Framework Overview:

Frameworks
Some of the more popular frameworks that top of the list of my framework
alternatives are:

• Struts is almost the de facto standard for J2EE projects. Struts is an elegant
framework that handles the flow of the application and a lot of other routine
tasks. Another advantage of using Struts is the ever-growing number of people
skilled in using Struts. Many of the popular Java IDEs also provide tools for
Struts development, making life even easier for the developer.
• Cocoon is great if you are looking for a framework that has XML capabilities
at its core and that makes great use of XML and XSLT. Unlike other
frameworks that provide extensions to the core framework that enable XML
and XSL usage, XML and XSL are the core of the Cocoon framework.
• WebWork is part of the OpenSymphony set of components and is considered
to be a nice and simple framework. WebWork also has some momentum
going for it lately, so it is certainly a framework that needs to be considered.

While many frameworks provide their own tags that can make it easier to use the
framework, I do feel that the best option is to stick with JSPs that use the JSP
Standard Tag Libraries (JSTL). The other options don’t offer enough flexibility and
JSTL—being a standard—will have more widespread acceptance. Java Server Faces
is another interesting development that needs to be explored. Although it won’t
replace the frameworks, it should change the way developers use custom tags.

Best option
The Model View Controller pattern-based Java frameworks hold a lot of potential to
make the developer’s life easier, their development time faster, and their application
more maintainable. So the time invested in deciding on the framework to use will be
well spent. But ease of use, strong user community, tool support, and widespread
acceptance makes Struts the best option as of today.

A web application framework is a software framework that is designed to support

the development of dynamic websites, Web applications and Web services. The
framework aims to alleviate the overhead associated with common activities used in
Web development. Here is the list of SIX best web frameworks which we are using in
Java. Each one has its own advantages.

1. Java Server Faces – JSF

• From Sun Microsystems

• Based on Component Centric approach
• Best Feature : The most using web framework. Because of its component
architecture, the developer doesn’t need to mess with writing HTML,
 JavaScript etc to get rich “AJAX” type of functionality. It also takes care
of state and event management. It has very less configuration too.

JavaServer Faces (JSF) is a new standard Java framework for building Web
applications. It simplifies development by providing a component-centric approach to
developing Java Web user interfaces. JavaServer Faces also appeals to a diverse
audience of Java/Web developers. “Corporate developers” and Web designers will
find that JSF development can be as simple as dragging and dropping user interface
(UI) components onto a page, while “systems developers” will find that the rich and
robust JSF API offers them unsurpassed power and programming flexibility. JSF also
ensures that applications are well designed with greater maintainability by integrating
the well established Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern into it’s
architecture. Finally, since JSF is a Java standard developed through Java Community
Process (JCP), development tools vendors are fully empowered to provide easy to use,
visual, and productive develop environments for JavaServer Faces.

2. GWT

• From Google
• Based on Widgets
• Best Feature : Speed development. Easy to develop good, neat and
“Browser independent” Ajax applications. Give more stress to pure
browser independent .

Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is an open source Java software development framework
that makes writing AJAX applications like Google Maps and Gmail easy for
developers who don’t speak browser quirks as a second language. Writing dynamic
web applications today is a tedious and error-prone process; you spend 90% of your
time working around subtle incompatibilities between web browsers and platforms,
and JavaScript’s lack of modularity makes sharing, testing, and reusing AJAX
components difficult and fragile.GWT lets you avoid many of these headaches while
offering your users the same dynamic, standards-compliant experience. You write
your front end in the Java programming language, and the GWT compiler converts
your Java classes to browser-compliant JavaScript and HTML.Project Home and
More features

3. Stripes

• From Mc4j
• Based on MVC architecture
• Best Feature: No Configurations . Annotation based programming
makes coding more interesting and easy.

Stripes is a presentation framework for building web applications using the latest Java
technologies. The main driver behind Stripes is that web application development in
Java is just too much work! It seems like every existing framework requires gobs of
configuration.Project Home and more features

4. Spring MVC
 • From SpringSource
• Based on MVC architecture
• Best Feature : Speed development. Now so many Annotations are also
included (v2.5). Its from SpringSource and have a good support too.
Being a person who likes and works with Spring framework.. I really
encouraged by their good and really fast support.

Spring Web MVC is the own web framework of Spring Framework.The Spring
MVC Framework’s architecture and design are in such a way that every piece of
logic and functionality is highly configurable. Also Spring can integrate effortlessly
with other popular Web Frameworks like Struts, WebWork, Java Server Faces and
Tapestry. It means that you can even instruct Spring to use any one of the Web
Frameworks. More than that Spring is not tightly coupled with Servlets or Jsp to
render the View to the Clients. Integration with other View technologies like
Velocity, Freemarker, Excel or Pdf is also possible

5. Struts2

• From Apache
• Based on MVC architecture
• Best Feature : No more ActionForms! Use any JavaBean to capture form
input or put properties directly on an Action class. Use both binary and
String properties! and its enhanced and rich tags

Apache Struts 2 is an elegant, extensible framework for creating enterprise-ready Java

web applications. The framework is designed to streamline the full development
cycle, from building, to deploying, to maintaining applications over time.Project
Home and More Features

6. Wicket

• From Apache
• Based on Component Centric approach
• Best Feature : Swing-like OO Component Model. This feature separates
Wicket from all other frameworks

With proper mark-up/logic separation, a POJO data model, and a refreshing lack of
XML, Apache Wicket makes developing web-apps simple and enjoyable again. Swap
the boilerplate, complex debugging and brittle code for powerful, reusable
components written with plain Java and HTML.Project Home and More Features
here…

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