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Closed 10 years ago.
Is there any simple java web framework like sinatra (for ruby) or web.py (for python)?
If you want a strict Java framework Spark might be an alternative:
import static spark.Spark.*;
public class HelloWorld {
public static void main(String[] args) {
get("/hello", (req, res) -> "Hello World");
}
}
Play. Haven't tried it myself but heard only good things about it and seems to be quite beginner-friendly.
I think the simplest thing to do to generate web content via Java is to write a Servlet. Just like web.py allows you to define a GET method, you can implement a Servlet's doGet() method and write data directly back to the client.
Here is a link to the Servlets tutorial. You will also need to know how to package and deploy a web application; for that I usually point people to the Tomcat manual (see the section titled "First Web Application").
Writing and deploying a Java web application is not going to be as fast as in Ruby or Python, but Java isn't particularly known for its succinctness.
If you don't strictly require Java, check out Grails. It's a web application framework built on Groovy, which is a dynamic language similar to Python and Ruby that compiles to the JVM.
JAX-RS.
Java EE 6 Servers like GlassFish bundles it by default.
If you use Tomcat, you can use Jersey, Apache CXF, or Restlet implementations.
Using JAX-RS annotations the web development feels like Sinatra or Merb. BTW you don't have to use Java as the language, you can use Scala, Groovy, JRuby...
If you are only looking for a presentation framework in pure Java then, for me, Stripes1 is the closest of the Java MVC frameworks to the RoR philosophy: simple, elegant, and requiring minimal configuration.
1 Stripes pioneered the Convention over Configuration approach for Java web development. And while some other frameworks have adopted some of its principles (like Spring MVC or Struts2 with plugins), I still prefer Stripes because it does one thing, and does it well.
It is possible to use Sinatra as is with JRuby
look at this two as well: 1. activeweb and 2. dropwizard
You might want to have a look at those 2 groovy projects:
https://github.com/webdevwilson/graffiti
https://github.com/bleedingwolf/Ratpack
Really light akin to Sinatra. Might be a bit on the bleeding edge though:-) Interesting and promising never the less.
Check SerfJ : Simplest Ever Rest Framework for Java :
Using SerfJ is the easiest way of developing Java REST web
applications. It helps you to develop your application over an elegant
MVC arquitecture, giving more importance to convention than
configuration, so for example, you will not have to have configuration
files or annotations in order to specify which view serves a
controller's method. However, SerfJ is very flexible library, so if
you want to jump over those conventions, you can configure the
behaviour of your applications as you like.
The framework tries to meet JSR 311 specification, but it doesn't
follow every point of that, because the purpose is to have a very
intuitive library, and some some aspects of the specification are out
of the scope of SerfJ.
SerfJ is opensource and is released under the Apache License, Version
2.0.
If you have to develop business or database applications OpenXava is a good option. OpenXava allows you to develop a complete AJAX web application writing just domain classes, with no code generation and producing an application ready for production. Little code, great result.
The smallest "usable" web server for Java that support Servlets that I can find is Miniature JWS. And honestly there is no reason to run a Java web server that doesn't support Servlets. If you want to do REST, Restlet has a built in HTTP daemon that means you can run it as a stand alone web server.
HybridJava framework is really simple. Of course, it builds like an API above Servlet API, but deals with page and component instead of request and response. In other words it is truly MVC.
Step is a framework for Scala inspired by Sinatra.
I can recommend Struts2 to you, because i like the plugin architecture and with the convention plugin it is simple and fast to develop.
Related
The circumstances force me to start writing a java based server and I am looking for a REST framework for Java. I really like the way OpenRasta works - a REST framework for .NET, so my question - does anyone know a REST framework for Java which works similarly to OpenRasta?
Thanks.
EDIT
Unfortunately, I am not in a position to be an early adaptor, so well established frameworks have preference over emerging ones.
You want to use one of the implementations of the JAX-RS specification, one of the main ones being Jersey. The specification and it's implementations have been around for a long time and are tried and tested (as opposed to Play! which you don't seem to like due to it being a newer framework).
I used OpenRasta and then worked on Java projects using JAX-RS. It will feel very familiar and you will get the benefits of POJOs like you get from OpenRasta's use of POCOs. I feel it's a great choice for creating RESTful services. In fact, I would probably chose it over OpenRasta now but this is more due the benefits of working within a Unix environment than the frameworks themselves.
