Oracle ADF Faces

I've just read a great blog promoting the Oracle ADF Faces framework. I am an advocate of ADF Faces and I've used it in many of the applications which I have written. The open-sourced Gather! reunion application uses a version of ADF Faces which Oracle has open-sourced to Apache.

If you are a JSF developer and you have not yet worked with the framework, give it a chance and see how great it can be. I have found that the framework can save lots of time and it helps to create a professional layout.

Another Fine JSF Component Library

I was performing my daily visual scrubbing of the java.net website this morning and I found a blurb about a new JSF component library called Woodstock. I briefly visited the project homepage and tested a few of the components. It looks as though this library could be a promising addition to the list of component libraries available for the JSF framework. While some of the basic components such as buttons and labels do not seem too different from stuff we've seen before, the Woodstock library has "Alert" and "Image and Masthead" components which may be very useful.

Check out the Woodstock JSF component library project page for more details, or go directly to the component preview to check out the features.

Best Jython/Python Podcasts

I am curious as to if anyone has any good links for podcasts relating to Jython or Python. I currently listen to Python 411 on a frequent basis, but I'd like to find out if there are any more very good podcasts for these subjects.

If you know of any other good Jython or Python podcasts, please leave me a comment!

Thanks

Easy to Use Javascript Charting

I am currently working on a PL/SQL application which requires some simple charting. I have a defined set of trend data for which I must created a line chart...thus, displaying the trend for the data. I Googled javascript charting and found this javascript library. I cannot perform a complete review of the library because I have only used the line charting thus far, but I can tell you that the library is easy to use, flexible, and works great.

Using this library, it is possible to create one or many different charts on a web page. You can define static sets of data (does anyone do this anymore?) or use your database. I have found the line charting simple...especially with PL/SQL. The advantage of using PL/SQL to perform dynamic javascripting tasks is that your data is easily accessible.

I'll wrap up this blog with a quick example of line charting using PL/SQL and the JSGraph javascript library. If you have the need for a dynamic charting solution in your application, give JSGraph a look.

The following is an example of line charting in PL/SQL. In my particular case, I've defined a package which contains many different procedures. I recommmend using the PL/SQL Web Toolkit to define PL/SQL web applications. This is an exerpt from the procedure within my PL/SQL web package which defines my line chart:

(Please ignore the "-" within the tags...this blogger does not print tags well)

procedure GRAPH_TREND (in_trend_id number) is

cursor trend_cur is
select *
from my_trend_data
where trend_id = in_trend_id;

... more definitions ...

begin

... PL/SQL Code ...

-- Define Chart (Static data for this example)
htp.htmlopen;
htp.headopen;
htp.p('<-script language="JavaScript1.2" src="jsgraph.js"><-/script>


<-script language="JavaScript1.2">
var graph = new JSGraph();
graph.graphLeftPaddingOverride = 30;
graph.yAxis(4, 200);
graph.xAxis(4, 300);
graph.addBackground('#FFF8DC');
graph.addTrellis(40, 1, '#FF0000', 'blah1','tahoma,sans-serif',9);
graph.addTrellis(80, 1, '#FF0000', 'blah2','tahoma,sans-serif',9);
graph.addTrellis(120, 1, '#FF0000', 'blah3','tahoma,sans-serif',9);
graph.addTrellis(160, 1, '#FF0000', 'blah4','tahoma,sans-serif',9);
graph.addTrellis(200, 1, '#FF0000', 'blah5','tahoma,sans-serif',9);
graph.addLinePlot(0);
graph.addLinePlot(30,1,'maroon',1,'Foo 1','tahoma,sans-serif','maroon',9);
graph.addLinePlot(50,1,'maroon',1,'Foo 2','tahoma,sans-serif','black',9);
graph.addLinePlot(178,1,'maroon',1,'Foo 3','tahoma,sans-serif','maroon',9);
graph.addLinePlot(200,1,'maroon',1,'Foo 4','tahoma,sans-serif','black',9);
graph.addLinePlot(36,1,'maroon',1,'Foo 5','tahoma,sans-serif','maroon',9);
graph.addLinePlot(0,1,'maroon',1,'Foo 6','tahoma,sans-serif','black',9);
graph.addLinePlot(146,1,'maroon',1,'Foo 7','tahoma,sans-serif','maroon',9);
graph.addLinePlot(12,1,'maroon',1,'Foo 8','tahoma,sans-serif','black',9);
graph.addLinePlot(191,1,'maroon',1,'Foo 9','tahoma,sans-serif','maroon',9); <-/script>
');
htp.headclose;
htp.bodyopen;
htp.p('
<-div id="lineplotGraph1" style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; LEFT: 50px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; POSITION: absolute; TOP: 50px">
<-script language="JavaScript">
graph.makeGraph();
<-/script>
<-/div>
');
htp.bodyclose;
htp.htmlclose;

...

end GRAPH_TREND;

Jython 2.2 - Beta 1 - Part II

I have just finished installing Jython 2.2 beta1 without any issues. The installer is clean and easy to use. I am currently using Java SE 6 and this new Jython release had no problems installing.

I've only begun to test a few scripts out, but no issues thus far.

Thanks again to the Jython developers...it is great to see a new release!

Jython 2.2 Beta 1 Released

The Jython project has just released 2.2 Beta 1! This is a major milestone for Jython and it proves that the project is actively moving forward.

Thanks to all of the developers of Jython for their hard work! You can download this new beta release here.

I'm going to get it right now!!!

Snippets

Check out the new site from DZone which will be a repository for source code snippets. You can search the repository for existing code to use in your projects, or you can contribute some code which may be of use to others.

This is a great idea!

A Long Time Away

I have not posted for a while and I want to get back into the swing of things. My free time has been spent on side projects and I have not had much time to focus on new technologies as of late.

One technology I really want to focus more on is the Seam framework by JBoss. Seam takes the JSF framework and EJB 3 technology to a new level. It seems to ease development in this area while creating a more functional application development experience. I've only begun to look into the framework, but look for future blogs on this topic.

I'd also like to blog more on Jython. I have not had much time to spend with Jython as of late, but I'm still keeping up with the language. I will be distributing the February issue of Jython Monthly on 2/12, so keep an eye out for that.

Looking forward to a new year of great blogs...