Velocity vs Velocity+Struts

[Mark Whelan <Ma...@ibatech.com>]

G'day,

For a while now, I've been working on evaluating many java-based web
presentation frameworks with which to use as part of our overall J2EE
enterprise solution. I was impressed with Velocity, and then the
Velocity/Struts integration came along. I'm still at odds as to whether I
should be using Velocity on it's own, or using the Velocity/Struts solution.
Any thoughts on which some of you might prfer in the situation I'm in would
aid my final decision. Some background info first.

- We've recently migrated an existing Delphi-based client-server product to
J2EE. Essentially, the client is still Delphi, talks to our J2EE app server
via sidl(xml). We have re-developed some business logic in EJB, and some
existing logic still exists in CORBA-wrapped Delphi APIs. We're using
Cocobase O/R mapping for database access. From this, such server-side
functionality as session management, connection pooling, etc have been
developed. This is the product from which I will prototype the web
framework. This is phase 1 of a 2-phase migration, phase 2 will re-develop
the server-side Delphi fully into EJB, add the web front-end, etc.

- We've just finalised the migration of another product, which was
originally a character-based product adapted to the web. It uses a
proprietary script-like language called TBL (which is bloody horrible) with
C-ISAM database access (also bloody horrible.) Much of the TBL is being
re-written in EJB, the CGI gateways are being redeveloped as servlets and
the HTML templates are being adapted to Velocity due to the fact all the
HTML can be re-used, we just map the current references to Velocity context
references. Security, authentication, session management and caching are
being developed as part of this migration. This is also phase 1 of a 2-phase
migration, the second will lead to tight integration with the other product,
including a common database model.

With this in mind, I'm starting to think that some of the functionality that
struts will give me is already done or being developed. As Velocity is
already being used (I managed to convince them that XSLT was not the best
choice, they now agree) without struts in one project, perhaps Velocity on
it's own is all I need overall?

Cheers

Mark

For those curious, this software is complex healthcare-based systems, the
first being a clinical information system, and the second is a patient
administration system. The two very different origins stem from two
different companies that merged together.
The contents of this e-mail (including any attachments) are intended only
for the person or entity to which this e-mail is addressed and may contain
confidential, privileged and/or commercially sensitive material.  If you are
not, or believe you may not be, the intended recipient, please advise the
sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this e-mail and destroy any
copies.