Introduction to Java Server Faces JSF

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Introduction to Java Server Faces (JSF)

• Presented By

Balazs Igli James Edmond Scott McLellan
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Agenda

• JSF topics to cover
• What is JSF?
• Architecture Overview
• UI Component Model
• Development Steps

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JavaServer Faces (JSF) Framework Is

• A server side user interface component framework
  for Java technology-based web applications

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What Is JSF

• A specification and reference implementation
  for a web application development framework
• Components
• Events
• Validators converters
• Navigation
• Back-end-data integration

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Agenda

• JSF topics to cover
• What is JSF?
• Architecture Overview
• UI Component Model
• Development Steps

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Request Processing Lifecycle Phases
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Agenda

• JSF topics to cover
• What is JSF?
• Architecture Overview
• UI Component Model
• Development Steps

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User Interface Component Model

• UI components
• Event handling model
• Conversion and Validation model
• Rendering model
• Page navigation support

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UI Components

• UIComponent/UIComponentBase
• Base class for all user interface components
• Standard UIComponent Subclasses
• UICommand, UIForm, UIOutput
• UIGraphic, UIInput, UIPanel, UIParameter
• UISelectBoolean, UISelectMany, UISelectOne
• Example

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Validators and Converters

• Validators - Perform correctness checks on
  UIInput values
• Register one or more per component
• Enqueue one or more messages on errors
• Standard implementations for common cases
• Converters - Plug-in for conversions
• Output Object to String
• Input String to Object
• Standard implementations for common cases

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Converters and Validators

• Examples

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Rendering Model

• Renderers - Adapt components to a specific
  markup language
• Decoding
• Encoding
• RenderKits Library of Renderers
• Map component classes to component tags
• Is a custom tag library
• Basic HTML RenderKit

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Events and Listeners

• Follows JavaBeans Specification design and
  naming patterns
• Standard events and listeners
• ActionEvent - UICommand component activated by
  the user
• ValueChangedEvent - UIInput component whose value
  was just changed

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Navigation Model

• Application developer responsibility
• Defined in Application configuration file
  (Facesconfig.xml)
• Navigation rules
• Determine which page to go.
• Navigation case

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Navigation Model Example
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Agenda

• JSF topics to cover
• What is JSF?
• Architecture Overview
• UI Component Model
• Development Steps

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Steps in Development Process

• Develop model objects which hold the data
• Add model objects (managed bean) declarations to
  Application Configuration File faces-config.xml
• Create Pages using UI component and core tags
• Define Page Navigation in faces-config.xml
• Configure web.xml

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Step 1 Develop model Objects(Managed Bean)

• A regular JavaBeans with read/write properties
• May contain application methods and event
  handlers
• Use to hold data from a UI (page)
• Creation and lifetime is managed by JSF runtime
• Application, session, request
• JSF keeps the bean's data in sync with the UI

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Step 2. Managed Bean Declaration(Faces-config.xml
)

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Step 3 Create JSF Pages

• Must include JSF tag library
• HTML and core tags
• All JSF tags must enclosed between a set of view
  tag
• Use JSF form and form component tags
• lthinput_textgt not ltinput typetextgt
• lthcommand_buttongt not ltinput typesubmitgt
• May include validators and event listeners on any
  form components

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Binding UI to Managed Bean

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Step 4 Define Page Navigation Rules(Faces-config
.xml)

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Step 5 Configure (web.xml)

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JSF Application Directory Structure

• WEB-INF/web.xml
• WEB-INF/faces-config.xml
• WEB-INF/classes/LoginFormBean.class
• login.jsp
• Required Jars
• WEB-INF/lib/jsf-api.jar
• WEB-INF/lib/jsf-ri.jar
• WEB-INF/lib/jstl.jar
• WEB-INF/lib/jsf-el.jar
• WEB-INF/lib/standard.jar
• WEB-INF/lib/commons-beanutils.jar
• WEB-INF/lib/commons-digester.jar
• WEB-INF/lib/commons-collections.jar
• WEB-INF/lib/commons-logging.jar

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Advantages and Disadvantages

• Advantages
• JSF is a specification from Sun and will be
  included in future versions of the J2EE
  specification.
• All major vendors are pledging strong support for
  JSF.
• JSF has a well-defined request lifecycle allowing
  for plugability at different levels.
• Because JSF has a rich component model, it favors
  a RAD style of development.
• Disadvantages
• JSF is still quite new and evolving.
• Is not as easy to develop with compared to other
  alternatives.

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Conclusion

• JSF is a server side User Interface framework
  made up of its own components designed for Java
  and Web Based technologies
• All 6 phases of the life cycle is required and
  allows for maximum customization and data
  manipulation
• The User Interface components allow for events,
  validations, data type conversions, rendering the
  components in a browser and navigation rules
• We can define managed beans in the
  faces-config.xml and then access public
  properties ad methods from the bean and use them
  on the JSF pages

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The End

• Any Questions?