JavaServer Faces (JSF) is a standard web user interface framework, developed under the Java Community Process (JSR 127), and released in March, 2004. JSF specifies a web user interface component model, complete with server-side event handling, validation, internationalization, page navigation, and declarative mapping between user interface components and Java objects.

This talk explains what JavaServer Faces is, and how it relates to Struts and other web frameworks currently on the market. It covers JSF's architecture and key concepts, and also show a sample application inside of an IDE such as Sun Java Studio Creator.

As JavaServer Faces (JSF), the new standard Java web application framework, grows in popularity, development teams are beginning to evaluate different strategies for migrating from Struts to JSF.

This session begins with a brief overview of JSF. Next, it examines different strategies for using Struts and JSF together as well as migrating from Struts to JSF, discussing the pros and cons of each approach. The session ends with an overview of future directions for JSF as well as Struts, and the Struts Shale project.

With the growing popularity of new Java web frameworks, such as JavaServer Faces, Tapestry, and WebWork, Struts 1.x has lost its competitive edge in the web framework landscape. Recently, Craig McClanahan, the founder of Struts, initiated Struts Shale, a proposed next-generation framework built on top of JavaServer Faces.

This session examines Shale in detail, looking at its current feature set, architecture, and future road map.

Over the past few years, a lot of time has been spent explaining what JSF is, and how different pieces of it work. However, little attention has been given to the process of architecting applications. This makes JSF architecture seem like a black art, since there are so many possible approaches to the application's architecture.

This session looks at different techniques for structuring JavaServer Faces (JSF) applications, and examines the consequences of each technique. In addition, we will examine extension points within JSF, and how they can be leveraged to provide features such as security, alternate templating technology, and access to external resources. The session ends with some additional tips and best practices.

In late 2003, the Java Community Process released the Portlet API, designed to ease the progress of writing portlets for different portal environments. Using the Portlet API, developers can build reusable application components that work with portal servers from IBM, BEA, Oracle, Vignette, Apache, and other companies and open source organizations.

This session begins with an overview of the benefits of portal servers and portlets. It then explains how portlets relate to servlets, and provides examples of how to use the API. The session ends with a discussion of using well-known frameworks such as Struts and JSF within a portlet environment, and looks at future directions of the API.