JSF 2.3 has just posted a public review (this is the last step before the proposed final specification). Like JSF 2.2, this is slated to be mostly a minor update with various incremental features that the community has requested. Indeed the community has driven JSF 2.3 very heavily, directly committing many of the features into the Mojarra code base. Here is a summary of the features slated for JSF 2.3:
- Alignment with the Java SE 8 Date/Time API
- Improved CDI support
- Formally deprecating the JSF specific bean sub-system in favor of CDI
- WebSocket integration
- AJAX method invocation
- Multi-field validation
Besides the above, there are many more smaller grained changes. For details, you should check out the specification document itself (linked below). There is a nice change list at the very start of the document. The community had already been doing a nice job blogging about JSF 2.3 features – particularly folks like Arjan Tijms and Anghel Leonard. Simply Googling JSF 2.3 should go a long way to get a more detailed overview.
You can download and take a look at the draft specification from the JCP site. If you are a JSF user you should do your part by engaging actively. Here are the many ways you can engage (most of this comes directly from the Adopt-a-JSR page I drafted while still at Oracle):
- You can still join the specification itself as an expert or a contributor. You can do that via the JCP page for the specification.
- You can have your JUG officially support the standard through Adopt-a-JSR.
- You can simply join the discussion without any ceremony by subscribing to the JSF specification user alias.
- You can share ideas and feedback, possibly by entering issues in the public issue tracker.
- You can read the public review specification now.
- You can try out the reference implementation now.
- You can write or speak about JSF 2.3 now.
- You can encourage others to participate.
The next step is up to you. You can be a real part of Java’s ongoing success yourself instead of simply being a passive consumer. If you have any questions I am happy to try to help – just drop me a note any time.