Matt Raible

Raible Designs

Apache Roller, Acegi Security and Single Sign-on

Acegi Security is quickly becoming a widely respected security framework for Java applications. Not only does this security framework solve many of the deficiencies of J2EE's security mechanisms, but it's also easy to implement and configure. This tutorial will help you learn more about Acegi Security, as well as how to integrate it into your web applications. The Roller Weblogger project (currently in Apache's incubator) uses Acegi Security for many of its features: authentication, password encryption, remember me and SSL switching. After learning about Roller and Acegi, you will see how to deploy Roller onto Tomcat and Geronimo. Following that, you will learn how to hook Roller/Acegi into Apache Directory Server for authentication. Finally, you will learn how to integrate Roller with a Single Sign-on System (Yale's Central Authentication Service).

Choosing a JVM Web Framework

One of the most difficult things to do (in Java web development) today is to pick which web framework to use when developing an application. A few years ago, there were over 50 Java web frameworks available, most of them open source. Since then, the number hasn't gone down, but the quality of choices has certainly improved. Should you use the standard JSF, or something like Tapestry or Wicket? What about Struts' successor – is Struts 2 better than Spring MVC or Stripes? And what about the slick-looking applications that Flex and OpenLaszlo can create? Should you use Rails on GlassFish or Grails with Groovy? Is ZK really the next best thing? Where does RIFE fit into all of this? The choice hasn't gotten easier over the years.

This session is a discussion about choosing the best tool for the job. Not only will various frameworks and their features be discussed, but so will important factors for choosing a web framework. Is ease of development more important, or future maintenance? Is the project community an important factor? All of these questions will be discussed and answers will be provided. If you are about to choose a web framework, or if you have an opinion about a web framework, this session is for you.