Introduction - Stripes...and Java Web Development is Fun Again - page 4

convention and adding key-label pairs in a resource bundle.
• Exception handling: When an exception goes all the way up the
stack without being handled, the servlet container shows a big
ugly exception page. You don't want your users to see that! Stripes
lets you show specific error pages for the exception types that you
care about and has a general “catchall” error page for all other
exceptions.
• Interceptors: When handling a request, Stripes goes through sev-
eral life-cycle stages before providing a response. Interceptors let
you write code that is called before or after any of these stages,
making it easy to alter the flow, change the data, and so on. Inter-
ceptors are a great way of plugging in custom behavior.
• Customizable URLs: Stripes takes care of all the URL binding for
you, so you can write your whole application without ever bother-
ing with URLs. However, if you need specific URL patterns, Stripes
lets you do that too.
• Easy Ajax integration: With the simple and transparent request-
response nature of Stripes, you can Ajaxify your applications by
using your favorite Ajax framework as a front end and Stripes as
a back end.
• Testing: Stripes comes with a built-in set of mock objects that
help you write automated unit tests to make sure your application
works as expected.
• Easy extension and customization: Stripes is designed in a modu-
lar fashion with many areas to hook into. You can plug in different
behavior for any part of the framework. Extensibility is an area
where Stripes really shines, and if you're not used to being able
to easily insert custom code into a framework, you're in for a real
treat.

1.2 Getting the Most Out of This Topic

Here is some information that will help you get the most out of this
book.

What You Should Already Know
I assume you know the basics of Java web application development,
including compiling Java code, creating a web application, packaging
a WAR file, and deploying to a servlet container. You should also be
familiar with JSPs and the Expression Language (EL).