Introduction
Java Server Faces (JSF) is a widely-used web application framework based on standards and promoted by Sun Microsystems. It provides a high level framework, based on the MVC pattern, which brings several functionalities for simplifying the building of user interfaces of web applications.
In this article we introduce the Exadel's IDE and its excellent capabilities for development in JSF. This tool had been released recently as an open source product since its incorporation in the JBoss Group.
Download and Install the software
The software can download from http://www.exadel.com/web/portal/download. As you can check, from that page, there are versions for both operating systems: Windows and Linux.
Installation is very straightforward, provided that it's shipped with an installer for both platforms. While you are installing the software, you will be asked to point to your Eclipse installation (notice that version 3.2 is required). Then, the installer takes care of plugging the Exadel features in your current Eclipse's installation.
The sample application
The application that we are building is a login module for a general enterprise application. In this simple scenario, we will develop just three distinct pages to accomplish this functionality: login.jsp, success.jsp, error.jsp . As you already might figured out, the navigation proposed for the application is exemplified in the Figure 1.
Figure 1.
We will implement some business logic that will define the navigation flow chosen by the application for a given user's input. |
