simongbrown's blog

Comparing webapp frameworks : WebWork

Like Struts, WebWork is a framework that is fairly established within the J2EE webapp space although it's interesting that I've only ever come across two types of WebWork users - those that have never heard of it and those that love it.

Comparing webapp frameworks : Stripes

Stripes is a relatively new web application framework that's been built with a couple of things in mind - simplicity and the adoption of new technology. In Stripes, you won't find any complex XML configuration files and, refreshingly, the distribution only requires/includes a small number of dependent JAR files.

Comparing webapp frameworks : Wicket

Guillermo Castro has posted a Wicket implementation of the webapp comparison that I started a while ago. It's an interesting read and the contrast with most page/request based webapp frameworks is amazing. In summary, Guillermo says:

Comparing webapp frameworks : Struts

Struts is the grandaddy of Java webapp frameworks so it's fitting that we start our tour here. I think it's probably safe to say that Struts was the first model 2 (web MVC) framework to gain widespread adoption in the Java arena and to this day it's still used by many people.

Comparing webapp frameworks : Model 1 with JSP XML

For completeness, I wanted to show how the JSP pages from the JSTL version could be written using the JSP XML syntax.

Comparing webapp frameworks : Model 1 with JSTL

It's been a while since the last blog entry, but let's continue our look at the webapp frameworks with another model 1 implementation, this time using the JavaServer Pages Standard Tag Library (JSTL).

Comparing webapp frameworks : Model 1 with scriptlets

Before we dive into the frameworks, I want to drop back to basics to give some context behind why the frameworks exist and what benefits they provide. For this reason, let's look at a naive model 1 implementation of the sample application. If you're already familiar with the whole model 1 vs. model 2 thing, you might want to skip reading this particular entry.

Comparing webapp frameworks : Domain model

Before we kick off our look at webapp frameworks, let's establish the domain model we're working with. It's pretty simple - blogs and blog entries, residing in a package called domain.

Comparing webapp frameworks : Requirements

So, to compare webapp frameworks we need an example web application. I've chosen to build a simple blog. Here are the functional requirements.

Comparing webapp frameworks : Why?

After posting Comparing webapp frameworks : Introduction yesterday, I got lots of feedback - some good, some bad. So, why am I doing this?

First off, here are some of the negative comments.