Tapestry Support Network News - July 2005

Open Source Developers Create Support Community for Emerging Java-based Web Application Framework "Tapestry"

Tapestry 4.0 Beta Now Available

Quincy, Mass. – July 26, 2005 – Open source Java development efforts were boosted today with news of a new support network for Tapestry, an Apache Jakarta project.

Howard M. Lewis Ship, the creator and lead developer for Tapestry and HiveMind, announced today the creation of the Tapestry Support Network (TSN). TSN is a consortium of software developers and consultants that have organized to provide tier-one support, development and training services for Tapestry. A list of TSN founding members, including contact information, is available at www.tapestrysupport.com/members.html.

Tapestry is an emerging open-source framework for creating dynamic, robust, highly scalable web applications in Java. Tapestry complements and builds upon the standard Java Servlet API, and so it works in any servlet container or application server.

In conjunction with the launch of the Tapestry Support Network, the Tapestry 4.0 Beta is now available for download. Tapestry 4.0 offers an array of new and advanced features for Tapestry developers – a full list and additional information is available on the Tapestry project site at jakarta.apache.org/tapestry/.

Tapestry has been rapidly gaining acceptance in the J2EE software development community, and the Tapestry Support Network was formed to serve the needs of this growing group of developers. Hundreds of public web sites and intranet sites worldwide have been built using the Tapestry framework, and more are underway. TheServerSide.com and TheServerSide.net are two of the largest, serving millions of visitors each month. Several of the top 20 business schools in the country are running an admissions application powered by Tapestry.

A powerful alternative to traditional scripting environments, Tapestry provides a complete framework for creating extremely dynamic applications with minimal amounts of coding. Tapestry embodies the software development mantra of "reuse" and provides a powerful object-oriented MVC-based web development framework that is excellent for large, enterprise-class applications. Tapestry components are a combination of an XML specification file, an HTML template and a Java class. Tapestry components are combined together to form larger components or complete Tapestry pages.

"Before Tapestry, web development was nothing short of agonizing," said Tapestry developer James Strong. "You threw all of that object-oriented skill you've been honing for 10 years out of the window. With Tapestry, everything's an object again. You can easily create complex reusable components and accomplish things just not possible with other frameworks."

Tapestry is unlike most other frameworks in that it doesn't use code generation; instead it uses a true component object model based on JavaBeans properties and strong specifications. Tapestry applications require far less Java coding and are far more robust than equivalent applications developed with other popular frameworks. It also was one of the first Java-based web development frameworks to offer line-precise error reporting, giving developers a wealth of information when unexpected code exceptions occur. For additional information on Tapestry, visit jakarta.apache.org/tapestry/.

Tapestry is part of the Apache Jakarta Project, which sponsors and hosts several open source Java development efforts.

"Tapestry represents five years of development down a path validated by Sun's JavaServer Faces initiative," said Tapestry lead developer Ship. "It is a mature, stable, fast and highly efficient platform for web development, and it is 100 percent open source."

The first beta release of Tapestry 4.0 is now available, offering an array of new and advanced features for Tapestry developers. Downloads and a full list of new features are available at http://jakarta.apache.org/tapestry/. A complete, current list of TSN members is available online at http://tapestrysupport.com/members.html.