Recommended JSF 2.0 CRUD frameworks [closed]

Can somebody recommend any framework to facilitate CRUD development in JSF 2.0?

Aspects I value most:

  • As lightweight as possible; limited dependencies on third party libraries
  • Support for an evolving domain model
  • Limited need for repetitive coding; support for scaffolding and/or metaannotations

Any hints highly appreciated! Yours, J.


CRUD is indeed a piece of cake using JSF 2.0 provided standard facility: a @ViewScoped bean in combination with a <h:dataTable> basically already suffices. Here's a code example which is shamelessly copied from this article.

Bean:

package com.example;

import java.io.Serializable;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import javax.annotation.PostConstruct;
import javax.faces.bean.ManagedBean;
import javax.faces.bean.ViewScoped;

@ManagedBean
@ViewScoped
public class Bean implements Serializable {

    private List<Item> list;
    private Item item = new Item();
    private boolean edit;

    @PostConstruct
    public void init() {
        // list = dao.list();
        // Actually, you should retrieve the list from DAO. This is just for demo.
        list = new ArrayList<Item>();
        list.add(new Item(1L, "item1"));
        list.add(new Item(2L, "item2"));
        list.add(new Item(3L, "item3"));
    }

    public void add() {
        // dao.create(item);
        // Actually, the DAO should already have set the ID from DB. This is just for demo.
        item.setId(list.isEmpty() ? 1 : list.get(list.size() - 1).getId() + 1);
        list.add(item);
        item = new Item(); // Reset placeholder.
    }

    public void edit(Item item) {
        this.item = item;
        edit = true;
    }

    public void save() {
        // dao.update(item);
        item = new Item(); // Reset placeholder.
        edit = false;
    }

    public void delete(Item item) {
        // dao.delete(item);
        list.remove(item);
    }

    public List<Item> getList() {
        return list;
    }

    public Item getItem() {
        return item;
    }

    public boolean isEdit() {
        return edit;
    }

    // Other getters/setters are actually unnecessary. Feel free to add them though.

}

Page:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
      xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
      xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html">
    <h:head>
        <title>Really simple CRUD</title>
    </h:head>
    <h:body>
        <h3>List items</h3>
        <h:form rendered="#{not empty bean.list}">
            <h:dataTable value="#{bean.list}" var="item">
                <h:column><f:facet name="header">ID</f:facet>#{item.id}</h:column>
                <h:column><f:facet name="header">Value</f:facet>#{item.value}</h:column>
                <h:column><h:commandButton value="edit" action="#{bean.edit(item)}" /></h:column>
                <h:column><h:commandButton value="delete" action="#{bean.delete(item)}" /></h:column>
            </h:dataTable>
        </h:form>
        <h:panelGroup rendered="#{empty bean.list}">
            <p>Table is empty! Please add new items.</p>
        </h:panelGroup>
        <h:panelGroup rendered="#{!bean.edit}">
            <h3>Add item</h3>
            <h:form>
                <p>Value: <h:inputText value="#{bean.item.value}" /></p>
                <p><h:commandButton value="add" action="#{bean.add}" /></p>
            </h:form>
        </h:panelGroup>
        <h:panelGroup rendered="#{bean.edit}">
            <h3>Edit item #{bean.item.id}</h3>
            <h:form>
                <p>Value: <h:inputText value="#{bean.item.value}" /></p>
                <p><h:commandButton value="save" action="#{bean.save}" /></p>
            </h:form>
        </h:panelGroup>
    </h:body>
</html>

Further, Netbeans has some useful wizards to genreate a CRUD application based on a datamodel.


JSF 2.0 itself. CRUD is very easy to do with JSF alone - no need for any other framework. You need

  • 1 managed bean (annotated with @ManagedBean)
  • 2 xhtml pages (facelets) - one for list and one for edit/create
  • A <h:dataTable> with anedit link/button, by which you set the current row object in the managed bean (using action="#{bean.edit(currentRowObject)}"). (In JSF 1.2 this was achieved by <f:setPropertyActionListener>)
  • Action methods (void, with no arguments) to handle the operations
  • @PostConstruct to load the data initially.

I created this one to speed up process of jsf crud application creation: https://github.com/ignl/happyfacescrud Out of box search, lazy data table, viewing/editing, custom components that reduces code dramatically and of course flexible.