Robust Java Frameworks for Your Web App Development Projects!

Posted by Parija Rangnekar On Filed under Java, Web App No Comments
Robust Java Frameworks for Your Web App Development Projects!
Java application development
Released on 23rd Jan 1996, Java is 24 years old now. Despite being in the market for more than two decades, it is extremely relevant even today and universally accepted programming language. Many technology giants like Amazon, Netflix, eBay, IBM, Dell, Oracle, etc. are widely using these frameworks. It has constantly ranked in the first position as per the TIOBE index.
It is possible to architect highly secure customer-centric apps using Java application development. Java is a robust and dynamic language and when combined with its frameworks, provides excellent solutions for diverse industrial domains like healthcare, eCommerce, transportation, finance, education, banking, etc.
In this blog, you will get a glimpse of the top Java frameworks used by Java developers along with their pros and cons. But, before we dive deeper into it, let’s quickly run through what Java frameworks are and why they are used?

What are Java frameworks and why they are used?

A Java framework is a body of pre-written code to enable easier, faster, and efficient development as well as the deployment of the web apps. It is a kind of template which the developers can use for Java web app development by adding their own code and re-using the components in it.
A Java framework alleviates the need to write the code from scratch. It gives a structure to the web apps by automating a lot of things for consistent and accurate results. These may even include predefined functions and classes for interacting with software systems or managing the hardware devices, depending upon the type of framework. One can use the framework by calling the inheritance, functions, providing callbacks, listeners, etc.

Promising Java Frameworks to Know in 2020!

There are multiple frameworks available in the market for Java web app development and they all serve different purposes and good for specific requirements. Here are the most commonly used Java frameworks that you must know.
Java frameworks for web app development

Spring

Spring is an open-source Java framework that is lightweight, powerful, and known for building complex and high-performing web apps. It is a feature-rich modular framework that has several add-ons like REST APIs, SOAP services, secured authentication, etc. The aspect-oriented programming features and the concept of dependency injection in Spring allow the Java developers to develop enterprise-level applications. It is a framework having several modules like Spring Core, Spring Security, Spring ORM, Spring MVC, Spring Boost, Spring Transaction, etc.
Pros
  • Supports JDBC thereby reducing the errors and enhancing the productivity
  • Better modularity for enhanced code readability
  • The framework is lightweight, hence can be triggered without an application server
  • Simplified injection to test data through POJOs
  • Supports Inversion of Control (IOC) to satisfy the application dependencies itself
  • Provides backward compatibility and testability of the code
Cons
  • Learning Spring could be time-consuming and difficult
  • A newbie may find it difficult to implement MVC
  • It keeps changing over time

Hibernate

Hibernate isn’t a full-stack framework but is one of the best frameworks when it comes to the database. It is an Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) framework used for building highly stable apps. ORM is useful in connecting data across incompatible systems and helps the data to flow seamlessly; thus making it easier to work in a complex ecosystem. It also helps to overcome issues like Paradigm Mismatch or Object-Relational Impedance Mismatch. Hibernate also facilitates sound communication between Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) and Java programming language. A Java application development company can rely on this framework for developing scalable web apps.
Pros
  • Free, open-source and powerful
  • Productivity, portability, scalability, and maintainability
  • With small modifications in code, communicating with any database is possible
  • Repetitive code is removed from the JDBC API
Cons
  • Restarting could be immensely slow at times
  • In the case of power-cut, all the data may be lost

Google Web Toolkit (GWT)

This is a free, open-source, and developer-friendly framework, that helps to build complex applications at a fast pace without the proficiency in front-end technologies. It is used for creating and debugging Ajax apps in Java. It allows conversion of Java code into JavaScript code which saves time and effort to a great extent. It provides great features such as bookmarking, internationalization, cross-browser compatibility, management of history, etc. GWT is one of the best frameworks for responsive and performant web apps with a lower load on server-side and heavy lifting on the client-side.
Pros
  • Easy to learn
  • Google APIs can be used in apps built using GWT.
  • Reusability of code
Cons
  • Though it is evolving at a fast pace, all functions and interfaces may not be available.
  • Its compilation is slower and may require a proprietary method for defining structures.

