Sunday, September 6, 2026

Quick Guide: How to Set Up a JSF (Jakarta Faces) Project from Scratch

Jakarta Faces (formerly JavaServer Faces or JSF) is a powerful UI framework for building server-side web applications in Java. In this quick tutorial, we’ll walk through setting up a lightweight JSF application using Apache Maven and WildFly.

Step 1: Generate a Web Project Template

First, generate a standard empty web application using the official Maven Webapp Archetype: 
mvn archetype:generate \
  -DarchetypeGroupId=org.apache.maven.archetypes \
  -DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-webapp \
  -DarchetypeVersion=1.4
Follow the prompts to specify your groupId, artifactId, and version.

Step 2: Configure pom.xml

Next, update your pom.xml file. We need to:
  • Specify Java 21 target compatibility.
  • Register the Jakarta Faces API dependency (provided scope, as the app server handles the implementation).
  • Add the WildFly Maven Plugin to streamline rapid local deployment.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" 
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <groupId>com.example.jsf</groupId>
    <artifactId>webapp</artifactId>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>war</packaging>

    <name>webapp Maven Webapp</name>
    <url>http://www.example.com</url>

    <properties>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
        <maven.compiler.source>21</maven.compiler.source>
        <maven.compiler.target>21</maven.compiler.target>
    </properties>

    <dependencies>
        <!-- Jakarta Faces API -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>jakarta.faces</groupId>
            <artifactId>jakarta.faces-api</artifactId>
            <version>4.0.0</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <finalName>webapp</finalName>
        <plugins>
            <!-- WildFly Plugin for quick development & deployment -->
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.wildfly.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>wildfly-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>5.0.0.Final</version>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>
</project>

Step 3: Register FacesServlet in web.xml

In your src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml directory, configure the FacesServlet. This servlet acts as the central controller processing all requests routed to JSF views. 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app xmlns="https://jakarta.ee/xml/ns/jakartaee"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="https://jakarta.ee/xml/ns/jakartaee https://jakarta.ee/xml/ns/jakartaee/web-app_6_1.xsd"
         version="6.1">

    <!-- JSF Servlet Configuration -->
    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>FacesServlet</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>jakarta.faces.webapp.FacesServlet</servlet-class>
        <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>

    <!-- Map JSF to handle .xhtml files -->
    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>FacesServlet</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>*.xhtml</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>

</web-app>

Step 4: Create Your First View (index.xhtml)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
        "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
      xmlns:h="jakarta.faces.html"
      xmlns:f="jakarta.faces.core" xml:lang="en" >

    <f:view>
        <h:outputLabel value="Hello, world"/>
    </f:view>

</html>

Step 5: Run and Test

With the WildFly plugin configured, you can launch and deploy your application directly using Maven: 
mvn wildfly:run
Once WildFly starts, open your browser and navigate to: 
http://localhost:8080/webapp/index.xhtml
You should see your "Hello, world!" message rendered by Jakarta Faces!

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