Mojarra 2.0, the production-quality, reference implementation for JSF 2.0 is out! Yet another step closer to v3 final. This will of course be part of GlassFish v3 later this year (with an integration planned as early as this week) but Maven and standalone are two other options to grab the bits. In his blog, Ryan lists a set of very good resources (mainly blog posts) on JSF 2.0. Earlier this year, Ryan authored a series of blogposts which were also very detailed and informative. He covers tools support (yes, it's coming very soon as Cay discusses for NetBeans in his latest blog post) and recognizes the numerous contributors to this major release.

Note also that while JSF 2.0 is set to be part of Java EE 6, it does not require a servlet 3.0 container. In the case of GlassFish v3.0, web.xml is optional and there is no longer the need to declare the Faces servlet (see Cay's entry on that as well).

Mojarra as an implementation of JSF 2.0 is the first one out but it is also set to be part of a number of coopetitor's. Finally, now is probably a good time to skim throught The Aquarium posts tagged with the jsf2 and mojarra keywords.

Added The latest release is Mojarra 2.0.1, see Jim's post.

As previously reported last month, JavaEE 6 will include JSR330 and JSR299. Roger Kitain already has a simple yet detailed blog entry on using JCDI (JSR 299, ex-WebBeans) in GlassFish. He walks through JSF 2.0 and JSR 299/JSR 330 code. You'll see there @Inject, @Qualifier, @SessionScoped, @ApplicationScoped, all in action.

If you're curious enough to test this sample, I would recommend using NetBeans 6.8 M1 - register a recent GlassFish v3 build (promoted build web 62 for instance), create a Web Application with Java EE 6 as the platform level and copy paste the various pieces. No further settings are required.

Overall, this shows progress since Cay's previous entry on the topic. Other posts on similar topics are marked with the "jsr299" and "jsr330" tags. Keep an eye on Roger's blog for more entries on this topic.

More JSF 2.0 samples: • Carol has converted the Pet Store to Use JSF 2.0, JavaEE6 and GFv3 preview, • Jim shows how to take a YUI calendar widget and integrate it in a JSF 2.0 page, • ... and then takes that widget and Moves it into a JSF Component.

JSF 2.0 continues to show signs of good adoption in the enterprise world. From IBM's DeveloperWorks, David Geary has posted JSF 2 Fu, Part 3. And, from the other side, Andy Schwartz, Oracle's rep to JSR-314, has now published a very nice and complete What’s New in JSF 2?.

Other posts on this topic are tagged JSF2. An easy way to play with the technology is to download GlassFish v3 Preview and then Upgrade to the Latest Mojarra.

There is a new beta for Mojarra 2.0, the RI of JSF 2.0 (relnotes, news, downloads). Mojarra 2.0 is bundled in GlassFish v3 and the new release of Mojarra is included in recent Promoted Builds; an alternative is to use the Update Center and only update JSF.

The Update Crenter is accessed through an update tool; either the one bundled in the GlassFish console or the unbundled one. To do that, first ensure that you have http://pkg.glassfish.org/v3/dev as your preferred repository and then check on available updates. You will get a long list; you can then unselect all the components (using (Command-Modifier)-U on my mac) and then select JSF only. Then you just need to install the new packages.

Thanks to Jim for the tip. Ah!, also note that Mojarra can also be used in other containers; install and configure it manually.

There is a new project at Kenai: NBAppEngine. As the name suggests, this is intended to provide a NetBeans plugin for the Google AppEngine. Check the introductory writeups by Petr and Geertjan; check it out, and consider helping out. On a related topic, I noticed that Mojarra 1.2.13 now has "support" for Google AppEngine; see ChangeLog.

Now, if we could only get them to Support JPA Properly...

Cay is updating his Core JSF book and is taking WebBeans (JSR299) for a spin. His most recent post writes covers Conversation scope and access to stateful session beans from JSF pages. Cay used GlassFish v3 Preview (after updating to the latest JSF components); except for one example where he had to use JBoss 5.1.0 GA because we have not yet implemented some pieces of WebBeans. (see his comment about startup times :-)) Check out Cay's Note and you may also want to check Pete Muir's Webinar with SlideCast from May 19th.

