Sun's JavaServer Faces (JSF) technology is a server-side user interface
component framework for building Java technology-based web applications.
The main components of JavaServer Faces technology are as follows:
An API for representing UI components and managing their state; handling
events, server-side validation, and data conversion; defining page navigation;
supporting internationalization and accessibility; and providing extensibility
for all these features.
Various tag libraries for expressing UI components within web pages and for
wiring components to server-side objects
JavaServer Faces technology provides a well-defined programming model and various
tag libraries. These features significantly ease the burden of building and
maintaining web applications with server-side UIs. With minimal effort, you can:
Construct a UI with reusable and extensible components
Drop components onto a page by adding component tags
Wire component-generated events to server-side application code
Bind UI components on a page to server-side data
Save and restore UI state beyond the life of server requests
For a complete description of the JSF framework, including documentation
and tutorials, see:
The IDE provides functional support for the JavaServer Faces framework by including
the following features:
Project creation support: The JavaServer Faces structural
template is included in the Frameworks panel of the New Web Application wizard,
enabling you to create new projects with built-in JSF support.
Editor support: Editor support is provided for Facelets
pages and configuration files.
Palette support: JSF tags are added to the Palette as
drag-and-drop components.
Wizard support: Numerous wizards become available for
quick code template generation, including:
JSF Pages from Entity Classes wizard
to generate a collection of files, classes and front-end pages for CRUD
functionality with a back-end data store.
Facelets Template wizard to create
a Facelets template. The wizard provides numerous layout options.
Composite Component wizard for
creating composite user interface (UI) components, which can be reused in web
pages.
Because JSF 2.0 (JSR-314) requires Java EE 6, support for JSF 2.0 is available
based on your project's Java EE version. IDE continues to provide support for
JSF 1.2 (JSR 127). This support is automatically available to you if your project
does not rely on Java EE 6.
For more information on the JSF Framework, see the following resources:
NetBeans Documentation:
JSF 2.0 Support in NetBeans IDE 6.8:
Generating a JavaServer Faces 2.0 CRUD Application from a Database:
Introduction to JSF 2.0:
Introduction to JSF 1.2:
External Resources:
Official JavaServer Faces Framework documentation:
The Java EE 6 Tutorial, Chapter 5: JavaServer Faces Technology