Creating mashup applications using IBM JWL and GMAPS4JSF in a WebSphere 7.0 environment

In the previous Article JSF 2.0 Ajax World gmaps4jsf, I explained how GMAPS4JSF can be used to integrate Google maps and JavaServer Faces (JSF), which allows JSF users to construct complex, through several JSF tags Panoramic images and maps of the streets. You can also easily add different components (tags, informational text, controls, ground overlays (ground overlays), polygons, and polylines) to the results map. GMAPS4JSF even allows you to add different events to the component without having to write JavaScript code that binds the event to the component. JSF users need to write JavaScript code only when implementing the component's event handlers. GMAPS4JSF is a mashup library of JSF that makes it easy for JSF users to build WEB 2.0 mashup applications.

The JavaServer Faces Widget Library (JWL) is a JSF-based Web Part gallery in IBM that contains a number of components for building rich Web applications. JWL also provides asynchronous JavaScript + XML (AJAX) tags for dynamically adding Ajax behavior to JSF.

In this article, I'll explain how to use the GMAPS4JSF component in a JWL application in Rational Software Architect for WebSphere Software (RSA) 7.5. I'll show you step-by-step how to create a mashup JWL application that uses a different GMAPS4JSF component.

Create a Mashup JWL application from scratch

In the JWL application, if the user enters an address and clicks Go! button, the location of the address will appear in the map, and its street preview image will appear in the Street Panorama (Streetviewpanorama).

Create JWL Web Project

The first step in creating a JWL mashup application is to create a Faces project. Figure 1 shows the initial creation screen for a dynamic Web project. Make sure to enter the project name and select Faces project in the Configuration combo box.

Figure 1. The initial creation screen of a dynamic WEB project