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Java Server Faces

Java Server Faces technology is a framework for building user interfaces for web applications.

Java Server Faces technology includes:

Java APIs to represent UI components, manage state, handle events, and validate input. The API has support for internationalization and accessibility.

Two JSP custom tag libraries for expressing user interface (UI) components within a JSP page, and for wiring components to server-side objects. Page authors can easily add UI components to their pages.

Java Server Faces technology is based on the Model View Controller (MVC) architecture for separating logic from presentation, so if you have been practicing this, you'll feel at home with JSF.
A JSF application is just like any other Java technology-based web application; it runs in a Java Servlet container, and contains:

JavaBeans components (or model objects) containing application-specific functionality and data

Event listeners -- JSP pages
Server-side helper classes
A custom tag library for rendering UI components
A custom tag library for representing event handlers and validators
UI components represented as stateful objects on the server
Validators, event handlers, and navigation handlers.
Application configuration resource file for configuring application resources

One of the advantages of JSF is that it is based on the Model View Controller (MVC) architecture, to offer a clean separation between presentation and logic. This may ring a bell for those who are using existing web frameworks such as Struts. However, note that JSF and Struts are not competing technologies, and in fact, they interoperate together. JSF, however, does have some advantages over Struts.
For example, in Struts there is only one way to render an element, while JSF provides several mechanisms for rendering an individual element. It is up to the page designer to pick the desired representation, and the application developer doesn't need to know which mechanism was used to render a component
The author of Struts, Craig McClanahan, is also the co-specification lead for JSF, as well as an employee of Sun Microsystems.

Advantages

The primary benefits of Java Server Faces technology include:

Ease-of-Use: Several aspects of the Java Server Faces architecture contribute to its ease-of-use. For one, Java Server Faces technology offers a clean separation between logic and presentation, enabling a wide range of users -- from web-page designers to component developers-- to take advantage of Java Server technology, resulting in a division of labor and a shorter development cycle. Also, a user-interface created with Java Server Faces technology handles all the complexities of user-interface management, including input validation, component-state management, page navigation, and event handling.

Standardization: Java Server Faces technology is being developed through the Java Community Process. Several prominent, respected tools vendors are contributing members of the expert group and are committed to supporting Java Server Faces technology in their tools.

Device Independence: Java Server Faces technology is designed to be flexible. By defining only component functionality in extensible UI component classes, the Java Server Faces architecture allows component developers to extend the component classes to generate their own component tag libraries targeted for specific clients.

How to Create a Java Server Faces (JSF) Development Environment w Apache Tomcat + Suns JDK



By - Feizal



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