Wicket is a GUI framework recently promoted to a top level apache project. I’ve only studied it through it’s apache pages and look at code examples. But I do hope to try it out in a project.
Spring MVC has state issues, WebFlow is xml-programming and JSP messes up the html for our designers. This one of more things Wicket claims to differentiate upon. So, what’s my immediate analysis/feeling of Wicket?
pro:
- pure html/xhtml. Paradise for designers! (The components, buttons, labels etc. are given unique ids)
- handles the state. (No more nasty HttpSession manipulation)
- no back-button issues
- more java, which is what I’m really good at
- less xml
- no jsp, only html and java (and design-stuff, whatever that is)
con:
- more java and code lines. Looks a lot like swing. You’d have to write new lots and lots of times. (Yes, I know, also listed as pro)
- uses session in the background, which might put restrictions on server capacity (I really don’t think this is a big issue at all, we tend to exaggerate this)
I think that about covers my quick analysis. Anyone have any experiences with it or don’t share my opinions, I’d like to know :)
Posted by Ole Morten 