There are a few questions that approach an answer to this question, but none that really helped me out.
I have a web application with a back-end written in Spring/Java that currently has a very web 1.0 interface, I would like to build a richer more interactive version of the site using a RIA (rich internet application) framework.
I am keen on RIA frameworks that support layout managers as well as UI component libraries. (as I always find myself wondering why some div is in the wrong place, or has the wrong border etc, and i am not a web UX person;-)
I have previous experience using the eclipse RAP framework, and while that actually worked quite nicely, it was very restrictive and a tiny bit buggy.
I have listed the following frameworks, with my experiences and would like to see answers on whether I am correct in my assessment, and any other suggestions or fuller information.
Edit: here is a document with some breakdowns of various RIA frameworks and libs available to Java RIA_Frameworks
Many Thanks.
ExtJS / ExtGWT ExtGWT product page
SmartGWT
Get-Ext
pros:
- open source lib available
- Java api
- has a demo with a funky guitar track 😉
- lots of UI components available
- layout manager
cons:
- it seems that theme-ing it must be difficult as all the implementations look really like “extJS”
- as I want to use Java to bind to the UI components the integration is important
- there are people complaining about how it doesn;t work very well;
http://whatwouldnickdo.com/wordpress/235/gwt-ext-to-ext-gwt/ - the status of the various GWT integrated products is quite confused
OpenLaszlo
pros:
- appears to support “real time” components like stock tickers well
- integrates with lightspeed http server
cons
- looks to need a developer license to access the SDK
Backbase
pros
-
cons
RAP RAP demo site
pros:
- can leverage SWT code investment
- eclipse integration
cons:
- inflexible
- deployment was a pain
- hard to troubleshoot bugs
- doesn’t seem to support
TIBCO general interface TIBCO GI opensource
pros
- open source available
- integrates with lightstreamer http live streaming server
cons
- doesn’t look very easy to get started
JSF and http://jboss.org/richfaces.
Pro’s:
- JSF can be somewhat considered a standard
- RichFaces has great support and easily integrates with JSF
- RichFaces has all sorts of handy GUI components
Cons:
- Steep learning curve for JSF
- Performance of both JSF and RichFaces are not incredible. Use it wisely (not for 1000 concurrent sessions)
- no layout manager, need to get down and dirty with DIVS and css
I have made excellent experience with JSF and http://jboss.org/richfaces. Pro’s:
Cons: