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Developing Web Interfaces with JSF
JavaServer Faces offers a competitive alternative to visual Web development tools and promotes a teamwork approach to application development
by Chris Schalk

Posted December 12, 2003

Using Java to build Web applications isn't new. Servlets and JavaServer Pages (JSP) have given developers the ability to build HTML-based Web applications using Java, but these technologies didn't quite get the job done. Because the servlet APIs and JSPs were foundational technologies, they left a lot to be done before a Web application could be considered complete. Java Web developers largely had to implement their own frameworks, including coverage for such features as page navigation and reusable user interface (UI) components for the Web. There was no standard way to do this implementation; without a standard there was no advanced development tool support that offered a productive and visual way to develop Java-based Web applications.

JavaServer Faces (JSF) fills this need. The Java Community Process has introduced a new Java specification request—127, JavaServer Faces— to provide a single, standard, and productive way to use Java to build HTML-based Web applications. Let's look at JSF's core concepts and find out how to build a simple JSF Web application.

One of the refreshing features of JSF is that it is being designed not just for coding gurus, but also for other roles in Web application development: page authors, application developers, component writers, and tools vendors. Because JSF can use JSP/HTML as a foundation, Web page designers can design the Web application's overall look and feel in a familiar HTML environment. Web application developers can then integrate a preexisting Web design with JSF's rich UI component set to build complete applications. JSF is fully extendable and customizable and allows component developers to build custom UI components. JSF is also well suited for tools vendors to provide a productive visual development experience because JSF is primarily focused on a UI development.

Since JSF was architected for each of these Web application roles, it should improve productivity and reduce confusion by letting the area experts focus on their area of expertise while allowing them to share their work under the same architecture. To see how this might work, let's look at the core components that make up a JSF application.