Contents


Preface

Multiplatform Release
How This Book Is Organized
Typographic Conventions
Related Documentation

Chapter 1 Designing Applications

Parts of an Application

Data Access Layer

Relational Data Sources
Nonrelational Data Sources

Presentation Layer

About Presentation Logic
About Presentation Layout

Business Logic Layer

Enterprise JavaBeans

Assembling the Pieces

Types of Files in a Project
How Files Relate to Each Other

Getting Started

Understand the iPlanet Application Server Environment
Define the Application Environment
Define the Application Requirements

Define the User Interface

Set Up the Data Sources

Chapter 2 Setting Application Builder Options

About iPlanet Application Builder Options
Setting Project Options

Setting the Start Page
Setting Base Classes

Setting Development Options

Setting Startup Options
Setting Code Generation Options
Setting Java Compiler Options
Setting HTML Options
Setting Text Colors
Setting Source Control Options

Setting Runtime Options

Changing the Product Key
Changing File Pathnames
Setting Options for Message Logging
Setting Server IDs
Configuring Database Drivers
Configuring Data Sources

Customizing the Palette

Chapter 3 Creating and Managing Projects

The Development Process
Creating a Project
Working with Existing Projects

Opening a Project
Saving and Closing Projects
Adding or Removing Files
Creating Files
Adding Existing Files
Removing Files from a Project

Editing Files

Saving, Closing, and Renaming Files

Viewing and Editing Project File Properties

Viewing Properties
Editing Properties
Using Custom Property Editors

Editing Data-Bound Properties
Editing List Items
Editing Colors

Building a Project
Deploying the Project
Testing and Debugging

Chapter 4 Creating Data Access Logic

About Data Models and Queries

About Data Models
About Data Access Queries
Using Data Models and Queries

Creating a Data Model

Selecting a Data Source
Adding Data Source Tables
Viewing or Editing Data Source Table Properties
Viewing a Column's Properties or Changing the Column Alias
Specifying Relationships Between Data Source Tables

Creating Relationships
Modifying or Deleting Relationships

Adding Calculated Fields

Adding a Built-in Function to a Calculation
Adding an Operator or Delimiter to a Calculation
Including Additional Table Columns Within a Calculation

Importing a Third-Party Data Model
Creating Queries

Creating a SELECT Query
Creating an INSERT Query
Creating an UPDATE Query
Creating a DELETE Query
Testing Queries

Editing Generated Code: Queries

Editing Queries via the SQL Tab
Editing Query Descriptions

Adding Conditionals to a Query

Choosing Between Simple and Boolean Conditional Operators

Simple Conditional Operators
Boolean Conditional Operators
MS SQL SmallDateTime and DateTime Columns

Adding a Conditional Operator to a Query
Using Query Parameters

Adding Joins to a Query
Sorting Query Results

Chapter 5 Creating Presentation Logic

About Java Servlets

How Servlets Control the Presentation Logic
Servlets Work with Various Types of Components

JDBC RowSet Interface
Session Management Mechanisms
Enterprise JavaBeans

JavaServer Pages
Servlets

Creating and Editing Servlets

Creating Servlets via the Wizards
Editing Servlets

Importing Servlets

Registering, Compiling, and Testing Servlets
Working with Session Management
Storing Session Variables at Design Time
Modifying Session Variables

Validation

Servlet Parameter Validation

Validation Requirements

Parameter and Parameter Groups

Accessing Data Sources via JDBC
Creating and Editing JDBC RowSet Objects

Setting Data Connections

Additional Programming Considerations

Handling Servlet Output
Calling JavaServer Pages

Chapter 6 Creating Presentation Layout

About Presentation Layout

Adding JSP Files
Testing and Deploying Pages and JSP Files

Testing HTML Pages and JavaServer Pages
Deploying HTML Pages and JavaServer Pages

Components and the Palette
Editing Pages and JSPs

Adding HTML Pages
Displaying Pages Using Different Views

Using Layout View
Using Outline View
Using Source View

Editing Text with the Format Toolbar
Adding Components with the Palette

About the Palette
Working with Components
Editing Tags and Components with the Properties Window
Converting Component Types

