XUI Environment

XUI Framework runs natively in practically any servlet container that conforms to J2EE standards. This makes XUI a good alternative for developing the presentation layer of your applications. There are no "unusual" installation or deployment necessary and there are no additional servers to run when using XUI. As a developer, you will approach creation of XUI pages the same way as you are creating typical JSP pages for your application.

Of course, there are necessary LIB files and supporting files that are needed to run XUI. But as mentioned, these supporting resources naturally fits within a standard J2EE application.

When you first install XUI as a new application inside your servlet container, you will start with a fairly clean XUI application folder inside $TOMCAT_HOME/webapps. In this case, our new application is named "xui-framework". To find out how to install XUI, please go to the Installation Guide section. The following figure represents a brand new XUI application:

XUI Directory Structure

As you would notice above, the xui-framework application contains three directories:

1. META-INF - Contains the manifest; information about the build for this XUI distribution.
2. WEB-INF - Generic WEB-INF folder for web applications.
3. XUI-INF - Contains XUI Framework support files including the PLAF (Pluggable Look and Feels), Scripts and Icons.

Within this application folder, you will approach the placement and organization of your files the same way as you would with any other web application. Although you can, it is not necessary to place your XUI-driven JSP pages inside the XUI-INF folder. And although you can create new folders within XUI-INF, it is advised that this folder be left alone as it is unless you are adding new look-and-feels, scripts and icons.

NOTE: The XUI-INF folder is an unsecured folder and fully accessible through a browser. Having said that, it is advised that you do not place any resources within this folder that requires security.

The following is the directory structure for the XUI-INF folder:

As show above, this folder contains the following folders and file(s):

1. i18n - A default folder for internationalized labels in TMX format
2. icons - Default icons folder; can be used as storage for custom icons.
3. img - Default image folder; contains various images used in XUI examples.
4. jsps - Default JSP folder; contains various supporting JSP pages. DO NOT use as your regular JSP folder.
5. plaf - The Pluggable Look-and-Feel (PLAF) folder where look-and-feels are managed. Contains CSS files and images that are used to support various look-and-feel.
6. schema - Contains the XUI Schema file.
7. scripts - Contains core XUI client scripts; can also contain custom scripts that can be made available framework-wide by registering them in the script registry (script-registy.xml)
8. XUIRegistry.xml

For the purpose of our initial examples, there's no need to configure your environment any further. What you have here is what you will need to create an XUI application.

Next: You can start creating your first XUI page by going to Getting Started: Creating your first XUI Page or you can get an overview of the XUI Components in XUI Components Overview section.

Back to: Application Guide

COPYRIGHT © 1997–2006 JWAY GROUP, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. XUI is a registered trademark of JWAY GROUP, Inc.
All other designated trademarks and brands are properties of their respective owners.