Re: JSF in Planet Roller (long)

> I decided to try something new and develop the simple and small standalone
> Planet Roller UI with JSF and specifically the Apache MyFaces
> implementation.
> It took the better part of a weekend to work through the learning curve and
> I'm happy with the results, but since I did this on my own without
> discussion,
> let me explain my reasoning and my experience, starting with the first
> question
> that probably comes to mind.
>
> I hope to convince you to not object to keeping Planet's JSF UI in
> place and to consider what comes next for the Roller web UI.

>
>
> Why not just use Struts 1.x?
>
> I'm tired of Struts and the cumbersome way we use Struts in Roller.
> For example, this is what's involved in one form:
>
> - Markup POJOs with XDoclet so we can generate form bean class
> - Extend form bean to add extra fields, override copyTo and copyFrom logic
> - Create page model object to make data available to JSP page
> - Create Tiles configs for new page and action
> - Create global forwards for action and pages in XDoclet merge file
> - Create Struts dispatch action class to handle GET and POST of form
> - Markup Struts action so XDoclet can generate struts-config.xml
>
> The result is too many classes, too much boiler-plate code and too many
> moving parts. It's slowing us down. Plus, lots has changed in the world of
> Java web development since I started working on Roller in 2001 -- I
> wanted to
> try learn and try something new.

>
>
> But why try JSF?
>
> I'm not trying JSF because Sun told me too -- in fact, I still haven't
> told my
> manager which UI tech I'm using in Planet Roller (hi Rama). I like what I
> learned about JSF from Geary and Horstmann's book and I like the momentum.
> It's the most hyped web framework, as Raible says [1], but that's
> actually a
> side-effect of a very good thing -- its part of Java EE 5 and all the
> major Java
> vendors are developing and marketing tools to support it including
> JBoss/Red Hat, IBM, Oracle and of course Sun. Plus, we've got MyFaces,
> a complete JSF implementation right here at Apache [3].
>
> The fact that JSF is component based is a plus in my mind and I think we're
> going to see lots of component development, see for example ADF Faces [2]
> (now at Apache), and JMaki [4], which brings AJAX components to the world
> of JSF.
>
> Following are some notes about my experiences with JSF in Planet Roller.
>
>
> What I like about JSF
>
> - Less code! Take a look at the new form classes under the package
>  org.apache.roller.planet.ui.forms.
>
> - No need for the three form, action and page model classes we normally
> create
>  for a Roller JSP page. Compare the new JSF form classes with the old
> Struts
>  Actions for Planet in org.apache.roller.ui.admin.struts.actions.
>
> - No need for XDoclet form generation. Personally, I'd like to eliminate
>  XDoclet from Roller -- or at least from the web tier. I think it creates
>  more problems than it solves. And, no more need for the weird form-bean
> based
>  save() logic on HibernatePersistenceStrategy.
>
> - Validation is simple and very easy to extend. We don't make much use of
>  Struts validation in Roller, in part because it was too complex for my
> taste.
>  But I found it very easy to add custom validation logic to JSF.
>
>
> Problems encountered with JSF
>
> - Everything is a POST -- serious RESTafarian buzzkill. I was able to
>  work around this problem by using a simple little filter for GET requests,
>  one which loads objects based on request information.
>
> - Bugs, e.g. the pesky commandLink in datatable problem that won't go away.
>  I've been able to work around this problem with a little JavaScript.
>
> - Problems mixing JSF and JSTL tags. Care is required. I've been able to
>  use JSTL for simple conditional logic, but not much more.

>
>
> But JSF sucks!
>
> There is a pretty strong JSF sucks contingent, at least inside the
> blogopshere
> echo-chamber in which I live. Let's talk about that. A common criticism
> of JSF
> is that it's too complex because it is designed to support the needs of
> IDEs
> and not hand-coders. That was not my experience. I found JSF very simple
> and easy to use -- less code and less config than I'm used to.
>
> One of the critics of JSF is our own Matt Raible. Matt is on the JSF expert
> group and has experience with what he calls the top five Java web
> frameworks.
> His pick for the best web framework is WebWork, which is the foundation for
> Struts 2 AKA "Struts Action" -- just released this week [5] by the way.
>
> Struts Action is still an action framework, and personally I prefer
> components -- and the growing number of JSF components, but because JSF is
> compatible with Struts Action, you can mix them both in one application.
> This gives you the best of both worlds, as Don says [6]:
>
>    "You can use a page with JSF components and have complete access
>    to the JSF lifecycle. This even supports JSF components that post
>    back to themselves or add PhaseListeners to provide advanced AJAX
>    support. No more "everything is a POST", and even faces-config.xml isn't
>    required since the Action instance is available to the JSF EL bindings."
>
>    "The bottom line is Struts Action 2 proves it is possible for the
>    action-based and component-based frameworks to work together, and
>    application developers no longer have to choose one or the other
>    exclusively. They can make the decision on a page-to-page basis
>    according to its particular requirements. Enough of these
>    "web framework wars", and let's move on to more interesting problems.
> :)"
>
> I especially like the "No more 'everything is a POST'" part.
>
> So, by using JSF we can benefit from component-based framework with strong
> momemtum and industry support and, if we need it, we still have the option
> of using Struts Action for things not well suited to JSF.
>
> Have I convinced anybody? Does anybody object to keeping JSF and MyFaces
> in the
> Planet Roller webapp?

>
> - Dave
>
> PS. I added some screenshots of the UI to the proposal page on the wiki:
> <http://rollerweblogger.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Proposal_Modular_Planet>
>
>
> References
>
> [1] RE: What Web Application framework should you use?
> http://raibledesigns.com/page/rd?entry=re_what_web_application_framework
>
> [2] ADF Faces
> http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/jdev/htdocs/partners/addins/exchange/jsf/index.html 
>
>
> [3] Apache MyFaces JSF implementation
> http://myfaces.apache.org/
>
> [4] JMaki AJAX components
> http://ajax.dev.java.net/
>
> [5] Struts 2.0.0 Available
> http://jroller.com/page/TedHusted?entry=struts_2_0_0_available
>
> [6] Unification: Struts Action and JSF
> http://jroller.com/page/mrdon?entry=unification_struts_action_and_jsf