Here’s a simple tip for all of you AJAX lovers using JSF 2.0. It is possible to render components that live outside of the form where your AJAX tag lives; actually, it’s possible to render any component by using it’s fully-qualified component ID. Just prefix the target ID with the naming-container separator character, usually “:”, and provide the full name of the component as it is rendered on the HTML page.

We’d like to take a moment to introduce you to the OcpSoft Support Forums. These forums will serve as an alternative to the existing User’s Group mailing lists for PrettyFaces, PrettyTime, and SocialPM.

I’d like to start by saying that using JSF by itself can sometimes feel trying to pull your own teeth out with a pair of tweezers, but there’s hope. JSF was designed to be a platform of extensions – a foundation for building web-frameworks, and that it’s done very well. JSF 2.0 addresses most of the concerns about usability (so there’s less tooth pulling,) and provides even more extensibility. That’s where Seam Faces comes in, that’s where PrettyFaces comes in. On many occasions you might find yourself needing to compare the values of multiple input fields on a given page submit: confirming a password; re-enter password; address lookups; and so on. Performing cross-field form validation is simple – just place Seam’s <s:validateForm> component in the form you wish to validate, then attach your custom Validator.

Ever wondered why JSF doesn’t support bean @Inject-ion in Converters or Validators? Ever wondered how to listen to a single PhaseEvent or ComponentSystemEvent, or filter on events by componentId, or view? Ever wondered why you can’t just @Inject FacesContext, or NavigationHandler?

Well… now you can, with the brand-new, just-out release of Seam Faces — 3.0.0.Alpha3

OcpSoft PrettyTime is an open-source time-formatting library for creating human-readable timestamps like, “in 3 minutes,” or “moments ago.” — intuitive, easy, extendable. Visit the home page to download and learn more about using PrettyTime. New features in this release: Thread Safety, Java 1.5 compatibility, extra languages.

Three steps to add Embedded GlassFish to any existing project POM. The Embedded Glassfish project is hosted on java.net, and as it is described, is very simple: “This project develops APIs and tools around “embedded GlassFish v3″. Embedded GFv3 is a delivery vehicle of GFv3 so that applications and tools can use GFv3 just as a library, inside their JVM, instead of having GFv3 as the overload of the entire JVM process. (And no, embedded GFv3 is not meant to be run on JavaME.)”

First, before reading this – you’re going to be upset with me. You’re going to disagree. I know — it’s OK. You may not even believe me, but you might keep reading because anger inspires action.

If you’ve ever programmed in PHP, Ruby, Perl, Groovy, and probably others, then you know how nice it is to have a central, official space for reference documentation and inline community feedback. This is something that has sorely been missing from the JEE community, and something that has caused many disparate websites to attempt putting forward a weak effort in providing useful documentation — you leave the community part aside to think that this is a good thing for any open-source technology.

Take a break from your software to read this: Today (February 12, 2010) marks the 20th anniversary of a remarkably simple, unimportant, yet incredibly special and sentimental event. A perspective that few consider in their daily lives.