I want to create a CRUD (create, retrieve, update, delete) web site using the simplest Java tools. This site will allow users to manage four tables, two of which are reference tables used to build menus and two of which will undergo CRUD activity.
I'm leaning toward Stripes but I would like to hear the opinions of experience developers. The three key requirement are simple, simple, simple! I think Struts and Spring MVC are more complicated than I need.
-=beeky
The simpliest application would be a simple servlet handling a java-based sql engine (e.g. Derby (jabaDB) or HSQLDB)
You could even think of a CGI written in Java.
rails on jruby or Grails. Yes, it's a different language, but they are not hard to learn and is worth it.
I propose GWT (google web toolkit), although I never played with Grails.
With GWT, your client gui is all written in java. There is a compiler that is used to create a javascript version of the application. So it's really easy to create simple GUI that reflects your object. When the user presses "Save", the object is received on the server side ready to be saved. Then, just use hibernate/JPA to save the object to the database.
We use to have a simple internal tool like that to manager user rights. The administrator just had to check/uncheck a checkbox. An AJAX call would send the updated object to the server, which just call save() on the hibernate layer.
Here's a very simple Java Web stack I've been using lately:
Restlets can be run in any servlet container. Although they haven't worked well in Simple or Winstone, they have worked well for me in Jetty.
Optionally, H2 could be combined with Active Objects to give very lightweight persistence, but I haven't tried this myself.
If your data volume is small and you really want simple, why not ditch the rdbms altogether and use Prevayler, giving a complete stack consisting of just Restlet, and Prevayler?
I won't recommend using a framework in your case. Simple jsp/servlet with jdbc should work.
But,If you do decide on using a framework, from my experience of having used Stripes,Struts1 and JSF(MyFaces) ,recommend Stripes without hesitation.
I would use Grails since it fits perfectly to your requirements. I've never created simple CRUD websites faster. Stripes programming model is more like a tuned Struts - somewhat awkward.