--- title: Overview order: 1 layout: page --- [[application.overview]] = Overview A server-side Vaadin application runs as a Java Servlet in a servlet container. The Java Servlet API is, however, hidden behind the framework. The user interface of the application is implemented as a __UI__ class, which needs to create and manage the user interface components that make up the user interface. User input is handled with event listeners, although it is also possible to bind the user interface components directly to data. The visual style of the application is defined in themes as CSS or Sass. Icons, other images, and downloadable files are handled as __resources__, which can be external or served by the application server or the application itself. [[figure.application.architecture]] .Server-Side Application Architecture image::img/application-architecture-hi.png[width=75%, scaledwidth=90%] <> illustrates the basic architecture of an application made with the Vaadin Framework, with all the major elements, which are introduced below and discussed in detail in this chapter. First of all, a Vaadin application must have one or more UI classes that extend the abstract [classname]#com.vaadin.ui.UI# class and implement the [methodname]#init()# method. A custom theme can be defined as an annotation for the UI. [source, java] ---- @Theme("hellotheme") public class HelloWorld extends UI { protected void init(VaadinRequest request) { ... initialization code goes here ... } } ---- A UI is a viewport to a Vaadin application running in a web page. A web page can actually have multiple such UIs within it. Such situation is typical especially with portlets in a portal. An application can run in multiple browser windows, each having a distinct [classname]#UI# instance. The UIs of an application can be the same UI class or different. Vaadin framework handles servlet requests internally and associates the requests with user sessions and a UI state. Because of this, you can develop Vaadin applications much like you would develop desktop applications. The most important task in the initialization is the creation of the initial user interface. This, and the deployment of a UI as a Java Servlet in the Servlet container, as described in <>, are the minimal requirements for an application. Below is a short overview of the other basic elements of an application besides UI: UI:: A __UI__ represents an HTML fragment in which a Vaadin application runs in a web page. It typically fills the entire page, but can also be just a part of a page. You normally develop a Vaadin application by extending the [classname]#UI# class and adding content to it. A UI is essentially a viewport connected to a user session of an application, and you can have many such views, especially in a multi-window application. Normally, when the user opens a new page with the URL of the Vaadin UI, a new [classname]#UI# (and the associated [classname]#Page# object) is automatically created for it. All of them share the same user session. + The current UI object can be accessed globally with [methodname]#UI.getCurrent()#. The static method returns the thread-local UI instance for the currently processed request ifdef::web[] (see <>) endif::web[] . Page:: A [classname]#UI# is associated with a [classname]#Page# object that represents the web page as well as the browser window in which the UI runs. + The [classname]#Page# object for the currently processed request can be accessed globally from a Vaadin application with [methodname]#Page.getCurrent()#. This is equivalent to calling [methodname]#UI.getCurrent().getPage()#. Vaadin Session:: A [classname]#VaadinSession# object represents a user session with one or more UIs open in the application. A session starts when a user first opens a UI of a Vaadin application, and closes when the session expires in the server or when it is closed explicitly. User Interface Components:: The user interface consists of components that are created by the application. They are laid out hierarchically using special __layout components__, with a content root layout at the top of the hierarchy. User interaction with the components causes __events__ related to the component, which the application can handle. __Field components__ are intended for inputting values and can be directly bound to data using the Vaadin Data Model. You can make your own user interface components through either inheritance or composition. For a thorough reference of user interface components, see <>, for layout components, see <>, and for compositing components, see <>. Events and Listeners:: Vaadin follows an event-driven programming paradigm, in which events, and listeners that handle the events, are the basis of handling user interaction in an application (although also server push is possible as described in <>). <> gave an introduction to events and listeners from an architectural point-of-view, while <> later in this chapter takes a more practical view. Resources:: A user interface can display images or have links to web pages or downloadable documents. These are handled as __resources__, which can be external or provided by the web server or the application itself. <> gives a practical overview of the different types of resources. Themes:: The presentation and logic of the user interface are separated. While the UI logic is handled as Java code, the presentation is defined in __themes__ as CSS or SCSS. Vaadin includes some built-in themes. User-defined themes can, in addition to style sheets, include HTML templates that define custom layouts and other theme resources, such as images. Themes are discussed in detail in <>, custom layouts in <>, and theme resources in <>. Data Binding:: With data binding, any Vaadin field component can be bound to the properties of business objects such as JavaBeans and grouped together as forms. The components can get their values from and update user input to the data model directly, without the need for any control code. Similarly, any select component can be bound to a __data source__, fetching its items from a Java Collection or a backend such as an SQL database. For a complete overview of data binding in Vaadin, please refer to <>.