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I have not done web development in Java for the past three years and now I need to use one for a project I am working on. I am thinking of using Seam, Flex + BlazeDS, Struts2 or Spring MVC. The most attractive of the four is Flex, however I am trying to stay away from it since the app will end up being entirely in Flash. Struts2 and Seam are mature but might require more time to learn. I had basic experience with Spring framework in the past so I am also considering its MVC.

Should I use one of these or go for some other framework?

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Do you really mean Front-End Java framework? Struts2 and Spring MVC are server side frameworks. An example of a Java front-end framework is GWT. – Jonas Sep 27 '11 at 12:15

closed as off topic by Anna Lear♦ Dec 13 '11 at 3:57

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5 Answers

up vote 4 down vote

If I were you, I would use what I know already, even if it's only from "basic experience". It will help already knowing something and you will extend your budding knowledge of the whole Spring framework. I don't know Seam to be honest, but I know it's far from a mistake to use Spring MVC. Additionally, you may be interested in using Spring WebFlow to manage the flow of your application while still following the MVC design (and staying within Spring).

Also, if what you want to build something very quickly you may be interested in the Play framework.

Personally, I wouldn't use Flex/Silverlight (disclaimer: I like Silverlight for developing for Windows Phone, but apart from that...) because I have a strong dislike of Flash and Flash-like websites, but that is my own opinion of course (Edit: and because of HTML5 being supported by every big player in the industry)

Hope that helped.

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+1 for Spring WebFlow. It integrates nicely with Struts and even JSF2. – maple_shaft♦ Sep 26 '11 at 12:54
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@maple_shaft Thanks, I am always surprised when I bring it up in a conversation and I see that no one never had heard about it... But then again, I am surprised many times a day too :-) – Jalayn Sep 26 '11 at 12:56
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Don't let the demographics of the SE sites sway your opinions on the what is being used in the industry right now. – maple_shaft♦ Sep 26 '11 at 13:32
@maple_shaft you're right. Also, I just wanted to indicate that I meant that I notice every day how little I know when I wrote than "I am surprised", not that I know everything, far from it! – Jalayn Sep 26 '11 at 14:42
up vote 2 down vote

There is no right answer to this so it will likely get closed as too subjective. IMHO, though Flex is probably a bad choice right now because HTML5 is such a game changer that the days of Flash and Silverlight for RIA applications is in question.

Officially the supported Java web framework by Oracle is JSF2 and what I use. It has many third-party component suites that support it and it integrates well with Spring or Seam.

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up vote 0 down vote

We currently use GWT with Spring MVC, and that works excellently for our needs. Unfortunately, answers for this question need more context (viz. use-case) in order to properly recommend a framework.

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up vote 0 down vote

I think this is ore or less a duplicate - but if not then the following questions/answers will help: Which Java framework meets these requirements? and Which Java based web ui framework to use?

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up vote 0 down vote

I would say, try with Spring ROO. You can make a fast prototype with that and all the configuration for spring mvc, security, persistence withing minutes.

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