered each time you change a source file.

You can also do the same for ~ test, testing continously your project each time you modify a source file:

[My first application] $ ~ test

Using the play commands directly

You can also run commands directly without entering the Play console. For example if you type play run:

$ play run
$ play run
[info] Loading project definition from myFirstApp/project
[info] Set current project to My first application

--- (Running the application from SBT, auto-reloading is enabled) ---

[info] play - Listening for HTTP on port 9000...

(Server started, use Ctrl+D to stop and go back to the console...)

The application starts directly. When you quit the server using Ctrl+D, you will come back to your OS prompt.