Simple RIA backend

Question

I'm creating a prototype for a java web application. Frontend is a Swing-based java applet. Backend should be a type of web-service, that is called by applet. Backend should run inside a servlet container and should have its own security (username/password) database. I know, that Tomcat has its own user database (realm), but the app should have own. Web-services, in turn, carrying out app logic and database access (via Hibernate). I'm a newbie for a web development and I'm getting lost in a huge amount of the java web frameworks. Even just reading 'introduction' and 'getting started' documents takes a lot of time. So I need an advice which framework(s) are suitable for the task and not very complex for a quick start.

Thank you

Answer 1

I would avoid any web framework in such case. Most frameworks are designed so that it is easier to connect bussines logic (backend) with WWW user interface. In your case you don't need web GUI - you have an applet, so web framework like Stripes, Struts, etc. would not help to much.

I think you can use servlet or several servlets as a connector between backend and you applet. Servlets are simple, easy to learn.

If you want to have some abstraction layer with additional services, like security, for instance, you can consider Spring Framework, but it has its own learning curve.

Answer 2

Spring (http://www.springsource.org/) seems like a good choice to handle DB access, and server side logic. Spring-security can be used to integrate security (it takes some time to get started, but it works very well). SpringMVC can be used to output simple XML documents, or if you need more complex remoting capabilities, SpringRemoting is a good solution.

If you want to go the full WebService (with a capital W and a capital S) Spinr-WS can be useful.