FF4J

FF4J (Feature Flipping for Java) is a feature flagging library designed to enhance the flexibility and control of Java applications. According to the vendor, FF4J enables developers to enable or disable features at runtime without the need for deployments, providing a dynamic way to tailor the behavior of applications based on feature toggles. The product is suitable for companies of all sizes and is used by professionals in various industries, including software development, IT services, e-commerce, financial services, and telecommunications.

Key Features

Feature Toggle: According to the vendor, FF4J allows users to enable and disable features at runtime without the need for deployments. It also supports the implementation of multiple paths in the code protected by dynamic predicates.

Role-based Toggling: The vendor states that FF4J enables the enabling of features based on user roles and groups. It also supports different frameworks, starting with Spring Security.

Strategy-based Toggling: According to the vendor, FF4J offers the ability to implement custom predicates to evaluate if a feature is enabled. It provides out-of-the-box support for white/black lists, time-based, and expression-based strategies. Additionally, it allows the connection of external sources like Drools rule engine.

AOP-driven Toggling: The vendor claims that FF4J allows users to use annotations instead of nested if statements to toggle features. The Spring AOP implementation selects the target at runtime based on feature statuses.

Features Monitoring: According to the vendor, FF4J provides the ability to evaluate predicates for each feature execution. It also allows the collection and recording of events and metrics to analyze feature usage over time, as well as the generation of dashboards and usage curves.

Audit Trail: FF4J enables the tracing and saving of actions such as create, update, delete, and toggles, according to the vendor. It also provides troubleshooting capabilities and permissions management for user identification.

Web Console: The vendor states that FF4J offers a web UI to administer the library and its features and properties. It is packaged as a servlet in the library and supports multiple languages.

Wide choice of Databases: According to the vendor, FF4J supports over 20 database technologies for storing features, properties, and events. It also provides multiple implementations and allows for easy customization.

Command Line Interface: FF4J offers a Command Line Interface (CLI) that allows users to automate tasks or work through SSH. The CLI enables direct interaction with storages and is suitable for environments where web ports are blocked.

JMX and MBeans: According to the vendor, FF4J allows users to perform operations through JMX. It exposes MBeans to read metrics and toggle features from external tools, making it suitable for non-web based applications.