Creating a separate GWT servlet page

[Irving Ruan]

Hello,

Right now, I have my main web app displaying just fine on the page
when I run it through Eclipse GWT plugin.

When I navigate to http://127.0.0.1:8888/WebApp.html?gwt.codesvr=127.0.0.1:9997
I see my main page.

Now, I want to add an admin page where special users can edit stuff,
which basically necessitates that I need another page view. While I do
know how to create UIs, my problem is that I'm not sure how to
instantiate the page in my web.xml or WebApp.gwt.xml.

Here's what my web.xml contains:

<web-app>

<!-- Servlets -->
<servlet>
<servlet-name>rpcServlet</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>com.app.server.RPCCoreServiceImpl</servlet-class>
</servlet>

<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>rpcServlet</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/webapp/rpcService</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>


<!-- Default page to serve -->
<welcome-file-list>
<welcome-file>WebApp.html</welcome-file>
</welcome-file-list>

</web-app>




What would I need to change in my web.xml or WebApp.gwt.xml to be able
to instantiate a class, such as AdminPanel.java, as a page I can
navigate to and see? How would I be able to map that to my local URL
http://127.0.0.1:8888/WebApp.html?gwt.codesvr=127.0.0.1:9997



Thanks in advance,
Irving

[cokol]

what you mean by "page"? so you mean not actually an entry point or
screen but rather a usual HTML page? then just write your .jsp , like
adminPage.jsp. Or if you really want to write a panel with much HTML
try using UiBinder.

and remember - there is no "page" in GWT applications, however, you
can combile html pages with GWT written UI. So if you want to design a
second gwt-screen you just do so by createing a new panel (adminPanel)
and just make in visible in the onClick() event of your menu or the
trigger button.

On 22 Jul., 21:28, Irving Ruan <irvingr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Right now, I have my main web app displaying just fine on the page
> when I run it through Eclipse GWT plugin.
>

> When I navigate tohttp://127.0.0.1:8888/WebApp.html?gwt.codesvr=127.0.0.1:9997

> I see my main page.
>
> Now, I want to add an admin page where special users can edit stuff,
> which basically necessitates that I need another page view. While I do
> know how to create UIs, my problem is that I'm not sure how to
> instantiate the page in my web.xml or WebApp.gwt.xml.
>
> Here's what my web.xml contains:
>
> <web-app>
>
>    <!-- Servlets -->
>   <servlet>
>     <servlet-name>rpcServlet</servlet-name>
>     <servlet-class>com.app.server.RPCCoreServiceImpl</servlet-class>
>   </servlet>
>
>   <servlet-mapping>
>     <servlet-name>rpcServlet</servlet-name>
>     <url-pattern>/webapp/rpcService</url-pattern>
>   </servlet-mapping>
>
>   <!-- Default page to serve -->
>   <welcome-file-list>
>     <welcome-file>WebApp.html</welcome-file>
>   </welcome-file-list>
>
> </web-app>
>
> What would I need to change in my web.xml or WebApp.gwt.xml to be able
> to instantiate a class, such as AdminPanel.java, as a page I can

> navigate to and see? How would I be able to map that to my local URLhttp://127.0.0.1:8888/WebApp.html?gwt.codesvr=127.0.0.1:9997
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Irving

[mkh]

The notion of pages in a GWT app for someone experiences with a
traditional web app (for example, a JSF based app) is definitely a bit
confusing.

The basic scheme of displaying different panels (in the same page) is
the GWT approach, but how would you handle the situation where the
"admin" section of the app needs to be protected by a security
constraint requiring the user to login before that portion of the app
is available? In JSF this is straight forward, based on the path. But
with GWT to have another path you would need to have another module
with another host page...

[Irving Ruan]

Sorry if that sounded confusing.

Hopefully, this puts it in a perspective that can be understood:

HTML-Entry Point class associations --
Module1.html - Module1:EntryPoint.class,
Module2.html - Module2:EntryPoint.class

Would it be possible to create something like that, where you can have
two separate projects or something and load two different entry point
classes? Is there some easier way to achieve this without segregating
it into two different projects and combining the output?

The security party isn't really important as of this moment - but onto
the previous issue: in order to keep it in one project, would I need
to modify my web.xml to include different modules for each new .html
page/entry point class?

-I.

[mkh]

You can certainly define multiple modules in one web app. I use
Intellij IDEA, and this is as simple as hitting Alt-Insert and picking
GWT/ Module.

The downside of doing this is the GWT compile time goes up directly
with the number of modules since each is processed independently.

[Irving Ruan]

What would I need to do in web.xml to instantiate other entry-point
classes?

Right now, mine looks like thus:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE web-app
PUBLIC "-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD Web Application 2.3//EN"
"http://java.sun.com/dtd/web-app_2_3.dtd">

<web-app>

<!-- Servlets -->
<servlet>
<servlet-name>rpcServlet</servlet-name>

<servlet-class>server.RPCCoreServiceImpl</servlet-class>

</servlet>

<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>rpcServlet</servlet-name>

<url-pattern>/web_app/rpcService</url-pattern>

</servlet-mapping>



<!-- Default page to serve -->
<welcome-file-list>
<welcome-file>WebApp.html</welcome-file>
</welcome-file-list>

</web-app>

Would I just add something like this:
<!-- Servlets -->
<servlet>
<servlet-name>adminServlet</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>client.AdminPanel</servlet-class>
</servlet>

<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>adminServlet</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/web_app/adminPanel</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

And would I add entry point onModuleLoad in my AdminPanel.java?

[Thomas Dvornik]

An entry-point is different than a servlet (Remote Procedure Call). A
RPC is used to change the page without refreshing, so you wouldn't
likely change your entry-point.

First of, I think cokol and mkh are right. You should have one entry
point and have the admin area a panel. You can check the session to
make sure the user has appropriate permissions before showing the
panel. Although, I think what you want would go something like this,
even though I have never done it before.

Your <projectName>.gwt.xml defines a module with an entry point. If
you want to create another module (kinda like a "project" in the same
project, as you put it), then you could duplicate this xml file and
name it something like AdminPage.get.xml.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<module rename-to='admin_area'>

<inherits name='class you want to inherit'/>

<entry-point class='com.projectname.admin.client.AdminPage.java'/>

<source path='client'/>
<source path='shared'/>

</module>

Now that you have another module, GWT will create another nocache.js
file. It should be called admin_area.nocache.js. Each HTML file will
specify what it's entry point is by which javasscript file it
inherits. So your new admin html page should include

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="admin_area/
admin_area.nocache.js"></script>

Now when that page is loaded, it will call the onModuleLoad() in
AdminPage.java.

To go from page to page, you can do something like

new HTML("<a href=\"+PATH+"Admin.html\"> Admin Page </a>");

Again, I have never done it before, but It might work how you want.
You'll have to play with the paths but give it a shot. Or someone
correct me if I'm way off =).

Tom

[Irving Ruan]

Hi Tom,

That's basically what I was thinking along the lines thereof. It
should *appear* to work, and I don't think there's really any other
way to serve two separate HTML pages. I'll try it out.

-I.