Google Web Toolkit Solutions: More Cool & Useful Stuff [Paperback]

David Geary (Author), Rob Gordon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 17, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0132344815 | ISBN-13: 978-0132344814 | Edition: 1

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Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is an open source Java development framework for building Ajax-enabled web applications. Instead of the hodgepodge of technologies that developers typically use for Ajax–JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and XMLHttpRequest–GWT lets developers implement rich client applications with pure Java, using familiar idioms from the AWT, Swing, and SWT. GWT goes beyond most Ajax frameworks by making it easy to build desktop-like applications that run in the ubiquitous browser, where the richness of the user interface is limited only by the developer’s imagination.

 

This book focuses on the more advanced aspects of GWT that you need to implement real-world applications with rich user interfaces but without the heavy lifting of JavaScript and other Ajax-related technologies. Each solution in this practical, hands-on book is more than a recipe. The sample programs are carefully explained in detail to help you quickly master advanced GWT techniques, such as implementing drag-and-drop, integrating JavaScript libraries, and using advanced event handling methodologies.

 

Solutions covered include

•   Building custom GWT widgets, including both high-level composites and low-level components

•   Implementing a viewport class that includes iPhone-style automated scrolling

•   Integrating web services with GWT applications

•   Incorporating the Script.aculo.us JavaScript framework into GWT applications

•   Combining Hibernate and GWT to implement database-backed web applications

•   Extending the GWT PopupPanel class to implement a draggable and resizable window

•   Creating a drag-and-drop module, complete with drag sources and drop targets

•   Deploying GWT applications to an external server

•   Dynamically resizing flex tables

•   Using GWT widgets in legacy applications developed with other frameworks, such as Struts and JavaServer Faces

 

Complete Sample Code Available at www.coolandusefulgwt.com

 

All of the code used in this book has been tested, both in hosted and web modes, and in an external version of Tomcat (version 5.5.17), under Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. For Windows and Linux, we used 1.4.60, and for the Mac we used 1.4.61.  NOTE: There are three separate versions of the code. Please download the correct JAR file for the operating system you are using.

Foreword xiii

Preface xvi

Acknowledgments xviii

About the Authors xix

 

Solution 1: GWT Fundamentals and Beyond 1

Solution 2: JavaScript Integration 53

Solution 3: Custom Widget Implementation 71

Solution 4: Viewports and Maps 103

Solution 5: Access to Online Web Services 133

Solution 6: Drag and Drop 167

Solution 7: Simple Windows 199

Solution 8: Flex Tables 237

Solution 9: File Uploads 283

Solution 10: Hibernate Integration 303

Solution 11: Deployment to an External Server 325

Solution 12: GWT and Legacy Code 343

Index 371

 

 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Geary is the author of eight books on Java technology, including the bestselling Graphic Java 2 Series, Advanced JavaServer Pages, and Core JavaServer Faces (all from Prentice-Hall). David was a member of Sun’s Expert Groups for the JavaServer Pages Standard Template Library (JSTL), and JavaServer Faces (JSF) 1.0. He also was the second Apache Struts committer and the inventor of the Struts Template Library, the precursor to the popular Tiles open-source framework for composing web pages from JSP fragments. David wrote questions for Sun’s Web Developer Certification Exam and is the president of Clarity Training Inc., a training and consulting company focusing on server-side Java technology.

 

Rob Gordon is an independent consultant specializing in the design and implementation of enterprise systems. He is a former Sun developer and author of Essential JNI and coauthor of Essential JMF.

 

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Preface

There are what, six million Java developers? And the majority of those have used a desktop application framework such as Swing. I speak about Google Web Toolkit (GWT) regularly on the No Fluff Just Stuff (nofluffjuststuff.com) tour, at Java Users Groups, and at other conferences, and one of the first things I do is ask how many of the attendees have used either the Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT), Swing, or SWT. The response is always about 95 percent.

What do AWT, Swing, and SWT have to do with Google Web Toolkit? In many respects, GWT is Swing for web applications that do not require an enabling technology like Web Start. GWT lets you develop applications that run in a browser using familiar idioms from AWT, Swing, and SWT. After asking attendees if they've used Swing, AWT, or SWT, the next thing I tell them is, "For those of you who raised your hands, intuitively you already know how to use GWT." Of course, they must learn a new framework and API (and for that, they undoubtedly will need a good book), but the point is that instinctively, they already know how to implement Ajax-enabled applications that run in a browser. If you've used AWT, Swing, or SWT, and I tell you that you typically write event handlers by implementing event handler interfaces in anonymous inner classes with GWT, you know exactly what I mean. And if I tell you that GWT provides adapter classes with no-op implementations of those interfaces so you can selectively override only the methods that you are interested in, you should feel like you've finally arrived home after a long and arduous journey coaxing simple Ajax functionality out of JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and XMLHttpRequest objects. The fact that GWT is so immediately accessible to so many developers is one of its greatest selling points.

