Hi Mark,
Thanks a lot for the heads up :)
I fully agree with you and think the Struts Bridge isn't getting enough
attention.
As the primary creator of it, I'm probably to blame most for that, certainly with regards to the (lack of) documentation
and providing proper "visibility".
I did write quite a few high end business (portlet) applications myself using it and supported several development teams
using it too in the past but haven't had much time nor opportunity anymore the last few years.
Other projects, frameworks (Wicket, SpringMVC etc.) and a new job (at Hippo) have taken my focus and responsibilities
mostly elsewhere.
I (and a few others) still do support the Struts Bridge though and I think it has a lot of benefits over solutions like
Struts 2 or Spring Portlet MVC which require you to write explicitly against the Portlet API and won't work within a
"plain" web container.
That is also one of the primary reasons I wrote the Wicket Portlet support in a "transparent" way too: like with the
Struts Bridge, you can write Wicket Portlet applications which work just as well "standalone" in a web container.
FYI: I know a similar solution is currently under development by a fellow Portals committer for SpringMVC (in contrast
to Spring Portlet MVC), based upon/following the Struts Bridge solution, which *might* be contributed back here at
Portal Bridges in the future too...
Anyway, concerning your worries about the future: it really depends on the
community (so: including yourself).
Apache projects are not and will not live and survive on single individual efforts only: it really is the community
which must keep a project alive. I myself will continue to help out as much as I can, but that by itself is never going
to be enough.
If you (the community) need better documentation, new/improved features, examples, a struts-blank-bridges-portlet.war,
better "marketing" etc., you'll need to help out *yourself*:
- contribute documentation
- contribute fixes/improvements
- contribute *useful* showcase examples
- write/publish articles how *you* are using the Struts Bridge
- blog
- etc.
If the community is willing to spread the word, others will take notice, join
the community, and start doing the same.
That's what it is all about: no less, no more.
If you look back through this mailing list archive, you'll see very little
community involvement...
Really, really too bad, as I honestly think (and have knowledge) that a lot of
people actually *are* using the bridge.
But, if nobody is willing to provide feedback, help out and *acknowledge* it (for whatever reason: company policy,
shyness, ignorance, or worse: indifference), nothing much is going to happen.
(As a side note: very "funny" to see that my Struts Bridge examples, the JPetstorePortlet and even the very outdated
MailReader demo together blow away the download numbers of all the other "examples" provided at JBoss Portlet Swap,
see: http://www.jboss.org/portletswap/downloads/portlets/framework
Also note: I never ever once got a single feedback from either a Struts
committer or the JBoss Portal team about the
Struts Bridge or these examples...)
Well, sorry if I come across a little bit disappointed, but I really would like to see the Struts Bridge community (and
for that matter: the whole of the Portal Bridges community) to be more interactive.
So, if you want to make the Struts Bridge more future "proof", start helping
out today!
As you say, you're a big fan (great!) and have been using the Struts Bridge
yourself successfully.
Surely, you've extended it with some features which might be of interest to others too, written some documentation or
instructions for your fellow developers, maybe even written some kind of manual (or maybe someone else lurking on this
list has?).
Please contribute and help out, send in feature request, create JIRA issues for
them:
http://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/PB
Provide fixes, code, examples, patches, whatever.
I'll be glad to help out to integrate them, improve the website, provide
pointers to external articles, blogs, anything.
But you'll need to help me out, I simply cannot and will not do that on my own.
I hope this long "rant" doesn't scare you or others away, I just want to be honest: the Struts Bridge has a lot
potential, even with Struts 2.x around, because so many developers and companies still are and very much continue to use
Struts 1.x. I can easily think of at least 20 new features and improvements for the Struts Bridge to make it even much
better, but I don't have the time nor interest to design and develop them all by myself anymore.
With kind regards and hoping for a lot more community interaction,
Ate
Mark McLaren wrote:
Hi all,
How about creating a struts-blank-bridges-portlet Maven archetype? I
think we need to be able to demonstrate how easy and quick portlets
can be to write!
I'm a big fan of the Struts Bridge and was very pleased to see the
recent release in December 07. What concerns me is that the noisier
portlet developers who write Spring Portlet MVC or Struts 2 portlets
(etc.) seem to be getting most of the attention when it comes to the
beginners question "How do I write a portlet?".
Personally (as a Struts 1.x developer), I see Struts Bridge as the
most natural way to create a portlet as it can be developed and run
standalone. I am at a loss as to why more people are not using Struts
Bridge (could it be the documentation or lack of examples?). I am
concerned for the long term future of the Struts Bridge product as the
alternatives seem to be grabbing the majority of the market share.
Mark
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