JavaOne 2026 Session

Summary

You've inherited a Swing application. Or it's Eclipse RCP. Or maybe Oracle Forms. Leadership wants it "on the web." The conventional wisdom says: rewrite everything, build a React frontend, expose REST APIs, hire JavaScript developers, and prepare for months (or years) of integration headaches. But what if you didn't have to? This session challenges the assumption that Java teams must adopt dual-stack architectures to deliver modern web experiences. We'll explore a pragmatic modernization path that keeps your entire stack in Java - preserving your team's expertise, your existing business logic, and your sanity. You'll see two complementary approaches in action: Webswing, which runs your existing Swing, JavaFX, Eclipse RCP, and even Oracle Forms applications in the browser with minimal changes, and webforJ, a modern framework for building web UIs in pure Java. Together, they enable a phased migration strategy where you can deploy legacy code to the web today while incrementally building modern interfaces - all without writing a single line of JavaScript. We'll demonstrate real migration scenarios, discuss honest trade-offs, and share production lessons learned. Whether you're maintaining a 20-year-old Forms application, an Eclipse-based desktop tool, or architecting greenfield projects, you'll leave with practical strategies for delivering web applications while staying in the language you know best.