[jsr-314-open-mirror] [jsr-314-open] Servlet-API dependency with resources

[Neil Griffin]

Hi Guys,

While developing the portletfaces-bridge [1] I discovered a Servlet-API dependency with the way JSF 2.0 implements detection of resource requests.

Specifically, javax.faces.application.Resource.getRequestPath() [2] states that "/javax.faces.resource" [3] must be part of the return value of the path.

Now... it's true that the Javadoc for javax.faces.application.Resource.getRequestPath() [2] adds:
	"Make it portlet safe by passing the result through ViewHandler.getResourceURL(javax.faces.context.FacesContext, java.lang.String)" [4]

... but this isn't good enough. To make a long story short, the Portlet 2.0 API does not provide access to the URL requested by the userAgent/browser. It only provides access to request parameters. So there is no way for a portlet bridge to examine the request path. In fact, the behavior of ExternalContext.getRequestPathInfo() [5] and ExternalContext.getRequestServletPath() [6] are undefined for portlets, because there are no equivalent methods in the javax.portlet.PortletRequest class like there is for javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest. So it's just not appropriate for a JSF implementation to rely on them to behave like their Servlet API counterparts.

Therefore, in order to provide compatibility with portlets, I propose that for JSF 2.1, we deprecate:
	- The presence of "/javax.faces.resource/resource-name" in the path

And change it to this:
	- The presence of a "javax.faces.resource" request parameter with value resource-name.

Using this method, custom implementations of ResourceHandler that are present in component-suites can add additional request parameters to help them identify themselves as a custom resource request.

Thoughts? I've got it coded up in the bridge and it seems to be working fine.

Thanks guys,

Neil

[1] http://www.portletfaces.org/projects/portletfaces-bridge
[2] https://javaserverfaces.dev.java.net/nonav/docs/2.0/javadocs/javax/faces/application/Resource.html#getRequestPath()
[3] https://javaserverfaces.dev.java.net/nonav/docs/2.0/javadocs/javax/faces/application/ResourceHandler.html#RESOURCE_IDENTIFIER
[4] https://javaserverfaces.dev.java.net/nonav/docs/2.0/javadocs/javax/faces/application/ViewHandler.html#getResourceURL(javax.faces.context.FacesContext, java.lang.String)
[5] https://javaserverfaces.dev.java.net/nonav/docs/2.0/javadocs/javax/faces/context/ExternalContext.html#getRequestPathInfo()
[6] https://javaserverfaces.dev.java.net/nonav/docs/2.0/javadocs/javax/faces/context/ExternalContext.html#getRequestServletPath()