Now that JSF 2.0 is Final and is is easily accessible in GFv3 Preview, it is a good time to learn more about it, so here is a set of useful links:

Also, all related TA entries are tagged JSF... And, please send us feedback on the spec or the implementation to help us with the Fit and Finish.

Three brief but important JCP news:

The JCP also approved additional transparency for JCP 2.7, which I believe is a very important part in running an Expert group for a number of reasons, including balancing the role of the EG lead.

The final news is the submission of JSR 330, Dependency Injection for Java. The relationship to JSR 299 is unclear to me at this point.

JSF 2.0 is arguably one of the most awaited update to the Java EE 6 specification. IceFaces, the well-known provider of Ajax-enabled JSF components, is now building its 2.0 version on top of the Ajax support now built into the JSF 2.0 specification. Co-specification lead Roger Kitain has a recent blog entry discussing how ICEFaces uses JSF 2.0 to send Ajax requests from the client and how it processes them on the server.

In other recent JSF news, Ryan Lubke discusses bookmark-ability in JSF 2.0 (with the reference Mojarra implementation). Previous entries regarding JSF 2.0 can be found using the jsf2 tag.

In a few days time you'll be able to use the Preview version of GlassFish v3 which supports JSF 2.0. The adventurous can grab a recent GlassFish v3 promoted build here.

JSR 314, JSF 2.0, is Now in Final Vote. To celebrate that, here is a pass through JSF 2.0 news:

• From Ed, the Slides and Feedback on his recent Online Webinar    (sorry, couldn't find the time to announce it). • From Jim, Redirecting from an Ajax Request and Ajax Events and Errors • From David Geary, Part I of an in-depth review of JSF 2.0.

Additional related entries are tagged JSF or JSF2.

Ryan's latest installement in his JSF 2.0 Preview series shows how to implement Custom Managed Beans through the new custom scope view and the managed-bean-scope element in faces-config.xml or via the @CustomScoped annotation.

The full series is:

• Part 1 - Packaging / Project Staging • Part 2.1 - Resources • Part 2.2 - Resource APIs • Part 2.3 - Resources and EL • Part 3 - Publish/Subscribe Event System • Part 4 - Resource Re-location • Part 5 - EDR1 Potpourri • Part 6 - Implicit Navigation • Part 7 - Custom Managed Beans (latest addition)

PS. The picture is that of the Tuxtla Statuette, which is from the La Mojarra; used here as Mojarra is the project name of the GlassFish JSF implementation.

The presenter at tomorrow's webinar is Ted Goddard; he will detail how to write rich interface applications using Ajax and Comet using JSF and ICEfaces and will also describe how these relate to the new JSF 2.0 specification in JavaEE 6. Presentation at 11am US Pacific, at TheAquarium Channel. Full details (and recordings) at the Show Page.

Last summer Ryan wrote a very nice JSF 2.0 Preview Series but then he got pretty busy; today he came by my office and said he will start posting again. As a first installment, check his note on Implicit Navigation in JSF 2.0; this means that faces-config.xml is not needed in many cases. I think bookmarkable pages is next in Ryan's agenda - that has been a very recent addition to the spec. JavaOne 2009 is around the corner, so we should expect more Java EE 6 activity; the spec is shaping up very nicely...

BTW, on a somewhat related note, check out Ed's writeup regarding improving transparency on the JSF 2.0 expert group. Baby steps, in the right direction.

The JSF team has released a New Version of JSF 2.0 (release notes, changelog, JSF). We welcome and encourage feedback, although note this is an early access, spec and implementation-wise. You can install the ZIP manually or the IPS repositories automatically using either the admin console or the update tool. The repositories are very convenient but check what is your preferred repository and remember to set your "View All Versions!" - see ScreenShot.

We are working on improving the experience of using the repositories; your feedback is very appreciated.