difference between JSR168 & Struts portlet

[manish ahuja]

Hi All,

I have recently started working on a project using portal & portlets.
What I would like to know what is the difference between a JSR-168 portlet & struts portlet. How does their base functionality differ. Which one to use in what situations. I have also heard about the term SpringPortlet.

Can someone throw some light on this topic as to what are the different types of portlets available from the Java portlet/portal point of view.


Regards

[Cameron Wallace McKenzie]

There's a great demand for information on creating Struts and JSF portlets. I put together a few tutorials on how to build them. You can find the tutorials here:

Building Struts and Java Server Faces (JSF) JSR168 Portlets

Basically, the JSR168 API is very similar to the Servlet and JSP API, providing facilities for handling a request and response from a client, and managing data with a PortletSession. However, the JSR168 API doesn't provide any built in facilities for form handilng, error feedback, memento patterning, or even multi-page, multi-state application management (nor does the Servlet and JSP API). For handingl these things, frameworks like Struts and JSF have emerged.

Basically, a JSF or Struts portlet simply leverages the Struts or JSF framework, allowing a developer to create a Struts or JSF application, with all of the benefits of JSF or Struts, but fundamentally, delpoy that application as a portlet.

Hope that helps!

-Cameron McKenzie

[manish ahuja]

Hi Cameron

That explanation was indeed helpful.

In our post you mentioned about multi-page, multi-state application management.

I would want to know what these features mean & how frameworks like Struts address the same.
If someone can post some pointers it would be of great help.

Regards

[Cameron Wallace McKenzie]

Struts and JSF applications use config files that help control or maintain possible navigation states. Legal forwards and page transitions are lightly sprinkled in these files.

They also provide mechanisms for validating data, and often custom tags for redering content and error messages back to the user, so you don't have to figure out how to do that on your own.

It's all good stuff, but stuff the JSR168 API doesn't do on its own.

-Cameron McKenzie

[Rolley Jain]

Hi Cameron,

Can you elaborate more on difference between JSR168 and JSF portlet. Also can you explain how JSF framework handles memento patterning.

Thanks

[Vasundhara Sahi]

Cameron Wallace McKenzie wrote:There's a great demand for information on creating Struts and JSF portlets. I put together a few tutorials on how to build them. You can find the tutorials here:

Building Struts and Java Server Faces (JSF) JSR168 Portlets

Basically, the JSR168 API is very similar to the Servlet and JSP API, providing facilities for handling a request and response from a client, and managing data with a PortletSession. However, the JSR168 API doesn't provide any built in facilities for form handilng, error feedback, memento patterning, or even multi-page, multi-state application management (nor does the Servlet and JSP API). For handingl these things, frameworks like Struts and JSF have emerged.

Basically, a JSF or Struts portlet simply leverages the Struts or JSF framework, allowing a developer to create a Struts or JSF application, with all of the benefits of JSF or Struts, but fundamentally, delpoy that application as a portlet.

Hope that helps!

-Cameron McKenzie

Hi Cameron,

Read your book portlet book and it was very useful.

Want to buy JSF made easy. On Amazon its out of stock.

Please share your views on the same.

Thanks