One web-app Multiple JSP sources...
My use case:
I am building a web application framework. I want most of the framework (UI, menus, save/load model) to be based on the same set of JSPs (using JSF). However I want to make modules represented by Jar files that, if present (on the classpath), provide the web application with new areas to navigate, or new configuration screens. I am choosing JSP because it is so easy to include JSF components, and use excellent AJAX technologies.
The problem I am facing is modularization. I might be re-using this web application in many different contexts and some of the configuration doesn't even make sense to put in the core module. I want it to be included simply by tagging on a dependency. The Jar being present in the web-app would be enough for a Service discovery mechanism to kick in and do some configuration magics.
So the solution I am thinking of is this:
When the web application starts up. I write some initialization code to do a module search. After all the modules are found via service discovery, those modules will have JSP files copied from a resource directory in the jar to the main JSP folder of the actual exploded jar.
My approach has a couple problems: 1) In the general case: there is no requirement for a WAR to explode at all, so copying may not even make sense. 2) If I put JSP files in Jars there is no way they can be easily edited. And during development I would like to edit, save, refresh... I don't think that would be practical at all using this approach.
So I ask, is there a better way to do this?
Before you reply with ditch JSP, I really want to use JSF. So I would need some alternative framework that is at least as fast as JSP and supports JSF. I plan on using rich-faces specifically.
Thanks, any help I am sure would be useful to many.
