The Velocity developers are pleased to make the second beta release of VelocityTools 2.0 available for download.
Major development in VelocityTools 2.0 has completed, and the focus has been on fixing the remaining bugs and providing a clear migration path for users of VelocityTools 1.x. Significant new features in 2.0 include very flexible, composable toolbox configuration (via either java, xml, and/or properties), lazy-loading/initialization of tools, the VelocityViewTag for embedding Velocity within JSP, simplified embedding of VelocityTools in other frameworks, an assortment of new and improved tools, and much more.
This should be useable as a drop in replacement for Tools 1.4, with a few minor exceptions where things already deprecated earlier in 1.x have been removed. The 2.x series of VelocityTools also requires both Velocity 1.5+ and JDK 1.5+.
At this point, the new tool management and configuration facilities are extremely stable and useable. Documentation has continued to improve dramatically and is nearing completion. There are no open or known bugs in this release nor significant changes anticipated before 2.0 final is released. We are also more than happy to answer questions on the mailing lists. More information on the changes between Tools 1.x and 2.x may be found here.
The Velocity developers are very interested in all feedback regarding Tools 2.0, especially regarding backwards compatibility with apps designed for Tools 1.4 or earlier. We aim to enable a smooth, incremental transition for developers and their applications.
Downloads of Tools 2.0-beta2 are available here.