I guess I need to figure out whether I can be targeting RESTful URLs exclusively. Right now I think the only time I wouldn't need to target a RESTful URL is
when a user clicks a link to load a new page.
I chose FrontMan because I thought (not sure I still don't) I needed a server-side MVC framework. I like the concept of a front controller that dispatches control
accordingly and am/was using scriptless-JSP (aided by JSTL and
JSP tag files) to present the content to the screen. It all flows very nicely.
But now as I investigate the front end and the more it seems like this is going to be a JavaScript intensive web app, where most of the coding will be on the client-side,
I am starting to rethink some earlier decisions.
Instead of loading content from the server-side, I am thinking I will load a jQuery-based UI widget and then issue an AJAX request to gather the data to populate that
widget. I'm a newbie to REST, but this model seems to fit nicely with REST-based solutions.
What are your thoughts on relying more heavily on the client-side (via JavaScript) to do most of the heavy lifting.
And would you say given recent trends in web application development, that RESTful solutions are starting to push MVC solutions aside?
I would also like to say that I appreciate your feedback on my questions today. Feedback from you goes a long way in my book as you are a very respected developer,
author and contributor to software engineering.
Thanks,
Mike