Java Server Faces (JSF)

Developed by Oracle, JSF helps to build user interfaces for applications developed in Java. It is a framework based on the design pattern of MVC used for building native apps and enterprise apps. It is a stable framework. In this framework, User Interfaces can be created simply by drag and drop of the UI components. It has an architecture that differentiates between app logic and representation in an explicit manner. JSF may not be a very efficient framework but is easy to use due to the support of Oracle’s methodical documentation.
Pros
  • Offers outstanding tools and rich libraries
  • It has reusable UI components
  • This framework is an intrinsic part of Java EE
  • Developers using IDE software find this framework convenient to use.
Cons
  • Without prior experience in Java web app development, learning JSF would be quite hectic.

Grails

Grails is a full-stack dynamic framework. It uses Spring MVC as the base web application framework to develop applications based on the MVC design pattern. It is written in the programming language called Groovy and is much compatible with the syntax in Java. It works seamlessly with (JVM) and offers robust features like compile-time meta-programming, asynchronous programming, etc. Grails works with technologies like Java EE containers, SiteMesh, Spring, Hibernate, Quartz, etc.
Pros
  • The setup process is much easier
  • Object mapping is easy
  • Provides a rapid development cycle
  • Has a variety of plug-ins for making the programming easier
  • Managing CSS is easy
  • Supports configuration which is dynamic
  • It has well-structured and easy documentation.
Cons
  • Working on multi-threaded apps could be tedious at times
  • Developers need to work with runtime language

Play

Mobile and Web Applications can be built using Scala and Java with the base as Play framework. It has an architecture that is lightweight and web-friendly. This framework is built on Akka and uses the asynchronous model designed on top of the Akka toolkit. As it is developed over Akka, it minimizes resource consumption like CPU, memory, etc. which facilitates in developing scalable applications.
Pros
  • Asynchronous processing ensures high performance
  • It provides features like ‘hot reload’ and convention over configuration
  • It is a highly flexible framework known for failure-tolerant results
  • Typesafe and Zenexity provide commercial support to this framework
  • Improves productivity of the developer
Cons
  • Since it is developed over I/O async, Java developers will need to handle inner classes which would be difficult to identify
  • There isn’t much difference between Play1 and Play2
  • It may or may not follow J2EE web standards

End Note:

Every project has a specific requirement and so, choosing the right framework could be challenging. The frameworks mentioned above are the most widely used by almost every Java web app development company. All of them are designed to suit different project needs. By studying their significance, pros, and cons you can decide the best one for your project.
I hope this blog helps you to find the best-suited Java framework for your business requirements.
Let us know your comments on this.
For any other queries, drop us a mail at sales.enquiry@biz4solutions.com

How does Sucuri enhance Website Security?       

Posted by Parija Rangnekar On Filed under Mobile App Development, web app development No Comments
How does Sucuri enhance Website Security?       

Overview on Sucuri

What is Sucuri?
Today, the commonest question that baffles app owners is: “How to secure a website against hackers?” Here is one of the viable solution to this issue – Sucuri, a cloud-based platform ensures website security by implementing strategies that keep a website clean and protect it from all sorts of security threats including hacking, malware attacks, DDoS, and blacklists. The adept professionals at Sucuri are capable of fixing hacks and they adopt suitable measures for preventing future hacks/attacks.
When Sucuri is enabled, the entire traffic of the website passes through Sucuri’s cloud proxy firewall before reaching the hosting server. This approach enables Sucuri to block all security breaches/attacks and only send the legitimate/relevant visitors to the website. So web app development companies can take the leverage of this tool to make their site more secured. Now, let’s take a look at how Sucuri works; the reference screenshots provided will provide better clarity and help you understand better on how to configure your site for better protection.

The Basic outline of Sucuri’s Network

Sucuri’s domain-specific services include the elimination of website security threats through monitoring, Firewall, and Backup services for websites.

Sucuri’s Pricing Model

Refer to the following link to check out the details of Sucuri’s pricing model.
https://sucuri.net/website-security-platform/signup/
Sucuri’s pricing model: In a nutshell
  • Sucuri offers 3 plans – A Basic Platform, a Pro Platform, and a Business Platform
  • Please note that each pricing plan supports only one website (domain) by default; reference URL: https://sucuri.net/faq/ question: How do you define a website?
    • The Single license plan will work for: example.com/blog and example.com/forum, and this will be treated as a single website
    • Multiple licenses is required if:
      • awesomedomain.com directs traffic to somesite.com/blog
      • blog.example.com or forum.example.com will need 3 different licenses – 2 for each blog and forum; and 1 for example.com

