Spring Web Flow Enhances Support for Java Server Faces.Upcoming Version of the Popular Web Application Framework Improves Integration, Extends Ease-of-Use for Developers AUSTIN, Texas -- Interface21, a leading provider of trusted open source software for building and deploying mission-critical enterprise applications, today announced the roadmap to Spring Web Flow 1.1, the latest release of the popular web application framework. Major themes of the release are integration and ease-of-use, with a notable enhancement being improved support for Java Server Faces (JSF (JavaServerFaces) A standard framework of components for building rich user interfaces for Java applications. JavaServer Faces run on the server, but are displayed on the client. JSF - JavaServer Faces ). Spring Web Flow, initially launched in October 2006, has emerged as a key component of modern web application development solutions. The framework runs in standard Java EE The revised name for the J2EE Platform from Sun. In 2005, Sun renamed J2EE to Java EE and J2ME to Java ME. See J2EE and J2ME. [TM] and Portal environments, and integrates with leading Web frameworks Struts A framework for writing Web-based applications in Java that supports the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture. Struts is deployed as JSP pages using special tags from the Struts tag library, which includes routines for building forms, HTML rendering, storing and retrieving data and , Spring MVC (Model View Controller) An architecture for building applications that separate the data (model) from the user interface (view) and the processing (controller). , and Java Server Faces. Across each of these environments, Spring Web Flow provides developers a consistent approach to implementing navigation rules and managing application state. "As an example, suppose you are in banking and you need to implement an interactive portion of your Web site to allow customers to apply for a loan," proposed Keith Donald, lead of the Spring Web Flow project. "By themselves, frameworks like Struts and JSF simply don't provide much support for these kinds of tasks. Over and over again, we saw developers resorting to their own custom solutions for dealing with the problems of enforcing the page navigation rules and managing the data from screen to screen. With Spring Web Flow plugged in, developers get one solution that solves these problems elegantly and consistently across environments." The key differentiators in the Spring Web Flow solution are its conversational model The Conversational Model of psychotherapy was devised by the English psychiatrist Robert Hobson, and developed by the Australian psychiatrist Russell Meares. Hobson listened to recordings of his own psychotherapeutic practice with more disturbed clients, and became aware of the and modular design In the context of systems engineering, modular design — or "modularity in design" — is an approach aiming to subdivide a system into smaller parts (modules) that can be independently created and then used in different systems to drive multiple functionalities. . The conversational model raises the abstraction level See level of abstraction. , allowing developers to design in terms of high-level business use cases like "Apply for a Loan" or "Book a Trip" instead of low-level abstractions like HTTP HTTP in full HyperText Transfer Protocol Standard application-level protocol used for exchanging files on the World Wide Web. HTTP runs on top of the TCP/IP protocol. requests and sessions. Spring Web Flow's modular design allows it to be embedded and used in many environments with ease. "Spring Web Flow is uniquely positioned in today's crowded Web framework market," said Rod Johnson For the former soccer player, see Rod Johnson (footballer) Rod Johnson is an American public address announcer for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association. , CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Interface21. "Instead of being a monolithic, take-it-or-leave-it solution, it solves the hard problems facing Web application developers and integrates with leading web frameworks to form complete solutions." Johnson added, "Simply put, Spring Web Flow provides a better model for building Web applications that demand rich user interactions, and its modular design allows developers to take advantage of that model in any environment." Spring Web Flow 1.1 takes support for the Java Server Faces environment to the next level. When used as a JSF extension, Spring Web Flow serves as a replacement for JSF's basic navigation capabilities, adding power and productivity while still feeling natural to JSF developers. In addition, Spring Web Flow's innovative conversational model facilitates the use of rich user interface components that utilize Ajax techniques. "This integration combines Spring Web Flow's strength in navigation and state management with JSF's strength as a growing ecosystem of user interface component libraries," said Keith Donald. "It really is a great fit, one that will help make many more JSF projects successful in the future." Availability The first milestone in the Spring Web Flow 1.1 release roadmap will be available in May 2007. For more information and to download the software, visit http://www.springframework.org/webflow. About Interface21 Interface21 is a leading provider of trusted open source software for mission-critical enterprise applications. Interface21 created and sustains the development of the Spring Framework, the leading Java[TM] and Java EE[TM] application framework. Through the Spring family of products, Interface21 has helped hundreds of organizations, including some of the world's largest financial institutions and public sector clients, build and deploy mission-critical applications that boost developer productivity and increase enterprise ROI (Return On Investment) The monetary benefits derived from having spent money on developing or revising a system. In the IT world, there are more ways to compute ROI than Carter has liver pills (and for those of you who never heard of that expression, it means a lot). . For more information, please visit http://www.interface21.com. |
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