One of the main products of my company is an Oracle Forms (and Reports) based application, that "needs" to be re-written in another technology. Why? Users want a more rich interface experience, and we want, preferably, to reduce costs with an open source application server. For this (HUGE) project, we intend to use a java web application framework, keep these points in mind:

• We have:

  • hundreds of tables on our database (the ORM must be as flexible as possible);
  • some logic which is (and will still be) based on PL/SQL procedures/functions/packages;
  • a lot of CRUDs (the application itself is of an considerable size);
  • a demand to work with/generate documents and workflows;
  • an intranet based user environment;

• We want:

  • to offer a RIA interface experience;
  • use (if possible) an open source app server;
  • a rapid (as possible) development framework;
  • a somewhat mature framework with a "wise" roadmap (and a considerable community support);
  • a MVC approach combined with JS or GWT widgets (e.g. Vaadin or SmartGWT);

Well, in the past weeks I've read a lot of posts, Q&As on stackoverflow, and much more: Wicket, JSF, Tapestry, Grails, GWT, Struts2, Play, Spring, Seam, Echo, .... the list goes on! I've even researched about Alfresco..!

The obvious question: Which one to use? At this time, any insight, recommendation, shared experience, advice will be more then welcome!