JSF can now enjoy the save+reload paradigm (no redeployment) when using Mojarra and Groovy. You may remember Mojarra as the new name for the JSF (reference) implementation integrated into GlassFish. Groovy on the other side probably doesn't need that much introduction.

In a recent blog, Ryan Lubke explains how a recent version of Mojarra can be configured to let you write pretty much any JSF artifact in groovy and thus benefit fully from dynamic reloading. If you add Facelets and NetBeans to the mix, the developer experience becomes very seamless. Ryan's instructions cover the use of the recently-released Groovy 1.5.5 version.

Read also Jason's blog on that topic.

The Apache MyFaces project has a number of subprojects. One of them is the MyFaces Implementation, an alternative to the GlassFish JSF RI (aka Mojarra). Buy MyFaces also has several component libraries and their Compatibility Matrix indicates that the latest versions of Trinidad and Tomahawk run with Mojarra. Ryan just validated this for the latest Trinidad. Check Ryan's Note and the Live Demos.

The Woodstock JSF Component Library (Woodstock@TA) is open source and enterprise-ready, is used in the GlassFish AppServer and other projects and is included in the NetBeans IDE. Woodstock is changing in NetBeans 6.1 and James Branam is documenting the changes. There is a new Look to the Palette, and new Accordion and Bubble Help components. Expect more updates as we get closer to Woodstock 4.2 and NB6.1 final; see Roadmap.

You can download the Woodstock components manually from their Web Site, or you get them bundled with the NetBeans 6.x distributions, or you can download them automatically through the GlassFish Update Center.

Some additional Woodstock links include: the Live Preview site, the Documentation Hub and a list of the Browsers and Containers Supported. The latter include GlassFish - duh! - and also Tomcat 6, WebLogic 10 and JBoss 5.

The JSF 2.0 should go final with Java EE 6 (and thus with the final release of GlassFish v3) but the implementation is done as a Separate Project within the community. Ryan is the implementation lead for JSF 2.0 and he has started describing the new features. The first entries cover ProjectStage (Production, Development, UnitTest, SystemTest, Extension) and Resources (things like JavaScript and the like).

The JSF Matrix keeps a table of JSF component libraries (although the comments suggest it needs updating) and Ryan just published a short note pointing to it. Pretty much all the component libraries work with GlassFish (we cheat a bit, most of the AppServers are using Mojarra, our JSF implementation). Libraries explicitly mentioned by Ryan from those in the JSF Matrix include our own Woodstock, ICEfaces, Apache Trinidad, Apache Tomahawk, JBoss RichFaces and Blueprints. He also lists Mojarra Scales and Mannor'n Rock. We would like to make it easier for you to run any of these libraries in your GlassFish application; let us know if you discover problems and we will collaborate with the library owners to fix them.

The latest JSF Components from Project Woodstock are now available via the GlassFish Update Center client at INSTALL/updatecenter/bin/updatetool. What you download is equivalent to the Online Preview; check out Dick's Writeup.

Coincidentally, Ken, Jason and Rick just published an article on Using JSF Templating and Woodstock. And you may also want to read previous articles at TheAquarium on Woodstock and UpdateCenter.

Manfred has been creating a number of JSF components for eCommerce; the latest is for eChecks. The components are open source (LGPL), tested on GlassFish (Manfred says the live demo is running on GFv2) and you can purchase commercial support from Manfred. Full list of components is here; the entry for each component includes source and live demo.

The JSF team at GlassFish has announced a new name for the project: Mojarra (as in the fish - although La Mojarra is also an interesting linkage). Ryan and Jason provide details on the why, but in a nutshell: "Mojarra" is is much shorter than "the JSF Production-Quality Reference Implementation from GlassFish".

Progress with Woodstock, in part in preparation for of NetBeans 6.0. First Dick announced the Release of Version 4.1, then Winston announced an updated Visual Web Woodstock Component Theme Builder and More Examples. Also see Dmitry's Architectural Details and Usage. Woodstock provides Enterprise-Quality JSF components. For more info check: Docs page, Browser and Container Support (including Tomcat), Roadmap and Online Catalog.

Download bundles are here; check the Deployment Page. We encourage your feedback at the USERS mailing list.

Need an easier way to create new JSF components? Have a look at the JSF Templating project.

In his recent article at TheServerSide.COM, Ken provides a nice introduction to the project. As he describes, JSF Templating simplifies component creation using "a template-based Renderer to declaratively define the output of the component."

See the article and related discussion thread to learn more.

CNet reports that Intuit is working on Quicken Online and that its building it using JSF. The article reports that Quicken Online will go into limited beta mid-September; it will be interesting to check it out.

On another JSF front, Woodstock is making progress towards a new release and just pushing out Woodstock 4.1 b10. Their website also went through a small rev and it now Incorporates the GF Common Theme.

Added! Also check out this writeup on Creating Themes for Woodstock.

Max has been doing an interesting series of tutorials using GlassFish, NetBeans and JPA, the Java Persistence API (@Sun, @JCP, FAQ). The original tutorial covered how to Use Hibernate as JPA Provider and the next showed how to use Additional Hibernate Features. The new series explores JSF and ehCache and revisits Hibernate and TopLinkEssentials: [1], [2], [3] and [4].

Ryan has written a good summary describing the differences between Server-Side and Client-Side State Saving in JSF, specially from the perspective of the RI used in GlassFish. Check out the description at the Wiki Page.

Woodstock 4.1 is making progress and it includes new components, including a BubbleHelp and an Accordion - the widget, not the Infamous Instrument. Dick gives an Update on the Build, including instructions for using on NetBeans 6. I'm not sure how the latest Woodstock will make it into the runtime distributions (like the SDK and the GlassFish Update Center). I'll find out and will report back; in the meantime, enjoy!

Want to spice up your webapp with some AJAX widgets? Maybe a sortable table? An expandable tree? Or a controllable progress bar? Then check out Project Woodstock. It provides JSF components which implement all of these widgets and more. Plus, it just got faster. Previously, Woodstock components were sending a lot of large JavaScript files to clients. The team realized this was a problem--pushing up load times and memory consumption. Their solution? Use smaller files, and less of them. So they now compress the JavaScript, avoid using separate template files, and make just one call for each widget's JavaScript (where previously there were too). See Venky's writeup for details.