Lately, I've been pondering the concept of a design approach that utilizes unmapped pure HTML and JavaScript pages pulling JSON data from Struts 2. This means no action mappings are required, resulting in relative page references with minimal need for Struts 2 tags or any other tags. All necessary model information can be retrieved through JSON or managed by a custom Interceptor. Session management, typically handled by an Interceptor, could potentially be accessed via JavaScript headers, although this is uncertain. Even if not possible, alternative methods such as hidden controls could store this information. While the specifics remain unclear to me, I am confident that this approach is feasible.
The proposed outcome would be a purely HTML / JQuery UI accessible to a UI-focused developer without Java knowledge. Tabs, menus, pop-ups, and other elements might only require JSON data, improving browser caching. Moreover, Web Services may become less essential with a cleanly decoupled model and view eliminating the need for OGNL, JSTL, value stack manipulation, or type converters when using Hibernate. There are existing libraries that directly convert Hibernate entities into JSON, further simplifying the process.
Could this be a viable solution devoid of unnecessary complexity, delivering what Servlets and JSP once promised?