JSF Drag and Drop (DnD), JBoss Tools 2.0, RichFaces (ajax4jsf):

I chatted with Max Katz, Senior Systems Engineer at Exadel. We have talked about building JSF applications with DnD. JBoss offers JBoss Developer Studio 1.0 or JBoss Tools 2.0. This IDE let you DnD for simple applications but for any complex applications, you have to know manipulate codes. One good thing JBoss Developer Studio/JBoss Tools offers to preview code and it also leverage you to use RichFaces rich components in the IDE (Netbeans does not have a plug-in for RichFaces, no plan in near future). I also asked the differences between IceFaces and RichFaces. To answer to that he said, IceFaces is more proprietary than RichFaces.

HH: How would you compare with Sun’s Woodstock and RichFaces?

MK: In general, RichFaces has been around much longer. This means much
larger user base, more components, more stable, more support and
information available. There are lots of companies that use RichFaces in
production.

HH: How flexible RichFaces 3.1 to work with other component libraries like Trinidad/ADF Faces or Sun’s Woodstock 4.0. In our upcoming project, we need to show Gantt charts, graphs and ADF Faces already has components like that, how easy it would be to bring that component in to RichFaces?

MK: It should work. RichFaces doesn’t do anything *not* to allow you to mix and match other JSF components.
My recommendation is to pick just one library and use it. Mixing and matching component might sound like a great “feature”, but in reality you might create more problems than solutions.

HH: When is the next RichFaces scheduled to release? Any major improvements in the next release?
MK: http://jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&t=104575

The main differences between JBoss Developer Studio 1.0 and JBoss Tool 2.0:

JBoss Developer Studio 1.0 is cost $99.00 but with exactly same features JBoss Tool 2.0 is free, imagine that.

RichFaces 3.1 Important Links:

1. RichFaces home
2. Forum
3. Live Demo
4. Documentations (Great documentation)
5. JBoss Tool 2.0 start up guide
6. Why JBoss Developer Studio, and why you should care?

RichFaces Related Links:
Three RIA Tools Examined: JSF, Flex and JavaFX by Max Katz

Example of a JSF + Richfaces application: dVision

Happy Birthday, Ajax4Jsf (RichFaces)

Webnar: (October 30, 2007)

Building Rich Internet Applications with JBoss Rich Faces Webinar with Max Katz Available Online (Red Hat)

Other Links:

Gavin King’s JSF wish list for JEE 6
Adopting a Java Persistence Framework: Which, When, and What?

JSF/Web Tools:

Selenium IDE: Browser compatibility testing.

Selenium Remote Control is a test tool that allows you to write automated web application UI tests in any programming language against any HTTP website using any mainstream JavaScript-enabled browser:

JSFUnit is a test framework for JSF applications:

EasyMock provides Mock Objects for interfaces in JUnit tests by generating them on the fly using Java’s proxy mechanism. Due to EasyMock’s unique style of recording expectations, most refactorings will not affect the Mock Objects. So EasyMock is a perfect fit for Test-Driven Development.

 

Seam Books: Recommended by Gavin King (Founder of Hibernate project and Seam Project Lead).

1. Seam: Simplicity & Beyond with Java EE – Michael Yuan

2. Practical JBoss Seam Project – Jim Farley

3. Beginning JBoss Seam: From Novice to Professional – Joseph Faisal Nusairat