How to make modular page?

[Gaspacho]

Hi there

I currently have project in school. In the beginning it was supposed to just get data from database and have some settings available. But recently I got 2 more co-workers and they should participate by adding some more functionality.

That is when I started to make the page modular. So the question here is: Has anyone of you made a project like this? Tha part that's interesting for me is how do you make it modular?

I was thinking of doing something like this:

- make a Modules folder
- each time the page starts it checks whether there is any module in folder
- if yes then create new link and link it with index.jsp in module War archive

Would that work? Have you got any other suggestions or useful tips? Thank you very much for every reply ;).

[~s.o.s~]

If possible, set up a version control system so that at every point in time the entire team has a view of the functionality currently existing in the system. Follow good J2EE practices by making use of JSTL instead of using scriptlets so that you don't end up creating messy and difficult to maintain pages.

Assigning a given functionality to a member shouldn't present any problems unless you are working on something which depends on other modules. Also make sure the changes are planned as opposed to ad hoc.

[Gaspacho]

I guess that you mean something like Subversion? Well this might be good while working on the project now but lets say that someone would like to add some functionality 2 years later. Thats why I would like to allow page to use plug-ins or modules.

[~s.o.s~]

> I guess that you mean something like Subversion?

Yes, or maybe CVS.

> lets say that someone would like to add some functionality 2 years later.
> Thats why I would like to allow page to use plug-ins or modules.

Well, like I said in my previous post, following good J2EE practices and design patterns ensures that the enhancements are as smooth and painless as possible. You might also want to look into JSP includes [both static and dynamic] to add real *modularity* to your page i.e. your typical page would be composed of a header inclusion, the body and a footer. This is how the tiles concepts in Struts works. Google for those terms and it would be clear enough for you.