Not sure if this will help but thought it might be of interest. I've written a ComponentEventLinkEncoder which looks for "special" URL prefixes. If a "special" folder is found on the URL, it is removed from the URL and passed on to the normal tapestry component rendering. The "special" folder (which I call a Mode) is pushed onto the Environment where it can be used by pages and components. This allows pages and components to render in different modes based on the URL prefix.
https://github.com/uklance/tapestry-sandbox/blob/master/src/main/java/com/github/uklance/services/AppModule.java#L40 https://github.com/uklance/tapestry-sandbox/blob/master/src/main/java/com/github/uklance/mode/ModeComponentEventLinkEncoder.java
