[Java EE] JSF visualization library VisualFaces

I am currently writing my master thesis on Big Data Visualization. To achive stunning visuals I decided to use d3.js which is a (nearly) perfect library to display data in an innovative and fancy way. To be able to use those diagrams easily with Java EE’s JSF 2 technology, I decided to write a tag library (which basically is a component collection) called VisualFaces to use the most impressive example diagrams with just one tag.

So instead of writing hundreds of lines of Javascript code you simply add a

 

to your xhtml page and you’ll get a wonderfull wordcloud.

To use the taglib simply put the visualfaces.jar in the WEB-INF directory of your Java EE webWordCloud project, add the namespace xmlns:j=”https://www.jofre.de/visualfaces” and then all included diagrams can be used in an instant.

I will be adding some more diagrams into the library soon. At the moment I am struggling with putting several diagrams on one site because some Javascript events like mouseoever and properties get overwritten.

The project can be downloaded from Github. To compile it, simply export it as JAR from Eclipse. Below you find a precompiled beta version.

Developing custom JSF 2.0 components

In this tutorial I want to show you how to create a classic JSF 2.0 component in pure Java (Classic != Composite Component). Furthermore, you learn how to package it to an own JSF taglib (meaning: as a JAR) so that you it can be distribute easily.