For years, JSP has been the backbone of UI development in Liferay. It’s familiar, powerful, and tightly integrated with the portal ecosystem. But as applications grow more interactive and user expectations evolve, JSP starts to show its limits.
This is the story of how we transitioned a real Liferay module from JSP-based UI to React, what worked, what didn’t, and what I learned along the way. To learn more about how AIMDek’s Liferay services, click here.
Why Move Away from JSP?
JSP works well for server-rendered pages, but modern enterprise portals increasingly demand:
- Rich, interactive user experiences
- Faster UI updates without full page reloads
- Reusable components
- Cleaner separation between UI and backend logic
In our case, the application had grown complex:
- Heavy use of JSPs, taglibs, and scriptlets
- Increasing JavaScript scattered across JSP files
- Difficult UI state management
- Reusability was almost non-existent
React wasn’t chosen because it’s “trendy”, but because it solved real problems.
The Initial Setup: React Inside Liferay
Liferay doesn’t force you to abandon its ecosystem to use React. Instead, it provides multiple integration options.
We used Liferay’s React portlet approach with:
- Vite / npm for frontend tooling
- A React app bundled and deployed as part of a Liferay module
- REST APIs exposed via Liferay services
Migration Strategy (Big Bang Never Works)
Instead of rewriting everything, we followed an incremental migration.
Step 1: Identify UI-Heavy Sections
We started with screens that:
- Had frequent user interactions
- Required dynamic updates
- Were painful to maintain in JSP
These were ideal candidates for React.
Step 2: Decouple Backend from JSP
In JSP, backend logic often leaks into the UI.
Before introducing React, we:
- Moved logic into services
- Exposed clean REST endpoints
- Ensured responses were UI-agnostic
This step alone improved maintainability, even before React entered the picture.
Step 3: Replace JSP UI with React Components
Instead of rendering HTML in JSP, the JSP was reduced to a container:
- It loaded the React bundle
- Passed minimal configuration (like user info or context)
- Let React fully control the UI rendering
This kept Liferay happy while giving React full freedom.
Managing State: A Big Win for React
One of the biggest improvements was state management.
In JSP:
- State was spread across request attributes, session variables, and JS hacks
In React:
- UI state lived in components
- Shared state used Context API
- Side effects handled cleanly with hooks
The result:
- Predictable UI behavior
- Easier debugging
- Fewer “random” UI bugs
Authentication & Permissions (Liferay Still Rules)
A common concern is:
“Will React break Liferay’s security model?”
The answer is no.
- Authentication remained fully managed by Liferay
- React relied on existing session and permissions
- APIs enforced permission checks server-side
React never became a security risk, it was just a consumer.
Performance: Perceived vs Actual
Did React make the app faster?
- Initial load: Slightly heavier due to JS bundle
- After load: Much faster interactions
- No full page reloads
- Better user experience overall
For users, the app felt significantly faster, even if raw metrics didn’t change drastically.
