Chapter 8. Add Database and UI integration

Procedure

1. Create Java Persistence API (JPA) repositories for Timeslot, Room, and Lesson. For information about creating JPA repositories, see Accessing Data with JPA on the Spring website.
2. Expose the JPA repositories through REST. For information about exposing the repositories, see Accessing JPA Data with REST on the Spring website.
3. Build a TimeTableRepository facade to read and write a TimeTable in a single transaction.

4. Adjust the TimeTableController as shown in the following example:

   package com.example.solver;
   
   import com.example.domain.TimeTable;
   import com.example.persistence.TimeTableRepository;
   import org.optaplanner.core.api.score.ScoreManager;
   import org.optaplanner.core.api.solver.SolverManager;
   import org.optaplanner.core.api.solver.SolverStatus;
   import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
   import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.GetMapping;
   import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.PostMapping;
   import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
   import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;
   
   @RestController
   @RequestMapping("/timeTable")
   public class TimeTableController {
   
       @Autowired
       private TimeTableRepository timeTableRepository;
       @Autowired
       private SolverManager<TimeTable, Long> solverManager;
       @Autowired
       private ScoreManager<TimeTable> scoreManager;
   
       // To try, GET http://localhost:8080/timeTable
       @GetMapping()
       public TimeTable getTimeTable() {
           // Get the solver status before loading the solution
           // to avoid the race condition that the solver terminates between them
           SolverStatus solverStatus = getSolverStatus();
           TimeTable solution = timeTableRepository.findById(TimeTableRepository.SINGLETON_TIME_TABLE_ID);
           scoreManager.updateScore(solution); // Sets the score
           solution.setSolverStatus(solverStatus);
           return solution;
       }
   
       @PostMapping("/solve")
       public void solve() {
           solverManager.solveAndListen(TimeTableRepository.SINGLETON_TIME_TABLE_ID,
                   timeTableRepository::findById,
                   timeTableRepository::save);
       }
   
       public SolverStatus getSolverStatus() {
           return solverManager.getSolverStatus(TimeTableRepository.SINGLETON_TIME_TABLE_ID);
       }
   
       @PostMapping("/stopSolving")
       public void stopSolving() {
           solverManager.terminateEarly(TimeTableRepository.SINGLETON_TIME_TABLE_ID);
       }
   
   }

   Copy to Clipboard

   For simplicity, this code handles only one TimeTable instance, but it is straightforward to enable multi-tenancy and handle multiple TimeTable instances of different high schools in parallel.

   The getTimeTable() method returns the latest timetable from the database. It uses the ScoreManager (which is automatically injected) to calculate the score of that timetable so the UI can show the score.

   The solve() method starts a job to solve the current timetable and store the time slot and room assignments in the database. It uses the SolverManager.solveAndListen() method to listen to intermediate best solutions and update the database accordingly. This enables the UI to show progress while the backend is still solving.

5. Now that the solve() method returns immediately, adjust the TimeTableControllerTest as shown in the following example:

   package com.example.solver;
   
   import com.example.domain.Lesson;
   import com.example.domain.TimeTable;
   import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
   import org.junit.jupiter.api.Timeout;
   import org.optaplanner.core.api.solver.SolverStatus;
   import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
   import org.springframework.boot.test.context.SpringBootTest;
   
   import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
   import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNotNull;
   import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
   
   @SpringBootTest(properties = {
           "optaplanner.solver.termination.spent-limit=1h", // Effectively disable this termination in favor of the best-score-limit
           "optaplanner.solver.termination.best-score-limit=0hard/*soft"})
   public class TimeTableControllerTest {
   
       @Autowired
       private TimeTableController timeTableController;
   
       @Test
       @Timeout(600_000)
       public void solveDemoDataUntilFeasible() throws InterruptedException {
           timeTableController.solve();
           TimeTable timeTable = timeTableController.getTimeTable();
           while (timeTable.getSolverStatus() != SolverStatus.NOT_SOLVING) {
               // Quick polling (not a Test Thread Sleep anti-pattern)
               // Test is still fast on fast machines and doesn't randomly fail on slow machines.
               Thread.sleep(20L);
               timeTable = timeTableController.getTimeTable();
           }
           assertFalse(timeTable.getLessonList().isEmpty());
           for (Lesson lesson : timeTable.getLessonList()) {
               assertNotNull(lesson.getTimeslot());
               assertNotNull(lesson.getRoom());
           }
           assertTrue(timeTable.getScore().isFeasible());
       }
   
   }

   Copy to Clipboard
6. Poll for the latest solution until the solver finishes solving.
7. To visualize the timetable, build an attractive web UI on top of these REST methods.