Two ways to start with Seam Framework

Seam is an Open Source framework for building Web Java EE.

Main functionalities includes:

• building managed beans on the fly for web modules
• building EJB components in contexts richer that the three standard contexts for web apps (application, session and request)
• useful JSF elements
• many many other functionalities, but I wil not still from you the pleasure to discover these reading the official reference guide, which worths every minute spent

When we want to create a project structure for a Seam Java EE application we have two options: generate application using seam-gen or create that using JBossTools, an Eclipse plugin published by JBoss. I will not introduce you to the details of these processes, but I will insist on the consequences and what you can expect.

Create application with JBossTools

JBossTools is an Eclipse plug-in dedicated to manage this kind of application. More precisely, it offers a wizard which can be used to generate Seam Web applications. In the dialog boxes of this wizard you should specify all the start up information, including project names and modules, package names and persistence configuration. Using dialog boxes the process of creating the application becomes almost trivial.

JBossTools also offers a lot of functionalities which can be used after the project generation. It contains complex editors for web pages and for specific configuration files. In the same time, using additional wizards, we can add new components to the application. Yopu can generate entities from relational databases, creating web pages for generated entities, add new EJB or client modules and many others.

Generate application using seam-gen

Seam Framework contains in its distribution a tool to generate Seam Java EE projects. Unlike JBossTools, this is a command line tool. It is based on Ant, so is executed in a similar way like a regular Ant taks. In order to generate the application, seam-gen needs also some information. They are the almost the same as in the case of JBossTools.

After you configure and execute seam-gen tool, the result will be produced in the form of a folder in which you will find everything required to build a Seam Web application. seam-gen will generate projects for Eclipse and NetBeans.

Strong/weak points

The two folder structures are not identical at all. JBossTools uses a project for every module of the Java EE application. seam-gen, on the contrary, uses a single project, containing a folder structure having everything you need to build and deploy all the application mdoules. JBossTools has an advantage on that, having a separate structure for every module helps to have an image about the project more closer to the final product.

JBossTool allows fast project configurations, using dialog boxes to set up every property of the projects. On the other hand, seam-gen uses for building and deploying an Ant build script. Using the Ant script is, of course, more harder to manage than a dialog box. Still, the build script is more flexible, practically we can take and implement any decision we like. For begginers the Ant script can seem intimidant, first choise would be JBossTools way. For the advanced ones, the complete control and flexibility makes the seam-gen variant be the first choice. If we count also the possibility of finding bugs in JBossTools (experience confirmed me that), the configuration can become a real nightmare.

The possibility to add with ease new modules brings again JBossTools in front. Modules having separate projects and the UI manipulation of settings is a real advantage. Although, the more experienced programmers know that the structure of a Java EE aplication module is very clear and easy to build. That's why the building of these modules using Ant script is realy easy after you understand basics.

JBossTools is integrated in Eclipse. It uses a lot from Web Tools Platform, a functionality set for Java EE. The advanced editors are often very useful. I name here the JBossTools editor for facelets web pages, which have an autocomplet feature for Seam EL and page preview. If you want another IDE or deploy to another kind of server, other than JBoss (Glassfish), than seam-gen is your choice. You have a generated project ready for NetBeans, but, because we have a project based on An, practically you can use the project with any other IDE. In the same time, using seam-gen you can choose to use various techonlogies for generating web pages (Apache Wicket, just to name one).

Conclusion

For the beginners in working with Seam Web Java EE, probably JBossTools fits well. The more advanced users will apreciate the flexibility and portability of the structure generated by seam-gen, and also the control offered by Ant build script. Even for beginners, learning Ant (not complicated at all) will give good thing on long term. We should not forget the advanced features offered by JBossTools.

My proposal is a simple one. Use the best things from both. Use seam-gen for generating the project structure. In time you can manipulate Ant build scriptwithout difficulties. In the same time, use Eclipse and JBossTools for editing web resources, is priceles very often.