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Upgrade to 25.00

This documentation serves as a guide to upgrade webforJ apps from 24.00 to 25.00. Here are the changes needed for existing apps to continue running smoothly. As always, see the GitHub release overview for a more comprehensive list of changes between releases.

Jetty 12 web servers​

webforJ 25.00 and higher utilize Jetty 12, using the Jakarta EE10 servlet architecture. If you're using the Jetty Maven plugin for development, migrate from Jakarta EE8 to Jakarta EE10. This upgrade will also require replacing anything that relied on the javax.servlet package with the Jakarta.servlet package.

POM file changes​

Before

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.eclipse.jetty.ee8</groupId>
  <artifactId>jetty-ee8-maven-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>10.x.xx</version>

After

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.eclipse.jetty.ee10</groupId>
  <artifactId>jetty-ee10-maven-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>12.x.xx</version>

API changes for the App class​

Several deprecated App methods are removed in 25.00. The following sections outline what methods were replaced and the recommended replacements.

Console logging​

The utility class BrowserConsole, dedicated for creating styled logs to the browser console, replaces the consoleLog() and consoleError() methods. Get the BrowserConsole by using the console() method:

public class Application extends App{
  
  @Override
  public void run() throws WebforjException {
    console().log("Log message");
    console().error("Error message");
  }
}

Web storage​

For versions prior to webforJ 25.00, the App class has the methods getLocalStorage(), getSessionStorage(), and getCookieStorage() to get instances of the LocalStorage, SessionStorage and CookieStorage classes respectively. Going forward, each class has a getCurrent() method.

See Web Storage for more information.

Request class​

The Request class is now responsible for getting an app's URL, port, host, and protocol. So instead of using App.getUrl(), use App.getCurrent().getUrl(). The getCurrent() method also replaces the getRequest() method to get an instance of the Request class.

info

The Request class also has removed methods, jump to Request to see them.

Page class​

The getPage() method is replaced with Page.getCurrent() to get the current page instance.

Option dialogs​

Instead of using the msgbox() method, use OptionDialog.showMessageDialog() to create message dialogs.

App termination​

The cleanup() method has been removed. There are now two methods for terminations, onWillTerminate() and onDidTerminate().

See Hooks for termination for more information.

Table sorting​

For webforJ 25.00 and higher, tables use single-column sorting by default. Columns will only be sorted by the most recently selected column header. To make a table use multi-column sorting, invoke the setMultiSorting() method:

table.setMultiSorting(true);

Hidden TabbedPane body​

The hideBody() method is replaced with setBodyHidden() to maintain a consistent naming convention for methods.

Rendering HTML inside components​

In webforJ 25.00 and higher, there is a setHtml() method to help distinguish between setting literal and HTML text inside a component. Setting HTML using the setText() method is still possible, but now requires explicitly wrapping it with <html> tags.

// Valid uses of setText() and setHtml()
Button home = new Button();

home.setText("""
  <html>
    <h1>Home</h1>
  </html>
""");

home.setHtml("<h1>Home</h1>");

home.setText("Home");
// Invalid uses of setText() and setHtml()
Button home = new Button();
home.setText("<h1>Home</h1>");

HTML containers​

The com.webforj.component.htmlcontainer package is no longer in webforJ. Use the more feature-rich com.webforj.component.element package instead. For a list of webforJ classes for standard HTML Elements, go to HTML Element Components.

Request changes​

  • Just like the removal of the getCookieStorage() method for the App class, Request no longer has the getCookie() method. This reinforces the use of CookieStorgage.getCurrent() to get an instance of the CookieStorage class.

  • The getQueryParam() method is now getQueryParameter().

WebforjBBjBridge changes​

Getting an instance of WebforjBBjBridge​

The Environment class no longer has the getWebforjHelper() method, so use getBridge() instead.

Using the ConfirmDialog component for the msgbox() method​

Previous versions of webforJ uses strings and integers directly for the WebforjBBjBridge msgbox() method. However, messages for WebforjBBjBridge in webforJ 25.00 and higher use the ConfirmDialog component. This gives more control for which buttons are displayed and the message type.

Before

Environment environment = Environment.getCurrent();
WebforjBBjBridge bridge = environment.getWebforjHelper();

int msgboxResult = bridge.msgbox("Are you sure you want to delete this file?", 1, "Deletion");

After

Environment environment = Environment.getCurrent();
WebforjBBjBridge bridge = environment.getBridge();

ConfirmDialog dialog = new ConfirmDialog(
      "Are you sure you want to delete this file?", "Deletion",
      ConfirmDialog.OptionType.OK_CANCEL, ConfirmDialog.MessageType.QUESTION);

int msgboxResult = bridge.msgbox(dialog);

PasswordMediation typo correction​

The enum class PasswordMediation, used for indicating whether a user is required to login every visit to an app with a Login compoent, has a typo in previous webfroJ versions. SILENT replaces the typo SILIENT for webforJ 25.00 and higher.

Auto-focusing methods​

To keep webforJ consistent, methods like setAutofocus() and isAutofocus() now have a uniform capitalization like the HasAutoFocus interface. So components like Dialog and Drawer use setAutoFocus() and isAutoFocus() for 25.00 and higher.

BBjWindowAdapter and Panel marked as final​

The BBjWindowAdapter and Panel classes are now declared as final, meaning they can no longer be subclassed. This change improves stability and enforces consistent usage patterns.