The HTTP protocol was first designed in the mid nineties as a stateless protocol. The stateless aspect of HTTP and several other technical issues provides serious challenges to developing interactive web applications that are intuitive to use. Several technologies exist to solve those issues. Some such as Spring MVC help solve those in a more low-level way, making it an ideal fit for certain (more stateless) web applications. Other technologies such as Spring Web Flow and JSF have a more high-level approach to implementing certain aspects of a web application (such as maintaining conversational state).

After a short discussion of the different scenarios one can encounter when needing to develop a web application, we will contrast an high-profile action-oriented application with one that has been using Spring Web Flow and JSF. We will review both technologies, see how they can be used during development and what the consequences were of choosing such as technology. You will leave with a clear overview of what the Spring Portfolio in combination with other industry standards can offer you in the web area.