Getting Started

Getting Started

This section describes where to get ICEfaces 2.0, how to run the examples, and how to get started using ICEfaces 2.0 to develop your own applications.

Downloading ICEfaces 2.0

The latest official release of all ICEfaces products, including ICEfaces 2.0, can be found on the ICEfaces Downloads page.

Supported Platforms

The current release of ICEfaces 2.0 has been tested to run on the following application servers:

• Glassfish 3
• Tomcat 6

ICEfaces Libraries

ICEfaces 2.0 provides the following libraries:

icefaces.jar

This is the ICEfaces 2.0 core framework and is required for all applications.

icefaces-compat-components.jar, icefaces-compat.jar

These libraries contain the ICEfaces 1.8.x version of the component suite and the compatibility layer that is compatible with ICEfaces 2.0. You should include these libraries if you want to use components other than the standard components or if you are porting an existing ICEfaces 1.8.x application to ICEfaces 2.0. See the [Compatibility] section for more information.

icepush.jar

This is the library that provides Ajax Push functionality for ICEfaces 2.0.

Running the Examples

The ICEfaces 2.0 distribution comes with example applications that illustrate the key features of ICEfaces 2.0 as well as providing guidance through source code, configuration, and library dependencies.

Build ICEfaces Libraries

The ICEfaces libraries come pre-built in the distribution. If you need to build them again (e.g. perhaps you've tweaked the source code), open a console or shell and navigate to the directory where you unzipped the ICEfaces distribution. Then, in the console, type the following and press Enter:

ant cleanall world

This builds all of the ICEfaces libraries and sample applications for the default platform.

Compatibility Examples

The examples under the compat/samples directory are all examples that use the compatible version of the ICEfaces 1.8.x component suite and the compatibility layer that allows them to operate under ICEfaces 2.0. The main example is the Component Showcase. This is a ported version of the original Component Showcase that utilizes the backwards compatibility layer and components to run on ICEfaces 2.0. To run any of the compatibility examples, you can open a console or shell and navigate to the directory and then type:

ant -p

This will show a list of build targets for various platforms.

The build shows more platforms than we officially support. How to reconcile?

Configuring an ICEfaces Application

Include the necessary libraries

• icefaces.jar is always required.
• icefaces-compat-component.jar and icefaces-compat.jar if you are using more than the standard components.
• icepush.jar you are using Ajax Push.
• jsf-api.jar and jsf-impl.jar if the platform does not already supply them

Configuration

ICEfaces 2.0 does not require an additional configuration beyond what JSF 2.0 requires. Simply ensure you have the FacesServlet declared appropriately in your web.xml file:

    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet</servlet-class>
        <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>
    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>*.jsf</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>