Describing Waffle with one picture

The Waffle team has been busy over the last few months adding features and simplifying the overall design. Much of the documentation has been updated to reflect these changes. Many times however, it is easier to describe something with a simple drawing or a picture. So have a look at the following to get a clear idea of what Waffle provides:

Waffle on TheServerSide.com

Waffle was recently posted on TheServerSide.com under the heading Another Rails-like web framework: Waffle. I was happy to see it posted and really appreciated the responses from those that are interested in Waffle.

I'm grateful for the comparison of Waffle to Ruby on Rails but Waffle is NOT a Java version of Rails. I think the only viable comparison I can make between Waffle and Ruby on Rails is:

• convention based
• simplicity
  
• both take advantage of their respective languages
• increased development productivity
  

Many, if not most, of the clients I consult at have made a significant investment in either Java or .NET (specifically C#) and for that reason alone Ruby on Rails is not a viable option. So next time you are about to begin work on a Java based web framework make sure you take a look at Waffle.

Tutorials for Waffle

I have been spending my free time updating Waffle with functionality and documentation. Two tutorials have been added to the Waffle web site which should provide a good overview of how to use Waffle and what makes it different.

The examples in the tutorials show how to use Waffle with JSP's. This was done based on feedback I have had when talking about Waffle with developers. At this point you should get latest Waffle code directly from subversion and build it with Maven 2.0.

I would appreciate any comments or feedback you could offer.

FreeMarker support in Waffle

I recently added FreeMarker support as another option for creating Views in Waffle. FreeMarker is very similar to Velocity but seems to be more powerful. One of the nice features of FreeMarker is that it will point out the errors in your scripts. Velocity basically ignores any problems you may have, while FreeMarker displays an error message directly in your html that pin-points (line and column number) where the problems is located. Additionally FreeMarker actually allows you to reference JSP tag libraries within your FreeMarker scripts. That should allows for some nice flexibility. Take a look at the FreeMarker Servlet Documentation for further details. And take look at Waffle to see how easy it is to create web frameworks when you don't have to learn a proprietary XML syntax or new UI language.

Next task is to document how to create Waffle application with JavaServer Pages (JSP).

Mmmm Waffles...

It's been a while since I posted a blog, but I have been busy working on a new open source project. A new web framework for use in java/j2ee web applications.

Yes, I know there are already a plethora of java web frameworks, but Waffle (which is the name of the web framework) is different. Honest.

I wanted to work with a web framework that supports POJO based Actions, Dependency Injection, and it has no dependency on XML configuration files. Applications built on Waffle will be easier to develop and test with than other java web frameworks. Plus, it's buzz word compliant already fitting nicely with AJAX. :-)

Please have a look at the documentation and send me feedback on any suggestion you may have for improving the documentation or the framework itself.