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June 29, 2006

ApacheCon EU 2006 - Apache MyFaces

Notes from "Introduction to Apache MyFaces" by Matthias Wessendorf, et al

Introduction to JSF

  • Framework for Java Web Development
  • JSF is a standard
  • Easier than JSP/servlets: no need to look up objects
  • Plain Old Java Objects
  • Managed bean facility "little bit like spring but more basic"
  • JSR 127, 252 --> 2004/2005
  • JSF 2.0: AJAX, more UI... 2006?
  • Many IDE's, 3rd party components
  • Implementations: Sun (RI) or Apache MyFaces, plus some others

Introduction to MyFaces

  • UI components similar to Swing
  • HTML renderkit (or WML / ...)
  • component oriented + even driven
  • bind backing bean to JSF component
  • Server side validation, client side is upcoming
  • 1.1.4 is current stable release, spec 1.1 compliant
  • JSF API: javax.faces.**
  • JSF Spec: org.apache.myfaces.**
  • Structure: Core (API + runtime) + components on top of it
  • There's portlet support

JSF lifecycle

  • restore view
  • apply request values
  • conversion & validation (request data stored in component)
  • update model (call setters, write into backing beans)
  • invoke application (process beans, do database stuff)
  • render response

there's a shortcut between validation and response rendering

JSF Hello World

  • Best practice: NO HTML in JSF files (=JSP file)
  • attach bean properties in JSF file
  • two way framework: presents bean properties, and writes them back bind to value binding (bean property) or method binding (bean method call)
  • method returns a string
  • faces-config.xml + managed bean + JSP file
  • faces-config.xml defines what to do when what response is returned by method

Internals

  • ExtensionsFilter: in web.xml,

MyFaces in Action (Tomahawk)

  • use value attribute for every component to pass in data
  • default components are available
  • example: calendar component: javascript popup or static html
  • example: upload component
  • example: tree component
  • facets define layout
  • setup tabbed panels

Custom validators available

  • email
  • regexp
  • equal (passwords)
  • etc

Presentation

  • Use Tiles for page composition (reusable page components)

Application transaction

  • By default, lifetime of bean is bound to the user session
  • This causes problems when having multiple windows open
  • New scope: conversation scope

Posted by Arjé Cahn at 2:03 PM | | Comments (0)