I was recently asked the question, “Is it possible to create a modular JSF application, where JAR-files act as plug-ins and allow xhtml views, images, css, navigation rules, and managed beans to be added as modules to the application?” The answer to this question is, “of course,” but there is no pre-set way of accomplishing such a task, so you’ll have to be a little creative. I’ve come up with a conceptual architecture that “would work,” if properly implemented, but keep in mind that this is just something I threw together in a few minutes of thinking about the problem.

PrettyFaces is an OpenSource Filter-based Servlets extension with enhanced support for JavaServer Faces – JSF 1.1, 1.2 and 2.0 – enabling creation of bookmark-able, pretty URLs. PrettyFaces solves the “RESTful URL” problem elegantly, including features such as: page-load actions, seamless integration with faces navigation, dynamic view-id assignment, managed parameter parsing, and configuration-free compatibility with other web frameworks.