RichFaces provides out-of-the-box "richness" for JSF Web applications
On March 5, 2007, Red Hat and Exadel announced a strategic partnership to open source and bring Exadel's Ajax4jsf, RichFaces, and Studio Pro products to JBoss as JBoss Ajax4jsf, JBoss RichFaces, and JBoss Developer Studio, respectively.
The latest version of RichFaces is 3.2.0, released March 31, 2008.
RichFaces is a rich component library for JSF and an advanced framework for easily integrating AJAX capabilities into business application development. The RichFaces components come ready to use out-of-the-box, so developers can immediately save time in taking advantage of component features to create Web applications that provide greatly improved user experience more reliably and more quickly. RichFaces also includes strong support for the skinnability of JSF applications. RichFaces also takes full advantage of the benefits of the JSF framework including lifecycle, validation, and conversion facilities, along with the management of static and dynamic resources.
RichFaces differs from other AJAX approaches by enabling page-oriented AJAX support instead of the traditional component-oriented support. This means you can define an event in the page that invokes a particular AJAX request and then you can also define those areas of the page that need to be synchronized with the JSF Component Tree after this particular AJAX request is processed on the server.
JBoss RichFaces Key Functionality
| Set of ready-made AJAX components and the ability to add AJAX capabilities to existing components | Create Web applications that are as responsive as regular desktop applications. All of this without having to write a single line of JavaScript code! |
| Leverage the whole set of JSF benefits while working with AJAX | RichFaces is fully integrated into the JSF lifecycle. While other frameworks only give you access to the managed bean facility, RichFaces takes advantage of the action and value change listeners as well as being able to invoke server-side validators and converters during the AJAX request-response cycle. |
| Add AJAX capability to existing JSF applications | The RichFaces adds page-wide Ajax functionality into existing pages, so there is no need to write any JavaScript code or to replace existing components with new Ajax one. |
| Skinnable components | Gain more flexibility in trying out different look-and-feel options within a serviceable off-the-shelf Web design when developing applications. This flexibility allows the delivery of projects focused on business goals more quickly. |
| A large number of components | The component-based approach to Web development exemplified in JSF shows great promise for faster more reliable development, but requires getting quality components to use that are powerful and can be used right out-of-the box. RichFaces provides components that allow developers to speedily reap these benefits of component-based development. |
| Write your own custom rich components with built-in AJAX support | A full Maven-based Component Development Kit (CDK) is part of the RichFaces project. The CDK includes a code-generation facility and a templating facility using a JSP-like syntax. These capabilities help to minimize or eliminate the routine of component creation. The component factory works like a well-oiled machine cranking out first-class rich components with built-in Ajax functionality even more easily than simpler components created by traditional coding. |
| Package resources with the application's Java classes | RichFaces also provides advanced support for the management of different resources: pictures, JavaScript code, and CSS stylesheets. The resource framework makes it possible to easily pack these resources into JAR files along with the code for your custom components. |
| Test the components, actions, listeners, and pages as you create them | An automated testing facility will generate test cases for your component as soon as you develop it. The testing framework doesn't just test the components, but also any other server-side or client-side functionality including JavaScript code. What's more, it will do all of this without the deployment of the test application into the Servlet container. |
Example of Adding AJAX Support with RichFaces
About The Project
| Community | JBoss forums are the main channel of communication between all community members. If you experience problems, have questions, or simply want to meet the community, visit the RichFaces' forums. |
| Knowledge | |
| Acknowledgements |
RichFaces was originally developed and
open-sourced at JBoss by Exadel.
Visit Exadel's Web 2.0 Center of Excellence to
learn more about how Exadel can help you build
and deploy mission-critical AJAX-enabled applications
across your enterprise.
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