http-spec VS Vaadin

However, we do not need to write the specification by hand, as there are GUI editors to perform that task. We show a couple of examples of Spotlight, which provides an easy-to-use interface:

We use Stoplight Studio https://stoplight.io/ to design APIs, one of the advantages of Stoplight Studio is the Visual interface, it generates OpenAPI specs from the design and supports OpenAPI v3, allowing users to create, edit, and view API designs using the OpenAPI standard.

I'm sorry, but you have completely misunderstood the purpose of Open API.

It is not a specification to define your business logic classes and objects -- either client or server side. Its goal is to define the interface of an API, and to provide a single source of truth that requests and responses can be validated against. It contains everything you need to know to make requests to an API; code generation is nice to have (and I use it myself, but mainly on the server side, for routing and validation), but not something required or expected from OpenAPI

For what it's worth, my personal preferred workflow to build an API is as follows:

1. Build the OpenAPI spec first. A smaller spec could easily be done by hand, but I prefer using a design tool like Stoplight [0]; it has the best Web-based OpenAPI (and JSON Schema) editor I have encountered, and integrates with git nearly flawlessly.

2. Use an automated tool to generate the API code implementation. Again, a static generation tool such as datamodel-code-generator [1] (which generates Pydantic models) would suffice, but for Python I prefer the dynamic request routing and validation provided by pyapi-server [2].

3. Finally, I use automated testing tools such as schemathesis [3] to test the implementation against the specification.

[0] https://stoplight.io/

[1] https://koxudaxi.github.io/datamodel-code-generator/

[2] https://pyapi-server.readthedocs.io

[3] https://schemathesis.readthedocs.io

One of the best tools out there for API design and governance https://stoplight.io/ you can also use the open source tool (also from Stoplight) called Spectral https://stoplight.io/open-source/spectral

Stoplight is a platform for designing, documenting, and testing APIs. Its "Mocks" feature allows you to create mock versions of your API for testing and development purposes. In addition to the mock feature, Stoplight also includes tools for API design, documentation, and testing, making it a comprehensive platform for API development.

Stoplight

JSON visualizer JSON validator YAML validator Collaborative Design & Documentation for APIs

But how do we explain the complexity of the current toolset? This is where the Law of the instrument kicks in: "If the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail.". Even if JavaScript was born in the web, JavaScript centered frameworks do not fit properly in the web. That is why we have huge bundles of JavaScript, that is why RSC are necessary (things like RSC were already a thing in Vaadin) and that is how JavaScript became the Birmingham screwdriver.

Off-topic but this blog is using https://vaadin.com, that's the first time I am seeing this framework being used!

But there are frameworks like GWT or Vaadin for Java, but none of them really took off afaik, I've never seen a job posting with either of these.

This small tutorial takes 15 minutes from the start to a working demo. We use Picovoice Porcupine Wake Word Engine to enable a Vaadin-based Java web application.

Are you a long-time Java developer using Spring-related tech stack? Vaadin can bring a fresh brief of the air into your daily development routines.

It’s been 7 years since we deployed our first Vaadin app for production. The whole process has been more than interesting. We developed the application according to an analysis (several modules for the agenda in the field of local government) based on a verbal assignment. The customer started testing on our server and after 2 months found only 3 bugs and requested 2 modifications beyond the original brief. Once implemented, we installed it at the customer’s site. The application started for the first time and is still running :-).

> Slightly off topic, but I found JSF the most productive out of any framework.

In my experience, it has been a horrible technology (even when combined with PrimeFaces) for complex functionality.

When you have a page that has a bunch of tabs, which have tables with custom action buttons, row editing, row expansion, as well as composite components, modal dialogs with other tables inside of those, various dropdowns or autocomplete components and so on, it will break in new ways all the time.

Sometimes the wrong row will be selected, even if you give every element a unique ID, sometimes updating a single table row after AJAX will be nigh impossible, other times the back end methods will be called with the wrong parameters, sometimes your composite components will act in weird ways (such as using the button to close a modal dialog doing nothing).

When used on something simple, it's an okay choice, but enterprise codebases that have been developed for years (not even a decade) across multiple versions will rot faster than just having a RESTful API and some separate SPA (that can be thrown out and rewritten altogether, if need be).

Another option in the space is Vaadin which feels okay, but has its own problems: https://vaadin.com/

Of course, my experiences are subjective and my own.

Did you find an excellent custom element that would make sense in your Vaadin Java web application? Maybe that is a web component that you previously published yourself in npmjs.com?