| Building Web Components |     |
| Building Web Components | |
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Before You Begin |
Building Web Components provides essential information for anyone involved in the creation of web applications with Java
2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) web components. It is part of the Sun ONE Studio 5 Programming series. This book focuses on web application development in the context of the J2EE and its supporting technologies. These technologies include Java servlets and JavaServer Pages (JSP).
This book introduces web applications and provides suggestions for their structure. It describes the work flow of developing a web application. The book proposes design practices and provides pointers to suggested structures and frameworks for scalable, maintainable web applications. It places these concepts within the context of the Sun ONE Studio 5 integrated development environment (IDE) with discussions of the creation of JSP pages and servlets, coding, testing, debugging, and deployment.
In particular, this book describes how web applications typically use JSP pages, Java servlets, JSP tag libraries, and supporting classes and files. Web applications might use persistent data, for example, a database. They could be independent applications with features managed by a web container. Or, they might provide a user interface while depending on components in a J2EE Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) container for other services. Such services might include execution of business logic and access to persistent data.
See the release notes for a list of environments in which you can create the examples in this book. The release notes are available on this web page:
http://forte.sun.com/ffj/documentation/index.html
Screen shots vary slightly from one platform to another. Although almost all procedures use the interface of the IDE, occasionally you might be instructed to enter a command at the command line. Here too, there are slight differences from one platform to another. For example, a Microsoft Windows command might look like this:
c:>cd MyWorkDir\MyPackage |
To translate for UNIX® platforms or Linux platforms, change the prompt and use forward slashes:
% cd MyWorkDir/MyPackage |
This book assumes you are a web application developer or a web application designer. A web application developer writes the application code. A web application designer specifies how users interact with an application, chooses interface components, and arranges them in a set of views. Unless otherwise stated, this book uses the term web application to refer to a J2EE web application. The web application developer might or might not be the same person as the web application designer. In either case, it is assumed you have a general knowledge of Java programming, JSP page programming, and HTML coding. Information in this book might also prove useful for any professionals who participate in the creation of applications based on web components. Such professionals might include technical writers, graphic artists, production and marketing specialists, and testers. This book presents the ways in which web application development work flow is facilitated by the use of the IDE. It provides a context in which to use this productivity tool.
The development of web applications differs markedly from that of traditional Java applications. It requires an understanding of several different technologies. Before starting, you should be familiar with the following subjects:
programming language
syntax
This book enables you to use your current skills. It also provides you with references to help you become productive in the building of web applications with the IDE.
This book requires a knowledge of J2EE concepts, as described in the following resources:
Standard Tag Library 1.0 Specification
Familiarity with the Java API for XML-Based RPC (JAX-RPC) is helpful. For more information, see this web page:
http://java.sun.com/xml/jaxrpc
The Sun ONE Studio 5 Web Application Tutorial can be downloaded from the Developer Resources web site. To gain access to the tutorial, choose Help, then Learning, then Examples, then Tutorials/Examples from the IDE's main menu.
The J2EE Tutorial describes the process of developing web applications. Visit the web site at:
http://java.sun.com/j2ee/tutorial
The Java Web Services Tutorial provides helpful background. It could prove useful as a reference while reading this book. Available at:
http://java.sun.com/webservices/docs/1.0/tutorial/
Building Web Components contains the following information:
Chapter 1 provides an introduction to web applications and the challenges they present to developers. It describes the ways that the IDE helps the developer face those challenges.
Chapter 2 discusses the structure of web applications. It includes an overview of the core J2EE technologies used in building the components of web applications.
Chapter 3 gives an overview of useful design patterns and frameworks for web applications.
Chapter 4 describes the process of developing your own web application using the IDE.
Chapter 5 provides details on the process of executing, debugging, and deploying your web application using the IDE.
The Glossary defines important words and phrases found in the book. Glossary terms appear in italics throughout the book.
This book is intended to provide sufficient information to get you started using the IDE as a productivity tool. However, it is not designed as a tutorial. The book is neither a comprehensive reference, nor does it supply all possible designs for a web application. It is not a visual design guide. Nor is the focus on developing the J2EE web tier. The book does not delve into how to develop EJB components. See Useful References for suggested readings. See Before You Read This Book for references to tutorials regarding the development of web applications.
This section provides the names of references you might find helpful when reading this book.
This volume covers topics related to web application design and implementation:
Here is a selection of web sites dealing with web application technologies:
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The names of commands, files, and directories; on-screen computer output |
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What you type, when contrasted with on-screen computer output |
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Read Chapter 6 in the User's Guide. |
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Sun ONE Studio 5 documentation includes books delivered in Acrobat Reader (PDF) format, release notes, online help, readme files for example applications, and Javadoc documentation.
The documents described in this section are available from the docs.sun.comSM web site and from the documentation page of the Sun ONE Studio Developer Resources portal at http://forte.sun.com/ffj/documentation.
The docs.sun.com web site (http://docs.sun.com) enables you to read, print, and buy Sun Microsystems manuals through the Internet. If you cannot find a manual, see the documentation index that is installed with the product on your local system or network.
platform) and conforms to the Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) and Connected, Limited Device Configuration (CLDC). You can also find the completed tutorial applications at: http://forte.sun.com/ffj/documentation/tutorialsandexamples.html
Online help is available in the Sun ONE Studio 5 IDE. You can open the help by pressing the help key (F1 in Microsoft Windows and Linux environments, Help key in the Solaris environment), or by choosing Help 
Contents. Either action displays a list of help topics and a search facility. In particular, you should explore the JSP/Servlet help set and the help sets for the supported server software.
You can download examples that illustrate a particular Sun ONE Studio 5 feature, as well as completed tutorial applications, from the Sun ONE Studio Developer Resources portal at:
http://forte.sun.com/ffj/documentation/tutorialsandexamples.html
Javadoc documentation is available within the IDE for many Sun ONE Studio 5 modules. Refer to the release notes for instructions on installing this documentation.
The documentation is provided in accessible formats that are readable by assistive technologies for users with disabilities. You can find accessible versions of documentation as described in the following table.
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HTML at http://docs.sun.com |
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HTML in the example subdirectories of s1studio-install-directory/examples |
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HTML at http://docs.sun.com |
If you have technical questions about this product that are not answered in this document, go to:
http://www.sun.com/service/contacting
Sun is interested in improving its documentation and welcomes your comments and suggestions. Email your comments to Sun at this address:
Please include the part number (817-2334-10) of your document in the subject line of your email.
| Building Web Components | 817-2334-10 | |
Copyright © 2003, Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.