Re: JSF/EGL datatable positioning question

Nathan,

JSF is just one part of the technology that is emerging for the web today.
If you have not go out to www.microsoft.com/silverlight download and
install the plugin and refresh the page. Look at the carousel widget they
implement on the page. This is similar to the work that Apple has been
doing in their latest OS X build (Leopard). Also take a look at AJAX and
interactive web pages. The interaction between the server and the browser
is rapidly moving to become a level playing field with that of the rich
client (GUI) apps. Nathan the web has progressed with "Web 2.0" way beyond
a static web page or a web page with a form and simple 5250 like interaction
with the terminal. Virtually all of these new interactive widgets or the
AJAX interactions with the web pages are heavily dependent on complex
JavaScript including abstractions that locate and identify the widget
triggering an event.

JSF is not and has never been about page layout. It has always been about
an attempt to provide a more robust interface between the web page and the
server -- look carefully at the "codebehind" code file that backs up every
JSF page. Also look at how JavaScript is embedded in JSF widgets to the
point that JavaScript, Java, and HTML become indistinguishable in the
resulting web page. Consider also that JSF is totally extensible.

Ok, all of this is great, but extremely complex and tedious to implement.
Tooling is the key to this. Tools and facilities that generate the complex
structures and interactions for you are the key saving you countless hours
of painfully detailed work. Nathan its a case where you can most certainly
do all of this by hand, but why on earth would you want to and more
importantly why would your employer allow you to waste the time when a tool
can do it for you?