Wicket vs GWT - Advice needed

Question

I am developing a Java EE based web application. We have a very limited time to come up with a alpha version and trying to decide on a web framework to use. It has to be something easy to learn but powerful. Standard JSP/Servlet is not an option here due to the time it takes for the development. Appreciate if anyone could advice. Current options are Wicket and GWT. (JSF is also an option)

Answer 1

Everything depends on your application. I don't have experience with Wicket, not much with JSF. I have big experience with GWT.

GWT is good if your application has to be mostly dynamic. In GWT you can change everything on the page not even calling the server. GWT is compiled to Javascript. On the other hand, if you have big project, it is quite frustrating if your application in development starts few minutes, because it has a lot of code to compile to Javascript. My opinion: it is not good for big projects.

If you don't need to change your pages so much client-side, I would use JSF2 (or Wicket, if I knew it).

Answer 2

Wicket is component-based and comes with a bunch of standard components (like pagination, auto-complete, data grids, form handling etc.). If you want to create a standard panel (with the possibility for easy re-use) just create your HTML fragment to use a template (with wicket:id attributes wherever you want to bind dynamic content or sub-components) and a corresponding Java file. Furthermore, you can attach specific CSS and JS files.

In my opinion, Wicket development is good value (functionality) for money. And you get a lot of built-in AJAX functionality without even writing (not reading) any JS. E.g., change the model for a component, attach the component to an AjaxRequestTarget and the panel is automagically repainted via DOM manipulation.

For a quick overview and intro I recommend Wicket in Action by Dashorst & Hillenius. (And don't miss out on other great resources.)

Answer 3

Have a look at this comparison of Wicket and GWT, this may help you decide for yourself:

Wicket and GWT compared with code