FatWire and Java

Question

I would like to know what is the relationship between Java and FatWire.

I know it is possible to create templates using JSP but does it involve any standard Java programming? Also, is it possible to integrate it with MVC frameworks such as Spring or Grails?

Answer 1

Fatwire (now Oracle WebCenter Sites) is a CMS system originally based on an XML language. A JSP API (with the same features of the original XML language) was added later and it became prevalent. One of the biggest drawback of this design is that most of your coding must be done in JSP (that is a view only technology). So you have the (content) model and the view but not a controller layer. But the real problem is that either you extend the Fatwire application with Java code (restarting the application server at each change, or using JRebel) or you have to code everything in JSP. Almost the website implementation I have seen so far uses a lot of JSP and some spare java classes, so websites have the tendency to be written with the crippled java available in JSP (you cannot share a class for example, or leverage the full Java OOP). If you want to use full Java, you may use frameworks that implements MVC. For example, AgileSites (Disclaimer: I am the main developer of AgileSites). AgileSites basically uses JSP as interface to the CMS (as the documentation recommends) but those JSPs calls java code stored in hot swappable jar, built automatically while you do your development. So you can code everything using plain Java, without having to restart the application server at each change (only the jar, that is small, is rebuilt, when you save a file). On top of this Java enabling technology, AgileSites gives you plenty of features: clean separation of presentation from controller, using pure java controllers and pure html views, embedded unit testing support, an integrated build for continuous integration, scaffolding, a very simplified API covering 80% of normal needs (while giving full access to the full API) and more.

Answer 2

Fatwire templates can be developed using JSP, XML and HTML. Developing it using JSP has many advantages and Fatwire comes with JSP tags (called ICS tags) for standard based development. Most commonly you can see a JSP based template containing scriptlets of Java code invoking Fatwire's asset api which is implemented in Java.

Latest addition to this is Fatwire Web Experience Management (WEM) framework which are a collection of REST services with SSO that will enable you to write applications around Fatwire.

For example, I have developed REST based applications to integrate SVN, Translation systems and provisioning systems with Fatwire using Java.

Answer 3

Also, the latest Fatwire (Oracle Webcenter Sites) comes with set of developer tools called CSDT which is actually a Eclipse plugin that lets you develop templates within Eclipse (that has all the good features such as versioning, syntax checking) and facilitates local development, versioning of templates and continuous integration.

Answer 4

Yes, Java and FatWire can be used mutually. Code your java classes, wrap them and deploy in war or jar format in your app server lib folder. While coding inside JSPs, call your java classes or methods in JSPs and use them as required.