OpenFaces Documentation and Issue Tracking Moved to GitHub

Hello dear OpenFaces community!

We would like to inform you about some changes in OpenFaces infrastructure. We have just moved OpenFaces Documentation to GitHub: https://github.com/TeamDev-Ltd/OpenFaces/wiki, and our issue tracking system to: https://github.com/TeamDev-Ltd/OpenFaces/issues. 

These changes have been implemented to simplify interaction with the project for all participants.

OpenFaces 3.0 with JSF 2.0 Support

The final release of OpenFaces 3.0 is out. This release focuses on OpenFaces' compatibility with JSF 2.0 specification, which is currently quickly replacing the older JSF 1.2 standard and makes application development notably more convenient. Now developers of JSF 2.0-based applications can enjoy using many mature OpenFaces components such as DataTable, TreeTable, DayTable, and many other useful components. Special thanks go to all community members who contributed to the early access versions and helped us with testing and preparing this final version!

We are not going to drop the JSF 1.2-based OpenFaces 2.x version family. Both 3.x and 2.x families will be evolving in parallel, and all improvements to OpenFaces 3.x will also be included into the appropriate 2.x releases to support JSF 1.2 developers.

You can download version 3.0 here. Installing OpenFaces 3.0 into your JSF 2.0 application is as simple as adding the openfaces.jar and runtime dependency jars from the distribution package to your application. No web.xml modifications are required. Just make sure you're using the latest Mojarra 2.0.3. You can also browse the online demo, and study the release notes. Should you have any questions, you're welcome to join the OpenFaces community.

OpenFaces 3.0 Early Access 2 with JSF 2.0 support

We're pleased to present the second Early Access release for OpenFaces 3.0 with JSF 2.0 support. This release features tighter integration with the JSF 2.0 infrastructure, which has resolved most of the problems that existed in the previous release. Here are the most notable fixes:

• fixed Ajax functionality for DataTable, TreeTable, CompositeFilter and all other components;
• fixed compatibility with the standard JSF 2.0 Ajax APIs (the andlt;f:ajaxandgt; component, andjsf.ajax.request() JavaScript function);
• made possible to attach client behavior tags, such as andlt;f:ajaxandgt; to all OpenFaces input and command components

Besides, it is now easier to add OpenFaces to your application -- you just need to add OpenFaces jar with its dependencies to your application. No web.xml modification and resource filter registration is required anymore!

You can download this version and the demo package that runs on Tomcat and GlassFish v3 here (see the OpenFaces 3.0 Early Access 2 section). If you've used the previous release, please also read the migration instructions in the release notes document.

This is the last milestone before the final release of OpenFaces 3.0. We'd like to have your feedback on how it behaves in your JSF 2.0 applications in order to polish the library by the actual release. Please post your feedback and share your experience on the product's forum.

OpenFaces 3.0 Early Access 1 with JSF 2.0 Support

We're glad to announce the first early access milestone of the new OpenFaces 3.0 version featuring JSF 2.0 compatibility. Now developers creating JSF 2.0 based applications have access to rich possibilities provided by all kinds of OpenFaces components, ranging from DataTable and TreeTable for flexible data display, to BorderLayoutPanel and Window for creating various layouts, and Validation framework for client-side validation and additional validators.

OpenFaces 3.0 will be maintained in parallel with OpenFaces 2.0 and both of them will have the same set of features, but they will target different versions of JSF: 2.0 and 1.2 respectively. The final release for the OpenFaces 3.0 version is expected in June.

You can download the new version and the demo package that runs on Tomcat and GlassFish v3 here (see the OpenFaces 3.0 Early Access 1 section).

As JSF 2.0 support is currently on an intermediate stage, some functionality is limited yet and there are the following known issues in OpenFaces 3.0 EA1:

• State saving during OpenFaces Ajax requests has some issues when using the built-in Ajax capabilities in certain OpenFaces components. Most notable consequences are: a) impossibility to use Ajax node folding in TreeTable, so only client-side node folding works fine yet, and b) DataTable paginator's "next" button which can't be used more than once.
• The CompositeFilter component doesn't work in this Early Access version.

Feel free to share your feedback and ask any questions on the product's forum. Stay up to date with the latest OpenFaces news by following us on Twitter.

OpenFaces 2.0 Released

We are glad to announce that OpenFaces 2.0 has "graduated" from the Early Access Program and the final version is released!

OpenFaces is an open source JSF library consisting of a set of advanced components, the Ajax framework and the client-side validation framework.

6 new components are introduced since the EAP 2 was published:

• CompositeFilter €“ allows the user to build complex filter criteria with multiple filter conditions;
• LayeredPane €“ a container that allows switching between different sets of displayed components;
• SelectOneRadio an extended version of the standard andlt;h:selectOneRadioandgt; component;
• SelectManyCheckbox€“ an extended version of the standard andlt;h:selectManyCheckboxandgt; component;
• CommandButton€“ an extended version of the standard andlt;h:commandButtonandgt; component;
• CommandLink€“ an extended version of the standard andlt;h:commandLinkandgt; component.

DataTable and TreeTable components have been significantly extended with the following functionality:

• Content scrolling with frozen header/footer rows. Both vertical and horizontal scrolling with frozen columns is supported;
• Interactive dragandamp;drop column reordering;
• Interactive column visibility customization;
• Numerous filtering extensions -- customizing search condition, case sensitivity, placing filters inside or outside the table;
• Tighter integration with the Hibernate library;
• And more...

Certainly, there are many more extensions and fixes in other OpenFaces components and you can see the full list in the release notes.

Use your chance to see the components in action in the Live Demo!

We welcome everyone to contribute and participate in OpenFaces development. Please don't hesitate to post your feedback at the product forum or email us and follow OpenFaces on Twitter.

OpenFaces AJAX-powered JSF components EAP2 Released

We are happy to announce the second early access (EAP2) release of the OpenFaces AJAX-powered JSF components. The EAP2 release is the last milestone before the version 2.0 release expected in late September. The EAP2 release adds a new Select Boolean Checkbox component, a number of enhancements, several API changes, and resolves issues reported by the developers during the initial evaluation of EAP1 release.

The Select Boolean Checkbox component introduced in this release is an extended version of the standard andlt;h:selectBooleanCheckboxandgt; component which adds tri-state support (two typical states and the third €œundefined€ one), allows for customizing checkbox images and state-dependent styles.

Following numerous requests from our users we'€™ve also added a new demo application, which shows how OpenFaces components can work together with RichFaces in one application. You can see this demo online, or download the demo and its source code.

Please see the release notes for the full list of enhancements.

Before the OpenFaces 2.0 is released, we also decided to extract a code of the testing system we use for automated tests of OpenFaces components and web applications we build into a separate project called Selenium Inspector. This testing framework, built on top of Selenium, allows testing not only JSF-based applications, but any HTML-based applications. So we felt this code may be useful for wider web development community as a separate project.

The module for testing OpenFaces is already included into the standard Selenium Inspector distribution, and can be downloaded here. The support of RichFaces and other popular JSF frameworks is going to be added after we release OpenFaces 2.0, and hopefully with your contribution.

Give OpenFaces EAP2 and Selenium Inspector a try and let us know what you think.