Ed Burns's Blog

JSF 2.0 so far, in depth

We all know that Ryan Lubke is a top notch engineer, but did you also know he's a solid technical writer? Ryan has been posting plenty of really useful content on his blog about JSF 2.0, including the series on new features in JSF 2.0. This entry summarizes the series thus far and gives links to each entry.

Part 1: ProjectStage

If you're a fan of Ruby on Rails, and let's face it, who isn't?, this blog entry coves a simple tip-o-the-hat to RoR found in JSF 2.0.

http://blogs.sun.com/rlubke/entry/jsf_2_0_new_feature2

Part 2: Resources in JSF

If you've ever used Shale remoting or weblets with JSF and wished such a feature was in the core spec, your wish has come true. We've also gone a few steps further, thanks to the EG, and added full localization, versioning and libries.

http://blogs.sun.com/rlubke/entry/jsf_2_0_new_feature5

Part 3: The Resources Java API

Once we have you hooked on the idea of resources, and perhaps on our implementation of it in JSF, you might want to go deeper into how it works. Here's your chance.

http://blogs.sun.com/rlubke/entry/jsf_2_0_new_feature

Part 4: Resources from EL

I love this one because it talks about a totally powerful use of the EL: to inline references to resources. You get all the localized, versioned goodness of the resource system, straight from the EL.

http://blogs.sun.com/rlubke/entry/jsf_2_0_new_feature3

Part 5: System Events

The JSF EDR has extended the JSF event system to include a publish/subscribe event bus for application events. This blog entry shows how to use it.

http://blogs.sun.com/rlubke/entry/jsf_2_0_new_feature1

Part 6: Pulling it all together: resource annotations

Now that we've established system events and resources, we have an example that pulls it all together: resource annotations. If you've ever developed a JSF component and wished for a way for that component to declare dependencies on specific JavaScript, CSS or image files, this is the way it works!

http://blogs.sun.com/rlubke/entry/jsf_2_0_new_feature4

I hope you find this content useful, I sure did because it gave me a high level view of the stuff I've been so closely working on for so long.

Comments

• Nice post, Ed. I was going to do the same thing, so you saved me some work. :)

  And...um...I'm not a fan of RoR. :P

  Posted by: jdlee on June 26, 2008 at 02:08 PM

• This blog stuff is all very well, but where is the *real* JSF2.0 design discussion going on?

  As described here:
  http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=314
  I have sent an email to the spec lead (you) requesting to "receive email updates" and got no response.

  I've sent an email to jsr-314-comments@jcp.org and got no response.

  I have found no trace of a wiki or public email list. There is an email list for mojarra development, but I sure hope that's not where the *specification* is being discussed.

  The "monitored forum" for this project is full of newbie questions about JSF, and is not useful for any specification-related discussion.

  I have seen the bugtracker for this project. Ok, that's a start. But it's not a great format for discussions. And there appears to be no way to search it, or to receive notifications of issue creation/modification.

  Commenting on blog sites doesn't seem to be the right approach for specification development.

  What *is* the way to see what is happening in this project, and get involved?

  Posted by: simonkitching on June 30, 2008 at 07:31 AM

• SK> This blog stuff is all very well, but where is the *real* JSF2.0
  SK> design discussion going on?

  The design discussion of record happens on the EG private JSR-314 email
  alias. There is an EG-private web portal and archive for this JSR at
  . All JSRs have a similar
  feature.

  SK> What *is* the way to see what is happening in this project, and get
  SK> involved?

  It appears you are active in the MyFaces Tomahawk project, and appear to
  be on the PMC for the Apache Commons project. Therefore, I suggest you
  talk to Apache's JSR-314 EG representative, Martin Marinschek, whom I'm
  sure you know.

  As a corporate entity member of JCP, Martin is entitled to share EG
  private communications with others within that same corporate entity.
  Oracle and SAP have leveraged this right to request we subscribe an
  email alias of their choosing as a read-only member of the JSR-314 EG
  list so that others within that corporate entity can observe the
  communication.

  SK> As described here:
  SK> http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=314

  SK> I have sent an email to the spec lead (you) requesting to "receive email
  SK> updates" and got no response.

  SK> I've sent an email to jsr-314-comments@jcp.org and got no response.

  I'm sorry about that. It's inexcusable.

  SK> I have found no trace of a wiki or public email list. There is an
  SK> email list for mojarra development, but I sure hope that's not where
  SK> the *specification* is being discussed.

