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Click 0.6 J2EE web application framework
URL: http://click.sourceforge.net
At 7:03 AM on Jul 4, 2005, Malcolm Edgar wrote:
Fresh Jobs for Developers Post a job opportunity
http://click.sourceforge.net
Click Highlights
* Very easy to learn
* Component and Page Oriented design
* Event base programming model
* Automatic form validation
* Page templating
* Velocity page rendering
* Superb error reporting
* High performance
Why Click
What to know why anyone would want to build another web application framework please see Why Click?
http://click.sourceforge.net/docs/why-click.html
Road Map and Changes
http://click.sourceforge.net/docs/roadmap-changes.html
regards Malcolm Edgar
4 replies so far (
Post your own)
Re: Click 0.6 J2EE web application framework
It looks interesting. I`m currently looking for a more 'swing' based web framework like Tapestry/JSF (using maverick at the moment). I haven`t looked thoroughly at Simple (but it does look simple)But I have some questions:
-how do you deal with page state? With Tapestry this is simple..you can add it to the property description and tapestry does the rest
-how do you deal with interpage calls? With Tapestry I can say:
PersonForm form = (PersonForm)cycle.getPage("PersonForm");
form.initForEdit(john);
cycle.activate(form);
This is a lot better than what I`m used to (Maverick + JSF).
-how easy is it to use 'objects' in html? With tapestry I can register certain classes (like Employee) to be 'serializable' (read object->String/String->Object). Tapestry takes care for translating it to a usable String, and retrieves an object that belongs to a String.
-how easy is it to parametrize calls to page-methods? I know it is easy to use non-parametrized methods in Click.
With tapestry (the newest version: 4) you can write a true method call in the html (and this certainly gives a very good feeling).
-how easy is it to create friendly url`s? With Tapestry this is quite difficult although 4.0 should be better.
These are the most important questions that come to mind at the moment.
remark:
My problem with Tapestry is that it is quite complex. And I`m afraid our developteam will have difficulties using it.
Re: Click 0.6 J2EE web application framework
Hi Alamnummer,Page State
Click doesn't automatically support page state as does Tapestry.
However you will find the Forms and Controls handle their state themselves. For example when a form has been posted, and its not valid, the Form will render itself with the submitted values and the field validation error messages automatically.
The HiddenField control allows you to store serializable Java objects inside a form. Handy for keeping sessions lean.
Interpage Calls
With Click if you want to pass information to a page you have to set a request attribute (when you forward to a page):
public boolean onViewClick() {
Long id = viewLink.getValueLong();
Customer customer = CustomerDAO.findByPK(id);
getContext().setRequestAttribute("customer", customer);
setForward("view-customer.htm");
return false;
}
When you redirect to another page you will need to set a request parameter:
Long transId = PurchaseDAO.insert(purchase);
setRedirect("trans-complete.htm?trans-id=" + transId);
Otherwise you can always pass values as session attributes. Please see the Page navigation topic for details:
http://click.sourceforge.net/docs/pages.html#page-navigation
Please note with Tapestry page there is a hidden danger you need to be aware of. Pages are pooled, and are not recreated with every request. Developers need to ensure they don't setup any object callbacks (action listener style inner classes) to page instances as you might be given an different page instance when processing a later request.
Parameterised Callback Methods
At the moment Click callbacks methods don't support parameters. This was chosen for simplicity.
Clicks initial design used Delphi style callbacks, where the sender is the object invoking the method. From the sender object you can get any parameter info you need:
public boolean onClick(Object sender) { .. }
However I found I rarely ever used the sender parameter, as was the case with Delphi, and I eliminated it for the sake of simplicity (a high priority with Click).
However that said, I would be open to having Click call a method with a Object parameter if available, otherwise calling a no-args method.
Friendly URLs
Click URL's are simple and are compatible with Servlet path based security model.
Simplicity
Many of the features Tapestry has are not present in Click for the sake of simplicity. Click is much eaiser to learn and understand as a result.