The play framework is a popular new choice for Scala and the JVM:
http://www.playframework.org/documentation/1.2/routes
One option is Play!, which is basically framework based off Ruby on Rails.
Second option you might be interested in is Lift, which also has really cool features like comet, AJAXy snippets, etc. But it is a little bit different than Play!.
As part of this project, I would recommend Restlet which is the first and most comprehensive REST framework for Java. It works on both client and server side and is indeed resource centric, not just a MVC framework adapted to REST.
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Closed 10 years ago.
I will be finishing the core Java course and now I have to move on to Java EE side.
I am so much confused that I should simply go with Java EE 6 because I have the books which easily teach from start to end and everything is there.
Or should I start with Spring only?
Because as I have to start from scratch it is good I follow the trend which is good and more job oriented.
Or even if I do Java EE only and then if I need to move on to Spring it will be fast or vice versa.
Also where does Hibernate stand between them? I mean if I use Java EE 6, do I still need Hibernate or in Java EE 6, I don't need it.
Will I be at a disadvantage if I don't use Spring or Spring can make my building web application any way easier than the core Java EE/ JSF framework.
Though your question suggests that Spring and Java EE are two different things, in reality they are not. You can use many Java EE components like
servlets and JSP for Spring MVC,
JPA for Spring DAO.
JTA for Spring security
The only major thing Spring replaces in the Java EE stack is the EJB. Unless you insist on using EJBs, Spring should be the way to go. Also Spring provides inbuilt support for webservices and other things as well.
Also checkout the Groovy and Grails that use Spring as the base.
Finally I would say, functionality wise both does the same. It's code (Java EE) vs configuration (Spring), a matter of preference really.
All my comments should be taken with a grain of salt. I've been a Spring user since version 1.0; I've never used any version of EJB in production - from 1.0 to the present.
Spring has served me well: any technique that I would want to apply from Java EE is available to me in Spring. I've used the web services, LDAP, messaging, and portlet modules along with the usual suspects from persistence, remoting, and web MVC. The code is excellent. I find that emphasis on layering, coding to interfaces, dependency injection and aspect-oriented programming benefits my designs.
The truth is that you can choose either and make it work. There's little advantage or disadvantage at this point, because EJB 3 took so much from Spring that they're supposed to be similar. I can't say that from personal experience, because I haven't used EJB 3.
None of my employers or clients are clamoring for EJB 3. People in my market are using Spring or .NET to talk to web services over HTTP.
EJBs require that you use RMI or CORBA as your network protocol. I believe that HTTP based protocols - be it RPC-XML, SOAP, or REST - are winning, because simple and open usually does.
No one can foretell the future, so job prospect advice is worthless. Your local market conditions might not be the same as mine. You can hedge your bets and learn both. Whichever you choose, it's almost certain that you'll have to learn something new in the future that won't be either EJB or Spring. So pick one and be ready to change.
From my personal experience from learning Java EE/Web programming from the just standard Java, I tried to jump right into some of the frameworks without a clear understanding of how the Java EE/Web stuff worked. While not all of Java EE is relevant if you are using a framework like Spring, I think it is a good idea to have a good grasp of some of the underlying technologies. You don't have to go overboard, but understanding some of the basics is a good idea.
When something is not configured correctly in the libraries (like Spring) sometimes they assume a certain level of knowledge on their user's part. After struggling with a few basic issues, I spent some time and went back to the basics. After that I was better able to deal with the frameworks.
I would just forgo the EJB route though.
First please understand that Java EE is not a single specification, but a set of specifications. While Spring is a framework.
Spring has a neat integration with many Java EE specifications including EJBs.
The idea of using the specifications is to make your application portable between different implementations of this specification. Unfortunately this doesn't work very well in real life.
Now regarding Hibernate. Again: it's a framework. Java EE includes a specification called JPA. Hibernate implements JPA. You may find other implementations. So if you are using another implementation, you don't need Hibernate.
Now, you are probably want to know the bottom line. I don't really have it. If you are studying Java, the more you know, the better it will be.
If you are looking for technologies to start a new web application, I believe it's better to use Spring with a servlet container (servlet container is part of Java EE!) like Jetty or Tomcat + to use JPA (Hibernate implementation) for persistency.