How to set up Sucuri: Key Steps

Peek through the steps of setting up this website security and protection platform. Here we go!
1. Logging in
  • For logging in to Sucuri you have 2 options to choose from:
  • Then, you will be redirected to the login page and you need to log in using the login details you are having.
2. Adding and Scanning the website domain
    • After the login process is completed, the first-time users will be redirected to the “Add site” screen, as provided in the following screenshot:
    • Thereafter, click on the “Add Site” button to add the site for monitoring. This click will open a pop-up screen, where you need to add the website domain. Enter the website domain in the given text space. It will take some time to get scanned when entered for the first time. Check out the following screenshot for reference:
    • After the scan is completed, the result will be displayed as shown in the screenshot provided below – it will inform you whether the site is under malware attack or not, it will also let you know whether the site has been blocked by any Antivirus, etc. Check out the screenshot given below for reference:
3. Enabling the server-side Scanner
Now, we need to enable the server-side scanner. For executing this step, you need to go to Monitoring -> Settings -> Server Side Scanner; refer to the screenshot given below:
  • To enable the server-side scanner, Sucuri uses a file that needs to be uploaded at the root directory of the website and so, Sucuri will ask for FTP/SFTP details for uploading the file on the server. Thereafter, it does not require the FTP/SFTP as it is a one-time process. This step can be executed manually as well. Here goes the process:
    • Enabling the server-side scanner via FTP/SFTP – Sucuri will provide the form as given below for receiving the FTP/SFTP details; refer to the following screenshot:
    • Enabling the server-side scanner manually instead of providing FTP/SFTP details: Click on the blue line labeled as “Enable Manually”. You will be provided with an option to download the file. Download that file manually, upload it on the server at the root level, and then click on the button “Verify File and Enable”.
4. Adding Firewall
Now you need to add a firewall for your site.
  • Click on the Firewall menu given on the top of the main menu bar, check out the screenshot provided below for reference:
    • For first-time users, a screen will be displayed which will ask the user to protect the site.
    • When you select to protect the site, a pop-up bar will be displayed and it will ask you to add the website domain for the firewall.
  • Here, if your website is under a DDoS attack, you can click the first option
  • If you’ve got a WordPress site or any CMS site, and wish to restrict the access of its admin panel for the general public and enable it only for the IP addresses which are whitelisted, you need to select the second option.
  • Depending on the requirement you can decide whether or not you should use Sucuri’s DNS servers. And, if you wish to use DNS servers, you need to select the third option.
  • Thereafter, click on “Add Site”. It will activate the firewall and generate a firewall IP, and will also download copies of the website content to Sucuri’s network.
  • You need to switch the DNS (www.example.com) to point to the newly generated firewall IP of Sucuri. Before that, when we click on “Add Site”, it will show a warning that “the Service is Not Activated, and that’s because we’ve not yet switched the DNS to point Sucuri’s firewall IP.” Before switching to the DNS, we can test whether Sucuri’s network has downloaded the website content properly or not, and for this, Sucuri’s provides its internal Sucuri Firewall Domain. Click on this, and if you find that the website is loading properly, it indicates that everything has gone well so far.
  • After switching the DNS (www.example.com) to Sucuri’s Firewall IP in a domain management service provider like godaddy.com, AWS, etc. if we visit Sucuri’s Firewall menu; it will show that the Firewall Service is ‘Activated’ and that the domain is pointing to firewall IP.
Now, take a look at certain crucial Firewall settings that need to be established
Access Control:
    • Allow IP Addresses: Here if you have provided restricted access only for the whitelisted IP addresses, you can add IPs for whitelisting them. Sucuri provides some options while whitelisting the IP – time-based whitelisting for IP that is been going to be added, for a duration of 30 mins, 1 hr, 3 hrs, 6 hrs, 12 hrs, 1 day, or for a permanent period.
    • Geo-Blocking: Here, you can block access to your website based on geo-location – you can restrict users belonging to certain countries/regions from accessing the website. Sucuri provides some options like “View” and “Post.” Read the description given below for figuring out what View and Post will do; refer to the screenshot given below:
Security:
    • As given in the screenshot provided below, the options that are provided inside the orange-colored box under the button “Advanced Security Options,” are the options that are most likely to be enabled.
    • The options that are provided inside the yellow-colored box are related to WordPress. Here, the first option restricts the Admin panel from being publicly accessed and the second set of options restricts comments, etc. Refer to the screenshot given below:

Key Takeaway

So, isn’t Sucuri a good tool to adopt for protecting your website from data breaches and ensuring website security? We are an experienced and technically sound IT firm outsourcing software development services to a global clientele. We have helped several entrepreneurs to establish their digital footprints without any hassles.