Apache Tapestry has released a preview of Tapestry 5, a complete re-write that adopts Java annotations over XML and promises significant performance improvements.
Tapestry 5.0.1 is considered a preview release and has limited functionality, but enough to develop real applications. The Tapestry project released the preview to generate some feedback as well as prepare current Tapestry 3.x and 4.x users for the transition. Howard Lewis Ship has put together some screencasts of Tapestry 5 and is working on the Tapestry 5 Tutorial. Ship lists some of the new features of Tapestry 5:
- Component classes no longer extend from base classes
- Component classes are no longer abstract
- Component configuration is based on Java annotations, not external XML files
- Changes to page and component classes are picked up immediately
- URLs are shorter, "prettier", and case-insensitive
- Blazing Speed: Code paths have been simplified and runtime reflection is all but eliminated
- Simplified coding model, based on convention over configuration principles
- Built-in BeanEditForm component for building simple create/update UIs
There has been some concern about the slow progress of Tapestry, hopefully this release will help the community see where Tapestry is going.