Dynamically displaying the modification of .xhtml files in JSF/MyFaces apps

To see any changes in the static files of jsf/myfaces application at run time, we need to add following context-params in the web.xml file.


<!-- below parameters are added to refresh facelets for static pages -->
    <context-param>
        <param-name>javax.faces.FACELETS_REFRESH_PERIOD</param-name>
        <param-value>1</param-value>
    </context-param>
    <context-param>
        <param-name>facelets.REFRESH_PERIOD</param-name>
        <param-value>1</param-value>
    </context-param>
    <context-param>
        <param-name>facelets.DEVELOPMENT</param-name>
        <param-value>true</param-value>
    </context-param>

Tiles framework for Jsps

I am here with the introduction of tiles framework for Java Servlet Page (JSP)s. I am not giving the information on integration of tiles with sturts/spring here. It is simple tiles usage with jsps.

Following the steps. Considering web app is build by maven tool, tiles version is 2.1.2.

1. Maven dependencies required to include in the project object model file pom.xml


       <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.tiles</groupId>
            <artifactId>tiles-extras</artifactId>
            <version>2.2.2</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.tiles</groupId>
            <artifactId>tiles-core</artifactId>
            <version>2.1.2</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.tiles</groupId>
            <artifactId>tiles-servlet</artifactId>
            <version>2.1.2</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.tiles</groupId>
            <artifactId>tiles-jsp</artifactId>
            <version>2.1.2</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.tiles</groupId>
            <artifactId>tiles-api</artifactId>
            <version>2.1.2</version>
        </dependency>


2. Modifications in web descriptor file web.xml


    <!-- listener needs to be added for tiles -->

    <listener>
        <listener-class>org.apache.tiles.web.startup.TilesListener</listener-class>
    </listener>


    <!-- servlet needs to be added for tiles -->

    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>tiles</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>org.apache.tiles.web.startup.TilesServlet</servlet-class>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>
                org.apache.tiles.impl.BasicTilesContainer.DEFINITIONS_CONFIG
            </param-name>
            <param-value>
                /WEB-INF/tiles-defs.xml
            </param-value>
        </init-param>
        <load-on-startup>3</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>


3. Add a tiles descriptor file tiles-defs.xml file


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>
<!DOCTYPE tiles-definitions PUBLIC "-//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Tiles Configuration 2.1//EN"
        "http://tiles.apache.org/dtds/tiles-config_2_1.dtd">
<tiles-definitions>

    <definition name="unauthorized_default" template="/appName/templates/layout.jsp">
        <put-attribute name="header" value="/appName/templates/nonAuthenticatedHeader.jsp" />
        <put-attribute name="menu" value="/appName/templates/menu.jsp" />
        <put-attribute name="body" value="/appName/templates/body.jsp" />
        <put-attribute name="footer" value="/appName/templates/footer.jsp" />
    </definition>

    <definition name="authorized_default" template="/appName/templates/layout.jsp">
        <put-attribute name="header" value="/appName/templates/header.jsp" />
        <put-attribute name="menu" value="/appName/templates/menu.jsp" />
        <put-attribute name="body" value="/appName/templates/body.jsp" />
        <put-attribute name="footer" value="/appName/templates/footer.jsp" />
    </definition>

    <definition name="authorized_home" template="/appName/templates/layout_leftmenu.jsp">
        <put-attribute name="header" value="/appName/templates/header.jsp" />
        <put-attribute name="menu" value="/appName/templates/menu.jsp" />
        <put-attribute name="leftMenu" value="/appName/templates/leftMenu.jsp" />
        <put-attribute name="body" value="/appName/templates/body.jsp" />
        <put-attribute name="footer" value="/appName/templates/footer.jsp" />
    </definition>

</tiles-definitions>




4. Template files required to add:

(a) layout.jsp

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Frameset//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-frameset.dtd">
<%@ taglib uri="http://tiles.apache.org/tags-tiles" prefix="tiles" %>



      <table width="100%">
      <tr>
        <td>
          <tiles:insertAttribute name="header" />
        </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>
          <tiles:insertAttribute name="menu" />
        </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>
          <tiles:insertAttribute name="body" />
        </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>
          <tiles:insertAttribute name="footer" />
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table>

(b) layout_leftmenu.jsp

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Frameset//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-frameset.dtd">
<%@ taglib uri="http://tiles.apache.org/tags-tiles" prefix="tiles" %>



      <table width="100%">
      <tr>
        <td colspan="2">
          <tiles:insertAttribute name="header" />
        </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td colspan="2">
          <tiles:insertAttribute name="menu" />
        </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td width="25%">
          <tiles:insertAttribute name="leftMenu" />
        </td>
        <td>
          <tiles:insertAttribute name="body" />
        </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td align="center">
          <tiles:insertAttribute name="footer" />
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table>




5. Calling the tiles definitions on any jsp


<html>
<body>
    <div align="center" width="100%">
        <tiles:insertDefinition name="unauthorized_default">
            <tiles:putAttribute name="menu" value="/callCenter/templates/blank.jsp" />
            <tiles:putAttribute name="body" value="/callCenter/loginPage.jsp" />
        </tiles:insertDefinition>
    </div>
</body>
</html>

URL change while redirecting the page in JSF application

In JSF applications, url will not be changing while redirecting the page using navigation rules. However, sometimes, it might be a damn need to change the url while redirecting from one page to another page. This request can be fulfilled by following way.

In general navigation rule is defined as:

<navigation-rule>
       <from-view-id>/callCenter/crmLogin.jsp</from-view-id>
       <navigation-case>
<from-outcome>gotoMainPanel</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/callCenter/crmMainPanel.jsp</to-view-id>
       </navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>

However, you need to add <redirect /> tag to do the url change as mentioned below.


<navigation-rule>
       <from-view-id>/callCenter/crmLogin.jsp</from-view-id>
       <navigation-case>
<from-outcome>gotoMainPanel</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/callCenter/crmMainPanel.jsp</to-view-id>
                <redirect />
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>

PS: Navigation rules are mentioned in the faces-config.xml file ( inside WEB-INF directory)