JSF technology simplifies building user interfaces for JavaServer applications. Developers of various skill levels can quickly build Web applications by: assembling reusable UI components in a page, connecting these components to an application data source, and wiring client-generated events to server-side event handlers.

These features are described in detail in the Java EE Tutorial at https://javaee.github.io/tutorial/toc.html and in https://github.com/jakartaee/faces.

If you selected to install the server examples with your WebLogic Server installation, the sample application demonstrates the following key features of JSF 2.3:

• Ajax method invocation using the new <h:commandScript> component
• CDI converter
• Iterable h:dataTable
• CDI for evaluation of JSF-specific EL implicit Objects
• CDI injection
• New Java date and time
• @ManagedProperty
• Iterable ui:repeat
• Class-level bean validation using f:validateWholeBean
• CDI validator
• WebSocket using f:websocket

The JSF 2.3 examples are located in the ORACLE_HOME\wlserver\samples\server\examples\src\examples\javaee8\jsf directory, where ORACLE_HOME represents the directory in which you installed WebLogic Server.

For more information about the WebLogic Server code examples, see Sample Applications and Code Examples in Understanding Oracle WebLogic Server.

The Jakarta Standard Tag Library (JSTL) encapsulates as simple tags the core functionality common to many Web applications. JSTL has support for common, structural tasks, such as:

• Iteration and conditionals

• Tags for manipulating XML documents

• Internationalization tags

• SQL tags

JSTL also provides a framework for integrating existing custom tags with JSTL tags.

WebLogic Server supports the JSTL 1.2 specification at https://jakarta.ee/specifications/tags/1.2/.

When deploying JSF 1.2 applications, use the JSF and JSTL libraries which are provided as Web application libraries. You must deploy the libraries before deploying the Web application that is using JSF 1.2 or JSTL functionality. You can deploy the libraries using the WebLogic Remote Console or the command-line weblogic.Deployer utility.

Here's an example of deploying a JSF 1.2 library using the weblogic.Deployer command-line:

  java weblogic.Deployer -adminurl t3://localhost:7001 
  -user weblogic -password weblogic
  -deploy -library
   d:/oracle_home/wlserver/common/deployable-libraries/jsf-1.2.war

This command deploys the JSF 1.2 library using the default library-name, specification-version and implementation-version defined by the MANIFEST.MF in the library.

After a library is deployed, the extension-name, specification-version and implementation-version of the library can be found in the Remote Console. This information can also be found in the MANIFEST.MF file of the library WAR file.

For more information about deploying a Web module, see Preparing Applications and Modules for Deployment in Deploying Applications to Oracle WebLogic Server.

To reference a JSF or JSTL library, a standard Web application can define a <library-ref> descriptor in the application's weblogic.xml file. Here is an example:

  <library-ref>
    <library-name>jsf</library-name>
    <specification-version>1.2</specification-version>
    <implementation-version>1.2</implementation-version>
    <exact-match>false</exact-match>
  </library-ref>

For more information on referencing a Web application library, see Creating Shared Jakarta EE Libraries and Optional Packages in Developing Applications for Oracle WebLogic Server.