Adding Objects by Dragging and Dropping
Creating Hyperlinks
Creating Forms
Adding Images
Inserting Calls to Servlets or Enterprise JavaBeans

Inserting Calls to Servlets
Inserting Calls to Enterprise JavaBeans

Validating Data Entered on a Form
Binding JavaServer Page Components to Dynamic Data

About RDBM Field Tags
About Row Sets
About Data-Binding Properties
Displaying a Single Field of Data
Displaying Single Columns of Data
Displaying Multiple Columns of Data
Displaying Multiple Rows of Data

Using the Loop Component to Display Rows of Data
Using Loops as Table Rows
Using Multiple Loops in a JSP

Specifying Custom Formatting for a JSP Field

Using RDBM Tag Library

useQuery Tag
Param Tag
Loop Tag
Field Tag
Close Tag
Execute Tag
goRecord Tag
Example

Numeric Format Characters

Chapter 7 Creating Business Logic

About Enterprise JavaBeans

Types of EJBs

Session EJBs
Entity EJBs

Creating Session EJBs
Creating Entity EJBs
Importing EJBs
Examining and Changing EJB Properties

Chapter 8 Using Wizards to Generate Project Files

About iAB Wizards
Using the Data Model Wizard
Using the Input Wizard
Using the Results Wizard
Using the Database Forms Wizard

Use an Existing Query File
Use a Data Model

Using the Login Wizard

Database Table
LDAP Server
Custom

Using the Query Wizard
Using the HTML Page Wizard
Using the JSP Wizard
Using the Servlet Wizard
Using the Java File Wizard
Using the Session Bean Wizard
Using the Entity Bean Wizard

Chapter 9 Compiling, Testing, and Debugging Applications

Compiling Applications

Registering Files
Compiling Java files
Starting and Stopping a Test Server

Building EJB Stub and Skeleton Code
Testing Applications

Testing Queries
Testing HTML Pages and JSPs

Testing HTML Pages
Testing JavaServer Pages

Testing Servlets

Debugging Applications

Setting and Viewing Breakpoints

Setting Breakpoints
Viewing Breakpoints
Using Breakpoints to View Source Code

Stepping through Code

Step In
Step Over
Step Out
Continue

Viewing Stack Information
Viewing Variables

Adding Variables to the Watch List
Adding Variables to Quick Watch

Chapter 10 Deploying Applications

Deploying Applications

About Deploying Applications
About File Locations
How to Deploy an Application

Saving EAR Files

Chapter 11 Working with Source Control

About Source Control
Configuring Source Control

Specifying a Source Control Utility
Defining Menu Items

Relationship of Text Fields to Source Control Submenu
Default Values for Command Lines
Macro Definitions

Setting Up the CVS Environment
Setting Up Visual Source Safe

Invoking Commands from the Main Menu
Sharing Settings Among Programmers

Appendix A Component Reference

About Components

Data-Bound Properties
Target Window
Palette Tabs

Components

CheckBox
Custom Script
Data-Bound Image Link
Data-Bound Link
DropDownLink
Drop-Down List
Field
Form
Horizontal Line
Image
Link Target
List
List Box
Loop
PushButton
Radio Button Group
Table
Text Area
TextField

Appendix B Using the Application Builder with Third-Party Tools

Using iAB with Symantec Visual Café^TM

Creating a Visual Cafe Project
Creating a StartEngine Class
Configuring the Project
Invoking iAS with a Visual Cafe Project
Using Visual Cafe

Manipulating Breakpoints
Stepping through Code
Viewing Stack Information
Examining Variables

Using iAB with Macromedia Dreamweaver^TM
Using iAB with the Visual Cafe Java Editor
Using iAB with the Visual Cafe Java Compiler

Appendix C Developing Existing Netscape Application Server Applications with iPlanet Application Builder 6.0

Migrating to Application Builder 6.0 Programming Model
Creating an Application Builder 6.0 Project
Deploying to Application Server 6.0

Glossary

Index