JBoss Seam is an application framework for Java EE 5. Seam unifies the component models of JSF and EJB 3.0, providing a streamlined programming model for web-based enterprise applications.
Seam introduces the notion of declarative application state management for POJO components. Seam components are stateful and contextual, with a well-defined container-managed lifecycle. This approach helps solve a whole class of bugs and performance problems that plague web applications with non-linear or multi-window navigation. Even better, Seam makes business process management a first class construct, by fully integrating JBoss jBPM into this state management architecture. It's never been this easy to write applications with complex workflows and complex user interactions.
Finally, Seam makes it easy to test Java EE 5 applications in unit test frameworks by leveraging the JBoss Embeddable EJB3 container.
Seam is compatible with any application server that supports the EJB 3.0 public draft, and with any JSF 1.1 implementation.
Even if you're not ready to plunge into Java EE 5 and EJB 3.0 today, you can still take advantage of Seam's unique approach to state management by using Seam with Hibernate 3 and the JBoss Microcontainer.