Forum app

I want to build a module for a forum in my web-app, where the client can post his queries and users can post replies.
The clients in this case shall be users of some product and they would generally be posting queries on the product.
Other users of the product may post their replies.
What are the options available for developing this using Java/J2EE ?

What's your comfort level with HTML forms, servlets and JDBC? You could make a good start on things with little more than that. Fill us in on what you know and help us drill down to specific suggestions.

Currently, I use JSP, Servlets, Struts, Torque, NetBeans/Eclipse, Dreamweaver heavily in the development of web apps and am quite comfortable with these technologies. What I would really like to know is the possibility of using XML for the forum app. Are there any specific frameworks or open-source software targeted towards forum development?

Ah, I had the wrong idea entirely. I'm not aware of any frameworks to help build forum type software. You could likely find complete systems in open source. How much do you think writing your own would be fun vs grabbing open source code would get the job done on time?

Storing your content in XML and rendering it to HTML on the fly sounds like a good plan. Use the XML to mark content sections, like title, author, abstract or a teaser line that could be used on a table of contents. I'd search for content management systems to find more complete systems ... this is probably common practice.