David Legg wrote:
To me the ideal solution would be to have a library of POJOs that implement a storefront and a shopping basket API and use spring configuration to establish settings like where the database is. Then I could incorporate those beans in a JSP page or a Cocoon pipeline or a Struts app as appropriate. I think it is the distributed nature of the configuration which is a stumbling block at the moment.
I think your view on this subject may change after spending some time with OFBiz. Not everyone will agree that the solution you describe is ideal.
Cobbling together a bunch of libraries might seem like a cool idea, but it will take a lot more work to set up and maintain. The OFBiz framework is designed to get you up and running quickly.
I've been working with OFBiz for four years, and I shudder to think of using POJOs, beans, or (yuck) JSPs to build a website. The combination of OFBiz screen widgets, Groovy scripts, FreeMarker templates, and the OFBiz mini-language is far easier to use.
-Adrian
