Spring Web Flow 3.0.1 API

The public Java Documentation for the Spring Web Flow project.

Spring Web Flow facilitates building web applications that require guided navigation -- e.g. a shopping cart, flight check-in, a loan application, and many others. In contrast to stateless, free-form navigation such use cases have a clear start and end point, one or more screens to go through in a specific order, and a set of changes that are not finalized to the end.

A distinguishing feature is the ability to define a flow definition consisting of states, transitions, and data. For example, view states correspond to the individual screens of the flow while transitions are caused by events resulting from the click of a button or a link. Data may be stored in scopes such as flash, view, flow, and others. Scoped data is cleared when it is no longer in scope.

In REST terms a flow represents as a single resource. The same URL used to start the flow is also the URL used to step through the flow (there is also an execution key uniquely identifying the current flow instance). As a result of this approach navigation remains encapsulated in the flow definition.

Some key benefits of using Spring Web Flow:

• A flow abstraction to model "long conversations" in web applications
• Proper encapsulation for navigation rules
• Multiple scopes in which to keep data
• Automatic use of the POST/REDIRECT/GET pattern to avoid browser warnings
• Impossible to return to completed flow sessions via browser back button
• Rapid prototyping of flow requirements
• Development mode in which flow definition changes are detected on the fly
• IDE visualization for flow definitions
• Much more...

Packages

Package	Description
org.springframework.binding.collection	Collection related classes usable by other packages and systems.
org.springframework.binding.convert	Core services for converting objects from one type to another.
org.springframework.binding.convert.converters	Common Converter implementations.
org.springframework.binding.convert.service	Contains the implementation of the type ConversionService.
org.springframework.binding.expression	Core expression language abstraction for parsing and evaluating expressions.
org.springframework.binding.expression.beanwrapper	Support for Spring's BeanWrapper implemented by the BeanWrapperExpressionParser.
org.springframework.binding.expression.el	Support for the Unified Expression Language (EL) implemented by the ELExpressionParser.
org.springframework.binding.expression.spel
org.springframework.binding.expression.support	Support classes commonly used by ExpressionParser implementations.
org.springframework.binding.format	Core services for formatting objects into a string form for display in a UI.
org.springframework.binding.mapping	Support for mapping data between objects.
org.springframework.binding.mapping.impl	The default data Mapper implementation.
org.springframework.binding.mapping.results	Possible Mapping results.
org.springframework.binding.message	A system for recording and tracking locale-specific messages to display in a UI.
org.springframework.binding.method	Custom method binding support for invoking methods on objects.
org.springframework.binding.validation	Common validation interfaces.
org.springframework.faces.config	Configuration support for the Spring Faces custom XML namespace.
org.springframework.faces.model	Extended implementations of JSF-specific data structures such as DataModel.
org.springframework.faces.model.converter	Conversion support for JSF-specific data structures.
org.springframework.faces.mvc	Support for JSF integration with Spring MVC.
org.springframework.faces.security
org.springframework.faces.support	Development and debugging support for working with JSF.
org.springframework.faces.webflow	The integration layer between Spring Web Flow and Java Server Faces (JSF).
org.springframework.webflow.action	Common action implementations invokable by flow definitions.
org.springframework.webflow.config	High-level flow system configuration support within a Spring environment.
org.springframework.webflow.context	The external context subsystem for accessing the environment of a client that has called into Spring Web Flow.
org.springframework.webflow.context.servlet	Contains the ServletExternalContext implementation for calling into Web Flow from a Servlet environment.
org.springframework.webflow.context.web	Shared classes used with Servlet or alternative ExternalContext implementations.
org.springframework.webflow.conversation	The conversation subsystem for beginning and ending conversations that manage the state of user interactions.
org.springframework.webflow.conversation.impl	Conversation manager implementations.
org.springframework.webflow.core	Foundational, generic types usable by all other packages.
org.springframework.webflow.core.collection	Core element collection types used within Spring Web Flow.
org.springframework.webflow.definition	Core, stable abstractions for representing flow definitions.
org.springframework.webflow.definition.registry	The flow definition registry subsystem for managing collections of executable flow definitions.
org.springframework.webflow.engine	The implementation of the web flow execution engine.
org.springframework.webflow.engine.builder	The FlowBuilder subsystem for building and assembling executable flow definitions.
org.springframework.webflow.engine.builder.model	Contains a FlowBuilder that builds Flow instances from a FlowModel.
org.springframework.webflow.engine.builder.support	Support classes for implementing FlowBuilders.
org.springframework.webflow.engine.impl	The implementation of Spring Web Flow's flow execution engine, based on finite-state machine.
org.springframework.webflow.engine.model	Defines a configuration model for Flow instances.
org.springframework.webflow.engine.model.builder	The FlowModelBuilder subsystem for building FlowModels, a configuration model for a Flow instance.
org.springframework.webflow.engine.model.builder.xml	Defines the XmlFlowModelBuilder, for building FlowModels from XML-based resources.
org.springframework.webflow.engine.model.registry	The registry subsystem for managing collections of flow models.
org.springframework.webflow.engine.support	Support implementations the engine uses internally.
org.springframework.webflow.execution	Core, stable abstractions for representing runtime executions of flow definitions.
org.springframework.webflow.execution.factory	Supporting types often used by flow execution factory implementations.
org.springframework.webflow.execution.repository	The flow execution repository subsystem for saving and restoring managed flow executions.
org.springframework.webflow.execution.repository.impl	Contains the concrete flow execution repository implementations provided by the framework.
org.springframework.webflow.execution.repository.snapshot	Support for repositories that take flow execution snapshots to support backtracking.
org.springframework.webflow.execution.repository.support	General purpose implementation assistance for flow execution repositories.
org.springframework.webflow.executor	High-level executors for driving the execution of flow definitions.
org.springframework.webflow.expression.el	Web Flow integration with the Unified EL API.
org.springframework.webflow.expression.spel
org.springframework.webflow.mvc.builder	Support for configuring Spring MVC-based ViewFactory implementations when building a Flow.
org.springframework.webflow.mvc.servlet	The integration between Web Flow and Spring MVC, Spring's web application platform.
org.springframework.webflow.mvc.view	Support for rendering Spring MVC-based Views within Web Flow.
org.springframework.webflow.persistence	Flow-managed persistence with Hibernate and JPA.
org.springframework.webflow.scope	Web Flow custom bean scopes allowing access to scoped-beans from a Spring ApplicationContext.
org.springframework.webflow.security	Support for securing flows using Spring Security.
org.springframework.webflow.test	Support for testing flows and their associated artifacts.
org.springframework.webflow.test.execution	Support for testing the execution of a flow definition.
org.springframework.webflow.upgrade	A migration tool to convert Web Flow version 1 flow definitions to the version 2 format.
org.springframework.webflow.validation