JavaServer Faces Training: Introduction

JSF Training Overview

nTier's Introduction to JSF training course teaches Java web developers how to use JavaServer Faces in their web applications. JavaServer Faces (JSF) is a specification that applies traditional GUI frameworks and architectures to web applications. Students will learn the standard JSF tag libraries and write managed beans and event handlers. They will also write configuration files for managed beans and navigation in XML. Data table components are used to easily display data from databases and other sources in an HTML table. Validation and conversion is then covered including customization of these phases. This course ends with creation of custom components and an appendix on internationalization topics.

JSF Training Learning Objectives

• Describe the JavaServer Faces (JSF) architecture

• Build a JSF component tree with Core and HTML tag libraries

• Create JavaBeans with properties and methods that are bound to JSF components

• Describe the six phases of the JSF request-processing life cycle

• Use both Action Events and Value Change Events to react to user interface interactions

• Perform configuration of JSF applications

• Use the data table component to present tabular information

• Write your own validators and converters to validate user input

• Write a custom component to aggregate two or more simpler components

JSF Training Prerequisites

Java Programming and JavaServer Pages. Programming experience with Java Servlets recommended.

JSF Training Outline

1. Getting Started with JSF

   • GUI Development

   • JavaServer Faces

   • A JSF Application

   • JSF Components

   • Managed Beans

   • Configuration Files

   • JSF Application Structure

   • Running the Application

2. JSF Tag Libraries

   • The JSF Component Tree

   • JSF Tag Libraries

   • Forms

   • Input Tags

   • Output Tags

   • Buttons and Links

   • Checkboxes

   • Radio Buttons, Listboxes, and Menus

   • Panels

3. Managed Beans

   • Managed Beans and MVC

   • Properties

   • Configuring Beans

   • Bean Scope

   • Value Bindings

   • Method Bindings

   • Dynamic Beans - Lists

   • Dynamic Beans - Maps

   • Advanced Property Initialization

4. JSF Lifecycle and Event Handling

   • JSF Lifecycle Overview

   • Restore View Phase

   • Apply Request Values Phase

   • Process Validation Phase

   • Update Model Values Phase

   • Invoke Application Phase

   • Render Response Phase

   • JSF Events

   • Action Events

   • Value Change Events

   • Immediate Events

5. Navigation

   • Navigating Through a JSF Application

   • Basic Navigation Configuration

   • From View Id

   • From Action

   • Forward vs. Redirect

6. Data Table Component

   • Data and Tables

   • Basic Structure

   • Headers and Footers

   • Styles

   • Adding Editable Components

   • DataModel

   • Sorting

   • Scrolling

7. Validators and Converters

   • Validation and Conversion within the JSF Lifecycle

   • Converting Dates

   • Converting Numbers

   • Displaying Conversion Errors

   • Built-In Validators

   • Customizing Error Messages

   • Writing Your Own Converter

   • Custom Converter Configuration

   • Writing Your Own Validator

8. Introduction to Custom Components

   • Why Custom Components?

   • Important JSF API Classes

   • Custom Component Building Blocks

   • Writing the Custom Component Class

   • Encoding

   • Using the ResponseWriter

   • Decoding

   • Writing the Tag Class

   • Building the TLD

   • Configuring the Custom Component

   • Using the Custom Component