Primefaces 3.0 released: Ajax, mobile and IE 9 components for jsf2

This article is from my translation on infoq Chinese siteArticle, Original address is: http://www.infoq.com/cn/news/2012/05/primefaces-3-released

Primefaces is an open source component library for jsf2. it provides a large number of Ajax controls. It provides common components required by application developers, such as data tables, trees, foldable panes, Automatic completion, and tabs. In addition, it provides other particularly interesting components that are not available to competitors, such:

• Bread navigation
• Simple workbooks
• Calendar View
• Star Rating
• Wizard
• Manual image Cropping
• Growl notifications

In addition to the above components, primefaces also provides image comparison, Tag Cloud generation, and even OS X-style stack implementation. According to prime teknoloji (the company behind primefaces), one reason for this diversity is that the company is not a software vendor. It is actually a consulting company that helps its customers better use primefaces.

This is a major difference between primefaces and competitors, because Prime teknoloji is both a database producer and a database user when it represents its customers. This has a very important impact on core development, because important bugs need to be fixed as soon as possible. Maintaining the lightweight and usability of the database is also a major goal of primefaces, because any deviation will be immediately noticed by customers of prime teknoloji.

Primefaces also provides primefaces mobile, a version for iPhone/Android (based on jquery mobile ).

Infoq was lucky enough to interview the project leader? A? Atay? Ivici for more information about this release:

Infoq:What are the new features of primefaces 3.x?

The development of primefaces 3 lasted for nearly one year, and 2. x, 3. Various new components are provided, some previous components are re-implemented, Internal enhancements are made to improve performance, resource loading is optimized, and more flexible Ajax behavior callback is provided. All in all, you can think of primefaces 2.x as a port of primefaces 1.x( for JSF 1.2) for JSF 2.0.

Infoq:What is the compatibility between this version and primefaces 2.x? Is migration very convenient? Will you still support primefaces 2.x and fix the bug?

Migration is not difficult, but not so easy, mainly because of the component callback implemented through Ajax Behavior Events. Primefaces 3.x is an important milestone for us. This is one reason why the development has lasted for nearly a year, because it is an opportunity to make important changes. Starting from primefaces 3, the framework will be more stable.

Infoq:Can primefaces be used together with other JSF libraries (such as iceface and richfaces )?

We have never used primefaces in combination with other libraries, but our users have done so. Primefaces and richfaces both use jquery, so they can be used at the same time as long as they are included in jquery on each page. As for icefaces, we do not know whether users have used them at the same time. This may be determined by the nature of icefaces D2d.

Infoq:How important is HTML5 for you? Is it convenient to add HTML5 support?

HTML5 is very important for us because it provides us with a development environment to use the modularity in primefaces. We integrate HTML5 into primefaces by means of elegant degradation. For example, the fileupload component supports Ajax upload, multi-file selection, and Drag and Drop File Upload from the file system, however, in browsers that do not support HTML5, IFRAME is used for transmission. In addition, the chart component uses the HTML5 Canvas Element. We also use a lot of data-* features. For primefaces push, it is implemented through websockets.

Infoq:What is the current development goal? What are the features of primefaces 4 worth looking forward?

There is no plan for primefaces 4, and we will continue to spend some time on primefaces 3. X. Currently, the release of primefaces 3.1 includes seven new components, many components have added many new features, and a lot of maintenance work is also carried out. Our roadmap is to deliver the features most desired by users and our own ideas. Of course, there are also improvements to the database quality. There must be some special reason when we decide to develop primefaces 4.

Infoq:What is the release plan for major and minor versions?

Starting from primefaces 3.x, we plan to release a new primefaces 3.x iteration every month.

Java artifacts is not in Maven central yet. It is only in primefaces repository (prime teknoloji is currently working on this issue. For more information, see references, forums, and Wiki. ItsSource codeHosted on Google Code.

View Original English text:Primefaces 3.0 released: Ajax, mobile and IE 9 components for jsf2