Generating JavaServer Faces (JSF) for Hibernate

JavaServer Faces (JSF) is a UI framework for Java Web applications. It is designed to significantly ease the burden of writing and maintaining applications that run on a Java application server and render their UIs back to a target client.

PowerDesigner supports JSF through an extension file that provides JSF extended attributes, model checks, JSP templates, invoker-managed bean templates, and face-configure templates for your Java OOM.

You can quickly build Web applications without writing repetitive code, by using PowerDesigner to automatically generate persistent classes, DAO, managed beans, page navigation and JSF pages according to your Hibernate or EJB3.0 persistent framework.

To enable the JSF extensions in your model, select Model > Extensions, click the Attach an Extension tool, select the JavaServer Faces (JSF) file on the User Interface tab), and click OK to attach it.

JSF generation can help you to test persistent objects using Web pages with your own data and can also help you to generate default JSF Web application. You can use an IDE to improve the generated JSF pages or change the layout.

• Defining Global Options
  Each page could use a style sheet, a header file and a footer file to define its standard presentation.
• Defining Attribute Options
  You can define attribute-level options for validation or presentation style.
• Defining Master-Detail Pages
  If two objects have a master-detail relationship, PowerDesigner renders them (create, update, delete and find methods) in the same page. When you click the detail link button column in the master table view, the detail page view in the same page will change dynamically.
• Generating PageFlow Diagrams
  In Java Server Faces, a configuration (xml) file is used to define navigation rules between different web pages, which is called PageFlow. Power Designer will provide a high level PageFlow diagram to abstract different kinds of definition, and can generate navigation rules for JSF web application and JSF page bean based on PageFlow diagram.
• Installing Apache MyFaces Runtime Jar Files
  You can edit, deploy and test JSF pages in the Eclipse WTP or Sybase WorkSpace IDE. If the IDE does not include JSF runtime Jar files, you will need to download a copy and install them.
• Configuring for JSF Generation
  You configure for JSF generation as follows:
• Generating JSF Pages
  Before generation, make sure that you have attached the Hibernate Extension file to the model, and checked the model for errors.
• Testing JSF Pages
  You can deploy a JSF Web application in a Web server or an application server that supports JSP. For example, Apache Tomcat, JBoss.