Click API has 31 classes and interfaces.
Tapestry API has 680 classes and interfaces.
Re: Click 0.6 J2EE web application framework
Page StateClick doesn't automatically support page state as does Tapestry.
------------------------------
That is a shame because it helped me to do some complex things very simple.
Interpage Calls
With Click if you want to pass information to a page you have to set a request attribute (when you forward to a page):
public boolean onViewClick() {
Long id = viewLink.getValueLong();
Customer customer = CustomerDAO.findByPK(id);
getContext().setRequestAttribute("customer", customer);
setForward("view-customer.htm");
return false;
}
When you redirect to another page you will need to set a request parameter:
Long transId = PurchaseDAO.insert(purchase);
setRedirect("trans-complete.htm?trans-id=" + transId);
Otherwise you can always pass values as session attributes. Please see the Page navigation topic for details:
---------------------------------------
The interpage calls just made me so happy. In the beginning (Maverick/Tapestry) I had to fiddle around with url`s and parameters and it makes my head hurt. That is why I liked tapestry.. think in objects/methods and not in html/url`s.
Please note with Tapestry page there is a hidden danger you need to be aware of. Pages are pooled, and are not recreated with every request. Developers need to ensure they don't setup any object callbacks (action listener style inner classes) to page instances as you might be given an different page instance when processing a later request.
-----------------------------------------
Yes.. this is something that has to be remembered.
Parameterised Callback Methods
At the moment Click callbacks methods don't support parameters. This was chosen for simplicity.
Clicks initial design used Delphi style callbacks, where the sender is the object invoking the method. From the sender object you can get any parameter info you need:
public boolean onClick(Object sender) { .. }
However I found I rarely ever used the sender parameter, as was the case with Delphi, and I eliminated it for the sake of simplicity (a high priority with Click).
However that said, I would be open to having Click call a method with a Object parameter if available, otherwise calling a no-args method.
------------------------------
I think they are easy to use. It is easy that you can use a method in html and don`t have to do strange things just for sake of using something simple (a lot of simple things are very complex in webpages).
Friendly URLs
Click URL's are simple and are compatible with Servlet path based security model.
------------------------------------
Do you have a single servlet? Tapestry does. and you will get url`s like:
foo?service=Page/Management
(and it will be uglier if you add more and more parameters)
Simplicity
Many of the features Tapestry has are not present in Click for the sake of simplicity. Click is much eaiser to learn and understand as a result.
Click API has 31 classes and interfaces.
Tapestry API has 680 classes and interfaces.
------------------------------
That could be a good thing although it shouldn`t be simpeler than needed. The page state.. hmm.. not that important at the moment. But the interpage calls/method calls on pages are important to me.
But how does your system deal with object->String/String->Object?
If I want to use select (with a select input) a person. How are the persons 'serialized' into the html? And how are the objects restored if you are back in java?
Re: Click 0.6 J2EE web application framework
Interpage CallsI could modify the framework so you could create a new Page instance, which would then be set as a request attribute when forwarding to another page. This would then alow you to:
NextPage nextPage = (NextPage) getContext().createPage("nextpage.htm");
nextPage.setCustomer(customer);
forward("nextpage.htm");
Mmm, I think this is a good idea.
Method Calls
I am not sure if we are talking about the same thing. If you are refering to calling a method directly from your HTML template when rendering, yes Velocity does this really well.
Friendly URLs
Click URLs are very basic, and are layed out in the click.xml configuration file. Each URL path points to a Page class. So you will get things like:
/action-table.htm -> examples.page.ActionTable
An ActionLink URL on this page could be:
/action-table.htm?actionLink=deleteLink&value=2023
Click applications use a single servlet.
Object Serialization
The HiddenField control converts primitive Java Object into string values, while more complex Serializable objects are serialized via:
object -> ObjectOutputStream -> GZIPOutputStream -> ByteArrayOutputStream -> Base64.encode -> string
Deserialization is the reverse of this process.