Helping front-end developers, back-end developers, and architects understand how they can get the most out of JavaServer Faces (JSF), this guide to the new official standard for simplifying Java web development explains what JSF is, how it works, and how it relates to other frameworks and technologies like Struts, Servlets, Portlets, JSP, and JSTL. Also provided is coverage of all the standard components, renderers, converters, and validators, along with advice on how to use them to create solid applications. The building of complete JSF applications is demonstrated with an in-depth case study covering complex user interface layouts, prototyping, and integrating templates with back-end model objects. Also covered are advanced techniques like internationalization, integration with Struts, and extending JSF with custom components, renderers, converters, and validators.

I’ve always enjoyed writing. I was one of those computer geeks who found humanities classes easier, in some ways, than computer science courses—that is, if I could manage to convince my professors that I had actually read the dozens of books they gave me. In the late 1990s, I finally fused my affection for writing with my obsession for software development by writing magazine articles and performing technical book reviews. Then, in 2000, after years of financial consulting with Fortune 500 companies, I took the start-up plunge.

Okay, so it was a little late. But I was jealous of my friends who had joined start-ups and intrigued by all of those wonderful stories in magazine articles. The start-up I chose was an educational application service provider (recently acquired by McGraw-Hill) that, surprisingly, had a real business plan. A key part of our product was a web-based application, and one of my tasks, as chief architect, was to build it (with, of course, the help of other poor souls). Instead of using my own homegrown web application framework, I chose Struts, which at the time was a good decision. As I directed development through a couple of release cycles, I gained an understanding of the good and bad parts of Struts, as well as the issues involved with developing a mission-critical web application with team members who all had different backgrounds.