The framework at a glance
Common Controls provides ready-made control elements for JEE applications with an HTML frontend. You configure them in the JSP page – state, rendering and layout are handled by the framework.
A presentation framework for JEE
The Common Controls form a Java presentation framework for JEE web applications based on Java Servlets, JavaServer Pages and Struts. It contains the most common control elements – lists, trees, tabfolders, menus and forms – required for applications with an HTML frontend.
State kept across server roundtrips
The control elements save their own state automatically. The paging mechanism of a list or the expanding and collapsing of a tree does not have to be implemented separately – the element manages it. Development concentrates on the data and the business flow instead.
Configured inside the JSP page
A control element is configured with its tags inside a JSP page. If the layout is not fixed at design time or defines itself dynamically, it can be set on the server side via its design model – columns of a table, for example, can be shown or hidden at runtime.
Flexible enough for special requirements
The control elements provide template methods with which the standard behaviour can be overwritten and specifically customized – while the strict separation between presentation layer and business logic remains intact.
A consistent design and navigation concept
The Common Controls produce visually consistent user interfaces, and the generated HTML code is optimized for different browsers. Your own corporate design can be adopted through a painter.
Optimized for Struts
The framework maps the events of the control elements to callback methods within the action classes. This results in structured programming of the user interface.
Every control element step by step
For each control element the guided tour shows how to add it to an existing application – plus ready-made configurations with JSP code to take over.
ListControl
Lists with paging, drilldown, edit and delete columns as well as custom action columns.
TreeControl
Tree structures with nodes loaded on demand, context actions and selection.
TreeListControl
Tree and table combined: hierarchy in the first column, data columns next to it.
TabSetControl
Tabs for extensive forms, nested across several levels if needed.
MenuControl
Navigation, submenus and breadcrumb trails from a single configuration.
Forms
Search, display and edit forms with buttons and validation.
The same tours are available as printable PDFs under Resources.
Dependencies and supported browsers
Components
The Common Controls depend on the following components.
| Component | Version | Project page |
|---|---|---|
| JDK | 1.3.x or 1.4.x | – |
| Struts | 1.1 / 1.2 | Struts ↗ |
| ECS | 1.4.1 | ECS ↗ |
| jakarta-regexp | 1.2 | jakarta-regexp ↗ |
| commons-logging | 1.0.2 | commons-logging ↗ |
| Xerces | 1.4.4 | Xerces ↗ |
Browsers
The HTML layouts included in the kit support these browsers.
| Browser | Version | Operating system |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft® Internet Explorer | from version 5.0 | Microsoft Windows |
| Netscape™ Navigator | from version 7.0 | Microsoft Windows |
| Netscape™ Navigator | from version 7.1 | Linux |
| Mozilla | from version 1.6 | Windows |
| Mozilla | from version 1.6 | Linux |
| Safari™ | from version 1.251 | Macintosh |
Try Common Controls in your own project
The free trial version contains the class library as a .jar file and a few application examples. It does not cover the full feature set of the current version.
Request the trial version
Tell us briefly what you plan to use the Common Controls for – we will send you the trial version and answer questions about integration, licensing and migration.