[JBoss Seam] - Application Layering
by David Radunz
Hi All,
We are about to cut over to JSF / Seam for our new web framework and
we need to be able to layer the technology. I can see there being a few
ways to achieve this, but I am not entirely sure what the best approach
is. What I mean by layering is to have say a core layer of ejb3 classes
and XHTML pages/components, then a product layer of ejb3 classes and
XHTML pages/components and then possibly another layer under that with
it's own ejb3 classes and XHTML. The idea would be to be able to load a
specific resource (xhtml or ejb3) using a generic (EL) name, and have
the appropriate resource loaded from the most defined layer.
For example (ejb3 layering):
Core layer:
Core/src/org/example/beans/MyBean (annotated with @Name("bean"))
Product layer:
Product/src/org/example/product/beans/MyBean (annotated with
@Name("bean"), extends org.example.product.beans.MyBean)
Customised product layer:
Site/src/org/example/product/site/beans/MyBean (annotated with
@Name("bean"), extends org.example.product.beans.MyBean)
And simply used in EL (somewhere in the XHTML) as perhaps:
<h:outputText value="#{bean.item}" />
Which should load the customised product layer instance of MyBean, if
it's defined - Otherwise the product, then the core.
For example (XHTML layering):
Core layer:
Core/view/pages/header.xhtml
Product layer:
Product/view/product/pages/header.xhtml
Customised product layer:
Site/view/product/site/pages/header.xhtml
And simply used in EL...
<ui:include src="#{pages.header}"/>
Which should load the customised product layer instance of header.xhtml,
if it's defined - Otherwise the product, then the core.
I have an idea how to implement the XHTML resource loading solution by
using resource bundles, and layering the resource bundles (as described
in the internationalisation documentation). However, I want to make both
approaches consistent and I am not entirely sure what the "best" way to
do this is. Has anyone faced a similar issue? Is this catered for in the
framework already? Could I address the issue for the ejb3 sourcing with
a factory? And if so, could the factory also source other kinds of beans
than just entity beans..
Thanks for your help,
David
--
David Radunz
Senior Perl Developer
Utiba Pty Ltd
ph: +613 9606 0444
ad: Level 6, 190 Queen St, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia
18Â years, 10Â months