When Rob and I realized what GWT was and what it could do, we were very excited about its potential. In fact, we were so excited that we decided to write this book. I've written seven Java books over the past ten years, and it seems that no matter how many books I write, it's still a great deal of work to write another one, so I don't commit to a book unless I believe the topic has the potential to be the "next big thing." GWT was compelling enough for me to put my money on, and to spend six months of my life to get this book in your hands.

But GWT is not just about building Ajax-enabled web applications. It's about building desktop-like applications that run in a browser. In this book, Rob and I show you how to implement an application that lets you open multiple windows inside your browser, where each window contains a map of an address you supply to the Yahoo! Maps web service. You can drag the windows around inside the browser, resize the windows, and drag the maps around inside their windows. Not only that, but you can zoom in and out of the maps by manipulating a GWT widget that floats above the map inside the window. You can also initiate animated scrolling, very similar to Apple's animated scrolling of contact lists on the iPhone, by quickly dragging a map. When you drag the map for less than half a second, the application initiates animated scrolling of the map in the direction of the drag and at a speed relative to the amount of pixels the drag covered. That sort of functionality is simply not possible in other web application frameworks such as Struts—and yes, even Ruby on Rails—without writing a good deal of JavaScript code and integrating it into the framework.

So, GWT differentiates itself from other web application frameworks by providing support for desktop-like applications that run in a browser. It's a mistake to think of GWT as simply a web application framework with Ajax baked in. GWT, like Flash or Flex, empowers developers to implement all of the rich features you would find in a desktop application.

This book is not an introduction to GWT. If you are not familiar with GWT, we cover some basics in the first solution, but from then on out, we leave the basics behind and dive into the good stuff. We assume that you can get the basics from the web, or from other books that cover such banal ground. We want to show you the cool stuff and teach you how to kick ass with GWT. So turn that page, and let's commence with the asskicking!

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 1 edition (November 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0132344815
• ISBN-13: 978-0132344814
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #602,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not good to write a technical book with no source code, July 2, 2008

By 

A. Norris "Java Guy" (Mason, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Google Web Toolkit Solutions: More Cool & Useful Stuff (Paperback)

I've tried at length to obtain the source code used in the book. Geary leaves it to the user to acquire the addons that he uses in his examples. Yes I've tried going the Safari route. Without signing up for a "90 day free then we charge you big" trial, you won't have any luck. I also read the previous post where he mentioned that he obtained the code from the website. If you go there now, the code has been pulled so I'm back to being forced to sign up for Safari which I won't do. I did read through the examples and do what I could. Instead of this book, I'd recommend "Google Web Toolkit Applications" by Dewsbury. The examples may not be as advanced as these, but at least you can run them.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very practical, lucidly written, January 20, 2008

By 

Przemyslaw Drochomirecki (Krakow, Poland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Google Web Toolkit Solutions: More Cool & Useful Stuff (Paperback)

You can easily find most of its content on the internet, but you may feel more confident having it somewhere near.
Chapters 8 & 9 (Flex table & File uploads) were very helpful for me. I used that solution in my small project and it worked like a charm.
Anyway, I give 5-stars only for books I consider outstanding. I'd give 4.5 if I could.
My advice: read very carefully what is covered in the book, if you need at least 3-4 solutions (or you believe you might need it in the future) buy it if not try Dewsbury's book.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My new review, January 14, 2008

By 

Fresno - See all my reviews

This review is from: Google Web Toolkit Solutions: More Cool & Useful Stuff (Paperback)

I posted a review (back in January, this updated review is posted in late May 2008) that slammed Prentice Hall for not making the code samples available from anywhere except through a 90 day free trail thru Safari (an online subscription based service).

The editor and one author responded and let me know that the site was incorrectly missing in the book, but that a site (called coolandusefulgwt with the obvious ending.) was available and has all material easily downloadable. I have checked out this site and confirmed that the code is indeed available. It is a very cool site in that it the entire site (or most of it) is a GWT application!

I applaud the editor and authors efforts to inform me and other purchasers of the book... and they also explained that the susbscription based service is not going to be the sole method to get code from Prentice Hall books...which is even better news.

I am giving this book 5 stars as it is a very good book for GWT beginners and intermediate programmers... escpecially those looking for info on custom widgets/controls. The authors did a splendid job of presenting the material in a well layed out manner, The book takes the GWT (sparsely documented by Google) and make it alot more accessible to the programming community.

Now that the source code (and more) are available on the new site, there is no reason why anyone interested in studying GWT would not want this book in their personal library.

In fact, if you are looking to buy this book, and are on the fence, go check out the website and you will get a good idea of what this book will do for you and I think it will help you make an informed decision to buy this great resource.