Is there any canvas like component in JSF?

[Bhavesh Dak]

Hi folks,

I am newbie to JSF and RichFaces.

I need a canvas like component on which I can drag and drop some custom components from pallate.

I also need a good tutorial which can guide me to develop custom components.

Any help regarding this highly appreciated.
Thanks.

[Tim Holloway]

You are mistaking a Canvas for a Container. A Canvas is a raw drawing surface that you use graphics primitives methods to render into. A Container can hold UI controls, and that often includes nested containers - some of which may even be canvases.

A Canvas is not possible on any web platform. The closest you can get is to draw into a graphics buffer and serve up its context in response to an HTML image request. Any UI controls would have to be superimposed on it using HTML CSS.

There are a number of Container controls in JSF, however, including the DataTable and panelGrid controls.

As far as drag-drop-and-drool UI interface design in JSF, Netbeans is supposed to have one, Oracle JDeveloper has one (but it's about like the old-time Mozilla page design tool), and IBM's RAD extensions to Eclipse are supposed to have one (although they cause IBM proprietary code to be inserted into the application).

[Bhavesh Dak]

Hi Tim,

Actually I want to implement a page in which I will have a pallete of custom components.
Now I want a page into which I can put this components absolutely wherever I want (movable) and link them through other components.
So I am browsing through web for it in JSF/RichFaces.

Not found anything useful yet.

Thanks for making me clear about canvas and container.