Allaire Spectra e-Business Construction Kit with CDROM [Paperback]

Ben Forta (Author), Jeff Tapper (Author), John Stanard (Author), Raymond Camden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 2000

Allaire Spectra E-Business Construction Kit teaches Allaire Spectra development from the ground up, primarily from the viewpoint of developers and administrators. This book is divided into multiple sections, starting with high-level concepts and moving on to planning and building an application. Throughout the book, you are presented with not just technical information but also the best practices and business methodologies and how to implement them. Learn more than feature and language use--learn how to use Spectra's power to build real-world secure, scalable, and flexible business Web applications built atop innovative world-class technologies.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Ben Forta's earlier Allaire-sanctioned books on ColdFusion set a standard for technical books about Web-development environments. In Allaire Spectra E-Business Construction Kit, Forta applies his typical care and skill to Allaire Spectra, the company's new environment for building secure and otherwise-commercial Web resources. Once again, he's done a great job, and fans of Allaire's development tools will be pleased.

As the book exposes increasingly complicated aspects of Spectra, it diligently explains what's going on at a high level before presenting the reader with code listings. Both the text and the code help illuminate Spectra, with pieces of code adding to a very feature-rich Web-store application. (All the code, plus trial versions of Spectra and other Allaire products, appear on the companion CD-ROM.) Attribute tables document the most useful tags as they come up; an alphabetical tag reference shows up at the end of the book.

The approach to the subject here doesn't make Spectra any less complex, but careful study of the explanations and examples will flatten the learning curve a bit. You'll likely want to use this book in conjunction with Forta's earlier work on ColdFusion, The Coldfusion 4.0 Web Application Construction Kit, if you're not strong in that area. There's a section on general ColdFusion programming in Allaire Spectra, but you'll probably want more. With the proper ColdFusion background, you'll likely love this book. --David Wall

Topics covered: Using and understanding Allaire Spectra, presented for newcomers and more experienced developers alike. Explanations of basic terms and concepts are followed by sections on designing the structure of sites, Spectra programming with the ContentObject API (COAPI), creating and managing content, making content searchable (with emphasis on metadata), workflow, site security, reporting, and a tag reference.

From the Back Cover

Allaire Spectra E-Business Construction Kit teaches Allaire Spectra development from the ground up, primarily from the viewpoint of developers and administrators. This book is divided into multiple sections, starting with high-level concepts and moving on to planning and building an application. Throughout the book, you are presented with not just technical information but also the best practices and business methodologies and how to implement them. Learn more than feature and language use--learn how to use Spectra's power to build real-world secure, scalable, and flexible business Web applications built atop innovative world-class technologies.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 900 pages
• Publisher: Que; First Edition edition (May 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789723654
• ISBN-13: 978-0789723659
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,435,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ben Forta is Adobe Inc.'s Senior Technical Evangelist, and has over two decades of experience in the computer industry in product development, support, training, and marketing. Ben is the author of the best-selling ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit and its sequel Advanced ColdFusion Application Development, as well as books on SQL, Regular Expressions, JavaServer Pages, WAP, Windows development, and more. Over 1/2 million Ben Forta books have been printed in a dozen languages worldwide. Ben co-authored the official ColdFusion training material, as well as the certification tests and official study guides for those tests, writes regular columns on ColdFusion and Internet development, and now spends a considerable amount of time lecturing and speaking on application development worldwide.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Given this is all there is, it is pretty good, June 23, 2000

By 

Gwynne "gwynne-" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Allaire Spectra e-Business Construction Kit with CDROM (Paperback)

If you are looking for a high-level description of Spectra implementation, this book has about 700 pages more than are necessary--but the other 200 pages will fill in many of the gaps of the Allaire documentation. Easy to read for non-coders, lots of sample code for programmers.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spectra... the future is green, June 26, 2000

By 

Mr P Fennell - See all my reviews

This review is from: Allaire Spectra e-Business Construction Kit with CDROM (Paperback)

We waited and now it is here A fine read an good depth of discusion regarding the applicaion My intrest was in the Secruity aspects of spectra and I was not disapointed If you are a top notch CF developer Spectra should be you next port of call

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for serious e-commerce entrepreneurs., August 4, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Allaire Spectra e-Business Construction Kit with CDROM (Paperback)

Allaire Spectra E-Business Construction Kit teaches Allaire Spectra development from the ground up, primarily from the viewpoint of developers and administrators. A 900 page volume, Allaire Spectra E-Business Construction Kit is divided into multiple sections, starting with high-level concepts and moving on to planning and building an application. Throughout Allaire Spectra E-Business Construction Kit , the reader is presented with not just technical information but also the best practices and business methodologies and how to implement them. Very highly recommended for intermediate to advanced computer students and e-commerce entrepreneurs.