Challenges using Icefaces
I would just like to take a quick moment and inform anyone about Icefaces, and the challenges I have faced using it. Take it from my current experience (version 1.6.1 and 1.6.2) and the words of an Icefaces developer that since Icefaces "is a stateful technology......providing enhanced features for the user....but require server-side resources to do so." That last statement has been our recent struggle.
Unfortunately, on my current project we don't have the luxury of lots of server-side resources. It's disappointing to say we have to share a single server that is already running IIS; then we have to run Jboss and MS SQL on the same machine. Obviously this is not by choice and doesn't look to change in the near future.
It might be Icefaces never intended their framework to run in such a limited environment. But that really doesn't help me now. It would be great if they published information about minimum hardware requirements, especially if they are aware of performance issues. Equally important I am sure we have strayed away from best practices in using Icefaces.
Please don't ask me why we choose to use Icefaces in the first place (I wasn't with the group at the time). But I assume it was a lack of knowledge of how Icefaces works, and we weren't aware of the environment limitations. Either way, we are facing difficult challenges that are very frustrating.
For example, we recently had severe problems with an editable table which was sortable (much like an excel spreadsheet). When users clicked twice on the header to sort, the data appeared to be sent twice and some how our data got corrupted. Consequently we had to disable the ability to sort.
Also, based on my understanding of Icefaces, it appears that all clients maintain a constant connection with the server. I am assuming this is what the Icefaces developer above was referring to when he says Icefaces is a stateful technology. For some reason, I feel this constant connection would cause challenges for 50-100+ concurrent clients with limited server-side resources.
Hope it helps someone.
