Embrace Software Limited

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The open framework is targeted towards software developers...if you are not a developer then don't bother reading this.

Embrace software has used many opensource products and thought that it is about time that we gave back to the community. We have started the process of converting our in-house web framework to the be released under an opensource LGPL license...do we need another open framework? Read below and see what you think!

...Another open development framework

(By C.C.Saxton)

How many Java™ frameworks exist to date to create web enabled applications? The list is endless and it continues to be increased day by day. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. When I first began to work with dynamic content I searched high and low for a decent, free framework that I could implement and make my job easier but to this date, I have yet to find one that gives me the flexibility and ease of application deployment that, I think, is required. What I have been looking for is something that gives the following benefits.

First, and foremost, it must be free as in LGPL (Lesser General Public License).
It must handle content negotiation out of the box. (Further to this it must be proxy cache friendly...if you work with web design and dynamic content then you will understand why content negotiation can easily become a "cache buster").
Caching of content needs to be on a per file / resource basis. Also the ability to have different caching depending on the resource is required (memory or disk based).
Auto deployment of applications is a requirement and upgrading to newer versions of installed applications needs to be simple.
User administration needs to be built in as part of the web framework.
Clustering must be as standard. (Failover and load balancing)
Administering and creating any data source of any kind must be part of the framework.
All administrative applications must have a web interface which can be secured on a separate port if required.
Workflow built in!

This is just the base requirements. Why should a server provide these requirements anyway, shouldn't workflow be a separate development? The answer to this is no. All of the above should be available in an application server as standard and all should be easy to use, administer and implement.

Something which came very close to this is 1060 NetKernel. The only problem is that it is a dual license requireing you to buy if you sell your product based on the 1060 NetKernel architecture.

Other frameworks that I have looked at include

Struts coupled with EJB/Hibernate
Tapestry
Ruby on rails
Grails (Groovy on rails)

...and numerous other apache offerings...

They all do their job but I find that each one is lacking in some part. (Mostly in ease of use!).

What should we be looking for?

Web development should be dynamic and simple in that if you want an SQL table then you should be able to specify the table info easily using some sort of XML markup and then on deployment of that XML document onto the application server the table should be created or linked to if it already exists (and if you have the correct permissions). You should also have the option of using a web admin tool to create the datasource and then edit the datasource so that you can create, delete and update entities with ease!

If you change any logic then the change should be reflected instantly (auto compiled) the next time it is required...etc...etc. This is something that the PHP, Python and Perl camps have had for years. What is taking so long with Java™? (I know ruby on rails and grails have this but they still lack other fundimental features). After all is said and done I could not find a framework which is easy to use, in the places where it should be easy and flexible enough to adapt (see points above).

This lead my company to develop a framework that encompasses all of the above. The current framework is not yet under the LGPL. We are currently re-writing some of the code base before we release to the public as well as adding the following functionality.

Document management system that will sit on top of the web server.
Upgrading logic to newer versions will be based on having a source repository from where later versions can be auto installed (like most Linux and Windows distributions have).
Logic can be written in any language that can run under the Java™ Virtual Machine (JVM)
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