Hi. I have been developing for a while using Freemarker + some JS
frameworks (like ExtJS, Dojo and JQuery) and Java as Model building on
back-end. Now I hear lots of talks about Wicket so Im trying to understand
pros and cons. After reading intro in Wicket I have mixed feelings. Below
are my conclusions. I know Im biased but dont take it as offense. Instead
rather as my misunderstanding since Im really trying to see if Wicket
is thing to switch to.
Pros:
-Seems like this is good for companies where you have Java programmers that
you can now utilize for building Front-end.
- Clean HTML code and all logic handled by Java.
- Quick to start building simple apps that fall into the box of the
framework.
- No JScript or HTML/CSS knowledge needed. Can separate easier Frot-end and
Back-end developers --> easier to hire.
Cons:
- On other hand, as Front-end developer this looks weird to me since I feel
like I don't have full control of JScript code.
1) Since Wicket uses Java for generating HTML/CSS/JScript UI controls for
me meaning if I need to tweak those controls outside of their box it maybe
problematic. In my experience any framework good until you start doing
something different from what it was intended and then you can spend more
time trying to do simple out of box thing then using native JScript. Is
there JScript sources for Wicket controls?
2) Prototyping: using Freemarker I can do changes and simply refresh page.
In case of Wicket I need to recompile.
3) Logic blocks: Looks like Wicket allows injection of values into HTML
tags with wicket: attribute but how do you handle block logic like
IF(condition) then {use HTML block1} else { use another HTML block}?
4) Non html data templating: often during page generation I compose some
AJAX data from FreeMarker inside tag. How do I do similar things from
Wicket?
5) Is it harder/simpler to create custom UI controls in Wicket vs using say
Dojo, ExtJS or JQuery?
Andrei
