Acsinet has released the 1.0.0 version of the Cetia4 REST Framework, which allows the creation of Java Servlet-based applications that can work both as a web application that may be accessed by a typical web browser, and/or a REST web service application that may answer HTTP stateless requests. Although there are many popular java web frameworks out there, almost none of them provide RESTful abilities to programmers, and we think that there's where Cetia4 fills the gap perfectly. For more information, please refer to the project page and the framework documentation. Message was edited by: joeo@enigmastation.com

Although there are many popular java web frameworks out there, almost none of them provide RESTful abilities to programmers

Actually, from what I can gather from the documentation on your web site, my XX Framework (see www.xxframework.org) provides the same REST capabilities, with facilities for transformaing the resulting XML with XSL. XX is also is a full application development platform that includes automatic CRUD handling and other features. I don't mean to write an ad for my framework, but I would be interested in how the two compare, contrast, or enhance each other. Thanks. I am downloading your PDF now. David Moskowitz

AFAIK the primary "full" REST framework in Java is Restlet (http://www.restlet.org/). It would be interesting to see a comparison of the two. From quickly looking over the Cetia4 PDF there seem to be quite a few differences: Restlet isn't as focused on traditional web development, but that also means it may have a steeper learning curve for people who want to directly translate their servlet experience.

The Restlet proposal is indeed currently the most widely known REST framework for the java platform as it has been around for a while... but I think the biggest differentiator here is that Reslets are not based in the standard Java Servlet API ( they have their own reasons for that, and I do not doubt that this approach also has its advantages as the Restlet proponents have stated elsewhere ); on the other hand the Cetia4 REST Framework is based on the Java Servlet API, so in this case standard facilities in a web container can be leveraged directly, and to some developers this may be what they are looking for - that's why we are proposing this approach.

Hi Santiago, Just for your information, the Restlet API can be used either in a standalone mode (without a Servlet container, directly using HTTP connectors such as Jetty, AsyncWeb or Simple), either in an embedded mode (within a Servlet container). In the second case, we simply wrap the Servlet's request and response into a Restlet Call instance (REST call), in a way similar to Struts. Of course, the full performance potential (NIO, async IO) won't be achievable in the second mode, but there is no penality compared to existing Servlet applications. So, this approach provides us with the best of both worlds, Servlet-compatibility if necessary and lighter standalone mode if possible. I will have a closer look at your tutorial. Good luck with your effort, if it can help to the adoption of REST in Java then it is useful. Cheers, Jerome Louvel http://www.restlet.org

Good luck with your effort, if it can help to the adoption of REST in Java then it is useful.

Thanks for those words, at the end I think we are on the same boat trying to promote a simpler way to work with the web. I really see forward to REST gaining more and more momentum on the java and general development communities, as I also truly think it's really a better alternative over SOAP/etc. And of course, further comments on the framework will be really appreciated as they can help us improve and extend it.

SOAP is, in my opinion, overkill for most implementations. REST is a welcome change in this regard.

Although there are many popular java web frameworks out there, almost none of them provide RESTful abilities to programmers

[scratching my head] name a framework that prevents you from returning xml over http?

[scratching my head] name a framework that prevents you from returning xml over http?

REST is simple, but is not only about returning XML over HTTP. On my opinion there are two issues that limit the 'RESTfulness' of a tradictional web framework. - A RESTful service makes distinction between calls done over HTTP methods GET, POST, PUT, DELETE ( though in a browser environment you may be limited to GET and POST ). A lot of existing frameworks treat GET and POST calls exactly the same, so they are not RESTful in that respect. - A RESTful service depends on organizing resources un URL hierarchies. A lot of existing frameworks define their own addressing schemes, that are not easily mapped to this type of interaction, therefore there is another limitation. In a REST architecture, a request is performed over a resource, but with different HTTP methods / headers / parameters, and the result will depend on that. Of course this can be done with bare servlets ( or adapting an existing framework with manual code ), but in my opinion that is working at low level - nothing wrong with that but sometimes we want higher level abstractions. The role of a framework like Cetia4 is to provide a layer over that so you can map easily calls to methods in a RESTful way, and you can have the traditional things a web framework provides ( request data mapping, navigation, validation, tags, etc. ) in a way that minimizes the amount of configuration needed ( the only required configurations are performed in /WEB-INF/web.xml ).