Before you start

This tutorial is designed for developers who have found Java frameworks, such as Struts, lacking in needed functionality. If you're interested in developing Web applications in a more object-oriented manner, where the view is clearly separated from logic and there's minimal configuration and mapping, then Wicket is for you!

This tutorial walks you through the basics of how Wicket works, while using Apache Geronimo to set up a Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) server, Web server, and embedded database in just minutes. Combining Wicket with Geronimo lets you develop data-driven, scalable Web applications using software that's all open source.

About this tutorial

Developing Java Web applications can be awkward and frustrating. For years developers have tried to solve problems with Java application development by creating frameworks that solve specific problems. But few have been able to simplify Web development, separate roles, clearly separate the view from the model and remove special markup, and define a totally POJO-centric model of development — until now. Enter Apache Wicket.

Wicket, an innovative Java Web application framework introduced a couple of years ago, simplifies Web application development by clearly separating roles of developers and designers, in part by removing logical code from the view layer. This simple and pure approach to Model-View-Controller (MVC) development, coupled with its simple development workflow that lacks XML configuration files, make Wicket a powerful and enjoyable development framework. It solves a number of development challenges, allowing you to focus more on functionality and less on the application configuration.

In this tutorial, you zero in on how to set up and configure a project to use the Wicket framework with Databinder, which allows Wicket and Hibernate to work nicely together. You combine these applications with the Apache Derby embedded database to create a simple Web application in record time. From there, you learn how to deploy your application on Geronimo.

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System requirements

You need the following tools to follow along with this tutorial:

• Apache Geronimo 2.0-M2 with Tomcat 6 — Geronimo is the Java EE application server that you deploy to.
• An operating system — This application was developed using Microsoft® Windows® XP, but everything involved has been widely used on Linux® and OS X. So you should be able to follow the tutorial using platforms other than Windows.
• Java JDK 1.5 or later — Java 1.5_11 was used to develop all the code in this tutorial, but 1.5 and later JDKs should work.
• Embedded database — This tutorial uses Apache Derby, the lightweight, 100% Java-based database. Because Geronimo already has Derby built in, you don't need to download anything.
• Eclipse — In this tutorial, you use Eclipse 3.2 as the IDE. It's not required, but it greatly simplifies your development process.
• Apache Maven 2 — You use Maven 2 in this project to automatically gather required files and build projects.
• Databinder — A lightweight utility written by Nathan Hamblen, Databinder is a tool that lets Wicket and Hibernate work together extremely well, greatly simplifying development of data-driven Wicket applications.

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Table of contents

• Before you start
• Setting the stage
• Build the Wicket application
• Summary
• Download
• Resources
• About the author

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