  Unfortunately, there is no way for me to add links to the top of the
  JSR-314 public page. The wiki is at

  http://wiki.java.net/bin/view/Projects/Jsf2RequirementsScratchpad

  And as you noticed the public issue tracker is at

  https://javaserverfaces-spec-public.dev.java.net/servlets/ProjectIssues

  SK> I have seen the bugtracker for this project. Ok, that's a start. But
  SK> it's not a great format for discussions. And there appears to be no
  SK> way to search it, or to receive notifications of issue
  SK> creation/modification.

  The issue tracker is definitely searchable.

  Method 1, look here:

  https://javaserverfaces-spec-public.dev.java.net/

  Enter some text into the textfield in the left navbar, click the "set
  issuesWithSubString param" button, then click the "run
  issuesWithSubString query" link, below the button.

  Method 2, look here:

  https://javaserverfaces-spec-public.dev.java.net/issues/query.cgi

  SK> Commenting on blog sites doesn't seem to be the right approach for
  SK> specification development.

  You bring up a good point about the lack of a public discussion forum
  for JSF 2.0 issues.

  I do think the JSF forum is the right place for such a thing, so I have
  created a new top-post for this discussion:

  http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=5309718

  Kito Mann, JSR-314 member and proprietor of JSFCentral.com has been
  tasked with creating a bi-weekly updated JSR-314-EG group blog. Just
  last week, I received this from Kito:

  >>>>> On Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:40:45 -0400, "Kito D. Mann" said:

  KM> At JSFDays in Austria a few months ago, Ed tasked me with putting up
  KM> a JSF 2 Group Blog and posting regular updates for the community
  KM> about JSF 2. Finally, I've moved forward to this, and the group
  KM> blog should be in production next week. I'll be the primary poster,

  KM> My first couple of posts will focus on JSF resources and EZComp, but
  KM> as we move forward, please let me know what you think is worth
  KM> writing about.

  I'll ask Kito to followup here.

  Thanks for your interest and I hope this hasn't soured your impression
  of the JSF community beyond repair.

  Sincerely,

  Ed

  Posted by: edburns on June 30, 2008 at 10:42 AM

• Thank you very much for your prompt and informative reply.

  EB> It appears you are active in the MyFaces Tomahawk project, and appear to
  EB> be on the PMC for the Apache Commons project.

  I'm also on the MyFaces PMC, an active contributor to the MyFaces JSF1.1/1.2
  implementation and an ASF member (though am speaking only for myself here).
  And am employed to develop JSF applications all day. So I have a definite
  interest in a quality JSF2.0 specification, and hopefully have something
  to contribute - if the JCP process makes that possible.

  EB> As a corporate entity member of JCP, Martin is entitled to share EG
  EB> private communications with others within that same corporate entity.

  Unfortunately, as an open source community, we Apache people do not just want
  *access* to secret information for ourselves. We want that information to
  be freely available. So this option is IMO not acceptable. And if this
  information were available on an ASF-only group, then it is very likely
  that someone would simply republish it in public; we have no interest in
  preserving technical secrets.

  I fail to see why discussions on the specification need to be secret. I
  will follow this up in a posting on the brand new "JSF2.0 Discussion" thread
  in the forum..

  We do seem to have an internal lack of communication from Martin to the
  rest of the Apache MyFaces project; I will poke him a little :-)

  EB> Unfortunately, there is no way for me to add links to the top of the
  EB> JSR-314 public page.

  We all understand about limitations like that. But it looks like you can
  add links to any download you want. So perhaps as a workaround there could
  be a "download" file that lists these useful resources? The JCP page is
  the primary result returned for a web search on "jsf 2.0", so it's a shame
  that it doesn't point to any of the important websites.

  The wiki doesn't seem terribly useful. Just one page, and last edited in Dec 2007.
  Do changes to it get posted as an email to the expert group list? If not,
  then will anyone actually notice if someone modifies it?

  EB> Thanks for your interest and I hope this hasn't soured your impression
  EB> of the JSF community beyond repair.

  The JSF community is bigger than just the JCP Expert Group, or Sun. I still
  find this JCP process to be unnecessarily closed and secret, and hope to
  persuade you all to open things up.

  But I do appreciate the hard work that has gone into JSF2.0 so far, and hope
  to be able to contribute something. I'll repost the issues I raised in the
  email to the jsr-314-comments address on the forum or bugtracker.

  Regards, Simon

  Posted by: simonkitching on July 01, 2008 at 03:02 AM

• As Ed mentioned, this blog will be up this week. I think it'll be a good starting point, and also a good place to keep up-to-date.

  Posted by: kito75 on July 01, 2008 at 10:51 AM

• This will be at http://www.jsfcentral.com, btw.

  Posted by: kito75 on July 01, 2008 at 10:52 AM

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