Client-Side Presentation Logic
So far in this book, much has been said on the subject of how XML can be used in the design of server-
side applications and components within the J2EE context. By performing most of the processing and
transformations on the server side, our web-based application and services can be used by a very wide
audience via even the most basic HTML browsers. This is possible because the information that is
passed between the client and the server in these cases is standard HTML, even though the internal data
interchange format may originally have been XML. The server application logic has transformed the
data (perhaps using XSLT) to HTML by the time the client accesses the data through a servlet or JSP.
The protocol of choice used between the client and the server is HTTP. In fact, much of the modern
corporate intranet infrastructure is optimized and configured for delivering HTTP-based traffic. This
architecture reflects a very 'thin' client, basically a browser supporting simple HTML. The diagram
overleaf illustrates a standard view of a J2EE application.