How to make a nice jsp GUI without using HTML tags?

Question

I'm new to servlets and JSP and I'm trying to discover forms, and how to make my own web form. I know HTML but and I see examples for using HTML tags in the servlets, but isn't there a more higher level way to just say "Make a form here, make a table there" without getting my hands dirty with HTML tags?

I want to build a war file and drop it on my jboss/tomcat server for testing. Then when its ready to go, I want to be able to distribute that war file and for it to be plug and play.

The end goal is to have a web site with some interaction (dropdowns, text fields) and some graphs that are drawn based on the user inputs.

Sorry so vague, I need some direction in the Java GUI department.

Answer 1

Go for JSF with Richfaces with full flagged ajax support

Answer 2

Check out Java Server Faces. (http://java.sun.com/javaee/javaserverfaces/)

ps, I just noticed Wikipedia has a nice list of web-application frameworks for the various languages/environments.

Answer 3

One of the most difficult things to do absolutely right in a browser, is form submittal. That is, form submittal with error recovery.

Hence, it is a natural sweet spot for a helping library and many exist. I would suggest you look into JavaServer Faces where 2.0 with facelets is very powerful and default in Java EE6, but right now only ships with Glassfish 3.

If this is for learning, I would suggest using Glassfish instead of Tomcat, so you get a prepackaged learning environment.

Answer 4

You may be interested in the echo framework.

Answer 5

Try Google Web Toolkit code.google.com/webtoolkit/