Spring and Java EE 6 is in some sense similiar. They goes their way in parallel. I think it will be better if you learn Java EE 6 and then (if want/need) learn Spring.
In Java EE there is Java persistence that works very well for different database query purposes.
There is really no reason to go with Spring on a new project. There are a lot of applications out there that still use it though. You should definitely learn Java EE before Spring. Spring used to make development easier. At this point though Java EE is easier to work with and you can get rid of the Spring dependency as well.
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Closed 9 years ago.
I know recently Spring 3.0 was released which brought about a nice new set of features and ease of web development with their MVC package. However are there any new frameworks on the horizon and/or new versions of other frameworks that a web developer should have their eyes on?
I heard about the Stripes framework, but it seems as though development has stopped. It also seems grails has a new release coming out as well which that looks like it is just an update to support the new features in the latest groovy release.
Apache Wicket - light-weight component-based web application framework with strong separation of presentation and business logic.
Look also at the Spring Roo and Play framework and I almost forgot about the Vaadin. There are often enough new/upgraded java web frameworks:)
Have a look at JSF with JSR-299 in the Java EE 6 standard. You can do quite a bit, and it is standardized.
Version 2.0 of the Google Web Toolkit was released back in December. Some of the new stuff:
Development Mode: Previously you needed to use a "hosted mode" pseudo browser to quickly test your code (i.e. avoid a compile/deploy step). In 2.0, development mode allows on-the-fly running and debugging in any browser. This give big wins in speed and tooling (you can use Firebug etc.)
Speed Tracer: A plugin for Chrome that gives you highly detailed performance profiling for your GWT (or any) client AJAX code.
Compiler Optimizations: One of the great things about GWT is that the compiler is improved almost with every release meaning that you get a performance boost just by recompiling your code.
Code Splitting: You put 'splits' in your code, allowing the browser to download just the code it needs to get started and download the rest when it's needed (great for apps with very large amounts of client code).
Declarative User Interfaces: Define UIs in XML. Much less boilerplate code. XML<->Java integration via annotations.
Layout Panels: Improved, standards-compliant, base panels.
Bundled Resources: Image bundling from previous resources has been generified to allow any type of resource to be "bundled", reducing the number of requests the browser makes and allowing your app to load more quickly.
GWT works especially well with a good IDE (Eclipse or IntelliJ) since the IDE can take advantage of compile-time information from GWT, validating, on the fly your client code (since it's Java) and also things like CSS class name references and references between XML UI definitions and backing code.
I thought it was worth noting this as I just heard about the new release on java lobby. The
lift framework. It is written in scala, which is java per say.
Appfuse - Not really a framework, but it might be worth a look if you're looking for something to ease the initial ramp up effort on a Java EE project. It provides a bunch of Maven 2 archetypes that will create a "ready to run" application based on any of:
Struts 2
JSF
Tapestry 5
Spring MVC
Struts 2 is also very much worth a look. Totally different animal to Struts.
I am a reasonably competent programmer, with about 11 years experience.
I particularly like Ruby/Rails and ActionScript.
And Java is easy enough, I've used it for ordinary applications, and mostly as ones that run on the server, just not web-based ones.
I'd like to develop a web application in Java in order to leverage things like BlazeDS and help tie front-ends together with my previously-written Java apps. i.e. use existing Java code but in a web context.
But I'm having trouble - and confused - looking for a smooth start. I don't want to use Grails, been there, thanks, I want to use Pure Java, with whatever Framework you can think of. Spring, Hibernate, etc.
Where do I start?
Play Framework lets you get started quickly. http://www.playframework.org/
Spring Roo is a RAD framework for web apps. It's similar to like Rails or Grails, but uses code generation instead of metaprogramming magic.
This thread contains useful pointers on starting Java web development
http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread249070.html
Since your goal is "Pure Java," how about Wicket? Straight from their feature list:
Wicket does not mix markup with Java code and adds no special syntax to your markup files. The worlds of HTML and Java are parallel and associated only by Wicket ids, which are attributes in HTML and Component properties in Java. Since Wicket HTML is just HTML and Wicket Java is just Java, coders and designers can work independently to a large degree and without relying on any special tools.
