The Web Toolkit contains classes, interfaces and taglibs that enable faster development of web applications using JSP and Servlets. It is distributed as a zip archive containing the sources, documentation and examples.

The Web Toolkit was designed to :

• provide a simple component-based approach to web application development
• enforce separation of the presentation logic from the business logic

It is currently composed of two Java packages

• org.ultrawork.wtk.mc provides Component classes and taglibs.
• org.ultrawork.wtk.vh provides ViewHelper classes and taglibs.

The org.ultrawork.wtk.mc package provides a simple yet powerful component-based approach for building markup-driven applications such as websites.

MC is built on the Servlet 2.2 and JSP 1.2 specifications and allows you to assemble complex pages by precisely placing components into containers using layouts implemented using either JSP or Servlets.

The following Components are available :

• Page, represents a special kind of markup document.
• Container, can hold components and arrange how it display them using a layout.
• Text, represents internationalizable text.
• Block, represents a fragment of markup.
• Link, represents an html link to either a resource that is located inside the web application, or to an external resource.

Those 5 components implement the org.ultrawork.wtk.mc.Component interface which offer a simple write() method in order to add the component to the http response.

The core features of MC are :

• Definition of the components using JSP files.
• Registration of the components upon web application startup.
• Dynamic definition of components using JSP or Servlets.
• Simple syntax with the lowest possible overhead when defining complex components.
• Unlimited nesting of containers inside containers.
• I18n of Text components.
• Access to the components tree of a container through a dotted syntax.
• Inheritance of containers to allow maximum reuse.

While a few "component" frameworks already exist, it is in the trenches of real-world projects that the simplicity of mc provides a unique set of features.

Take a look at the examples and taglib documentation or the JavaDoc to learn more.

ViewHelpers are JavaBeans following the Command pattern.

They provide a no-args constructor, a perform() method that initializes its properties, and getter methods to retrieve them.

ViewHelpers are used by JSP developers to perform presentation logic, retrieve data or call business services.

By providing a clear interface to the JSP developers, they simplify the development process.

By hiding the complexities of database retrieval or business service calls and putting them inside testable Java classes, they increase the quality of the software.

By offering an additional level of indirection, they eliminate the coupling between the business-tier and the Views represented by the JSP.

Take a look at the examples and taglib documentation or the JavaDoc to learn more.