Enhancements to the GWT RPC components

Java 1.5 syntax supported

GWT 1.5 supports and honors the Java 1.5 constructs like generics and annotations. This means, for example, that rather than using the @gwt.typeArgs JavaDoc annotation for types transferred through RPC, you can (and should) use real type parameters instead.

Asynchronous interface improvements - access underlying HTTP request objects and RPC payloads

There have been a couple of major improvements to the asynchronous interface component in GWT RPC.

The first is that asynchronous interface methods can now return the underlying HTTP request object (http.client.Request) so you can access and tweak it as necessary for your application needs before sending it off through RPC. Asynchronous interface methods can now also return void or http.client.RequestBuilder objects.

The second improvement is that the asynchronous interface proxy can now be cast to a SerializationStreamFactory so you can now process the RPC payload independently from the RPC transport system.

Use annotations to set the service entry point

The RemoteServiceRelativePath annotation can now be used to specify the default service entry point path; no need to call setServiceEntryPoint(String).

Failed RPC calls can now be detected

RPC calls that do not receive a 200 OK response can now be detected by casting the onFailure() throwable to StatusCodeException.

Serializable objects may now have non-public, no-arg constructors

Previous to 1.5, GWT required that any Serializable objects expected to be transferred through RPC must define a public no-arg constructor. These types can now define those constructors as private or protected and still be transferred through RPC.

SerializableException deprecated

The SerializableException class is deprecated since java.lang.Throwable now implements Serializable.