If you want more info, there's a web page on why you should use Wicket.
I've really enjoyed working with Spring MVC. It took a while to ramp up with Spring, but the whole affair has just made since after investing the time.
I have found JavaServer Faces 2.0 using Facelets to be a good compromise between power and ease of use, plus it allows you to use a lot of extra libraries when you get more advanced.
For JBoss you need to include JSF in your web application. Download the 2.0.2 distribution and see the documentation in there.
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Closed 10 years ago.
This might be a really trivial question, but I've been writing Java programs at my school and I just found out that I can create websites with Java as well.
How can I do that? Any good books/tutorials for that?
Which is better for Web development, Java or PHP?
Also, when using PHP, MySQL comes into picture and while writing Java programs for desktop, we just use File I/O, so what is better for web dev, File I/O or MySQL?
You are asking a few different questions...
How can I create websites with Java?
The simplest way to start making websites with Java is to use JSP. JSP stands for Java Server Pages, and it allows you to embed HTML in Java code files for dynamic page creation. In order to compile and serve JSPs, you will need a Servlet Container, which is basically a web server that runs Java classes. The most popular basic Servlet Container is called Tomcat, and it's provided free by The Apache Software Foundation. Follow the tutorial that cletus provided here.
Once you have Tomcat up and running, and have a basic understanding of how to deploy JSPs, you'll probably want to start creating your own JSPs. I always like IBM developerWorks tutorials. They have a JSP tutorial here that looks alright (though a bit dated).
You'll find out that there is a lot more to Java web development than JSPs, but these tutorials will get you headed in the right direction.
PHP vs. Java
This is a pretty subjective question. PHP and Java are just tools, and in the hands of a bad programmer, any tool is useless. PHP and Java both have their strengths and weaknesses, and the discussion of them is probably outside of the scope of this post. I'd say that if you already know Java, stick with Java.
File I/O vs. MySQL
MySQL is better suited for web applications, as it is designed to handle many concurrent users. You should know though that Java can use MySQL just as easily as PHP can, through JDBC, Java's database connectivity framework.
Read the tutorial on Java Web applications.
Basically Web applications are a part of the Java EE standard. A lot of people only use the Web (servlets) part with additional frameworks thrown in, most notably Spring but also Struts, Seam and others.
All you need is an IDE like IntelliJ, Eclipse or Netbeans, the JDK, the Java EE download and a servlet container like Tomcat (or a full-blown application server like Glassfish or JBoss).
Here is a Tomcat tutorial.
I'll jump in with the notorious "Do you really want to do that" answer.
It seems like your focus is on playing with Java and seeing what it can do. However, if you want to actually develop a web app, you should be aware that, although Java is used in web applications (and in serious ones), there are other technology options which might be more adequate.
Personally, I like (and use) Java for powerful, portable backend services on a server. I've never tried building websites with it, because it never seemed the most obvious ting to do. After growing tired of PHP (which I have been using for years), I lately fell in love with Django, a Python-based web framework.
The Ruby on Rails people have a number of very funny videos on youtube comparing different web technologies to RoR. Of course, these are obviously exaggerated and maybe slightly biased, but I'd say there's more than one grain of truth in each of them. The one about Java is here. ;-)
While a lot of others should be mentioned, Apache Wicket should be preferred.
Wicket doesn't just reduce lots of boilerplate code, it actually removes it entirely and you can work with excellent separation of business code and markup without mixing the two and a wide variety of other things you can read about from the website.
Also be advised, that while Java is in general very beginner friendly, getting into JavaEE, Servlets, Facelets, Eclipse integration, JSP and getting everything in Tomcat up and running is not. Certainly not the easiest way to build a website and probably way overkill for most things.
On top of that you may need to host your website yourself, because most webspace providers don't provide Servlet Containers. If you just want to check it out for fun, I would try Ruby or Python, which are much more cooler things to fiddle around with. But anyway, to provide at least something relevant to the question, here's a nice Servlet tutorial: link
Look into creating Applets if you want to make a website with Java. You most likely wont need to use anything but regular Java, unless you want something more specialized.
I'd suggest OOWeb to act as an HTTP server and a templating engine like Velocity to generate HTML. I also second Esko's suggestion of Wicket. Both solutions are considerably simpler than the average setup.