Reputation: 31

Framework for a Java CRUD Application

I'm currently maintaining a web application using:

Java
JSP/Servlets (ie. no frameworks)
WebSphere
DB2

It's basically a CRUD application that lets users view data and manipulate them. It's almost as if it's a replica of the DBMS, only on the web. The code is full of SQL statements everywhere -- in almost each of the servlets in the application.

Currently, my manager is asking me to implement some sort of filters for the data.

Let's say we have a table SomeTable:

Col1     Col2     Col3     Col4     Col5
----     ----     ----     ----     ----
data2    data3    data4    data5    data6

In the application, if you go to the SomeTable page, you get to see the exact same data from the SomeTable table, with the one exception that they're displayed in an HTML table. Now, what my manager wants is for the user of the application to be able to filter the data from a different page (let's call this filter page) and then after applying the filters, go back to SomeTable page and display the filtered data.

In the filter page, they'll be able to choose something like:

Col1     =     data2
Col3   LIKE    %some%
Col4    IN     1,2,3

These options are all from select boxes. We currently have a functionality like that in one of the pages but it's ugly. SQL statements being passed around session attributes and concatenated with each other on the end. Plus, I can't really re-use them without copying all the code.

Someone probably invented something to deal with this and I'm wondering if anyone can give me a advice on how to approach this problem. Is there a framework that I can use or would it be easier to do it just by hand since the application is not really that big.

Upvotes: 3

Answers (6)

Subodh Joshi

Reputation: 13512

I will suggest you look Here Primefaces

It is very rich user interface with no any Java Script Headache.

Upvotes: 0

zawhtut

Reputation: 8561

Generic Dao is one way you can make a template for all your DAOs. A lot of expertise have explained the usage of it. So I will just give references.

Single DAO & generic CRUD methods (JPA/Hibernate + Spring)

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-genericdao/index.html

Upvotes: 1

Mr Moose

Reputation: 6344

Another thing you could look at is AppFuse from Matt Raible. Check out the Demo's and Video's. There is one there for CRUD with Struts 2.

I used it ages ago and was really impressed with how it allows you to try different configurations of technology stacks to see how they work together. Well worth a look.

Upvotes: 1

Perception

Reputation: 80633

Sounds like your application is becoming more complicated. I've done the servlet/jsp straight to DB thing - it's not pretty. You could slap some prepared statements into the code to handle the new requirements, but in you bones I think you know its time for a framework, even if it's a simple one.

My recommendation would be Play. Its lightweight, fast, and has very little bloat. It also comes with Hibernate which is a helluva ORM framework.

Good luck!

Upvotes: 2