This project involves building a lightweight Java-based web framework that handles controllers, routing, and form management through a series of sprints. Each sprint progressively adds functionality to the framework, from simple URL mapping to form handling and exception management.

• Goal: Create a FrontController to capture and display the URL entered by the user.
• Description:
  • Developed the FrontController to handle HTTP requests and print the URL for basic validation.

• Goal: Modify the FrontController to list all controllers in the project.
• Description:
  • Created a Controller annotation for marking classes as controllers.
  • Introduced an XML configuration file to specify the directory containing the controllers.
  • Extended the FrontController to dynamically detect and list all annotated controllers.

• Goal: Implement routing for controllers using annotations.
• Description:
  • Added a Controller annotation to denote classes and a Get annotation to map routes to methods.
  • Modified the FrontController to associate URLs with controller classes and methods.
  • Mapped specific URLs to corresponding methods, displaying which class and method the route points to.

• Goal: Display the return values of functions corresponding to URLs.
• Description:
  • Updated the framework to invoke the method mapped to the URL and display its return value in the response.

• Goal: Handle requests and redirect to JSP pages.
• Description:
  • Introduced ModelAndView class for managing model data and views.
  • Enabled the FrontController to redirect to JSP pages, providing a seamless view rendering process.

• Goal: Integrate exception handling into the framework.
• Description:
  • Added exception handling to FrontController and AccessController.
  • Handled both system and user-defined exceptions, improving error management and debugging.

• Goal: Enable form data submission and processing.
• Description:
  • Built functionality to capture form data and call the corresponding function based on the URL.
  • Displayed the function’s response after form submission.
  • Implemented a Param annotation for mapping form fields to method parameters.
  • Note: To ensure proper mapping, compile the project using the -parameters flag.

• Goal: Map form fields directly to an object’s properties.
• Description:
  • Collected form arguments and set them into a Java object, then returned the object for further processing.

• Goal: Implement a REST API layer.
• Description:
  • Created a new RestApi annotation for REST-enabled controllers.
  • Modified the FrontController to detect and verify the presence of the RestApi annotation.
  • Retrieved the return value of methods annotated with RestApi, converted the data to JSON using the Gson library, and returned it to the client via getWriter for JSON responses.