Customer Reviews

JBoss at Work: A Practical Guide

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The subtitle for this book is "A Practical Guide." That subtitle is perfect. This is one of the most immediately useful and practical books I've read in a long time. I began using JBoss at the same time I started reading this book and I appreciated that the book started out with the relatively simple task of getting JBoss installed. However, while the book starts at an introductory level it doesn't stay there. It progresses through more advanced topics such as JMS, JavaMail, JAAS, and Web Services.

The writing is clear and enjoyable throughout. An extended example of a car dealer carries forward throughout the book. This helps the concepts fit together and build upon one another. JBoss at Work is highly informative and, as its subtitle promises, a practical guide. I highly recommend it.

J2EE started out as a specification that left the implementation to each container vendor. It's readily apparent that two of the earliest vendors, WebSphere and WebLogic, implemented J2EE in vastly different ways. As a result, early books on J2EE or Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) frequently either avoided or severely limited the discussion of a specific server because the details were better referenced from server vendors' manuals. JBoss changed that picture. It is an open source Java-based application server which is freely downloadable, plus it is a certified J2EE server.

"JBoss at Work: A Practical Guide", aims to provide practical examples for using JBoss by showing a practical and complete example of a web application running on JBoss. The "JAW Motors" application supports a fictitious automobile dealership. Each chapter progressively adds a new J2EE technology that solves a specific business problem. Viewing cars on a website involves JSP pages and some form of persistence (JDBC or Hibernate). Performing a credit check sends a JMS message and an email response using JavaMail. Purchasing a car requires the transactional support of Stateless Session Beans. Sharing data from the JAW Motors inventory with other dealerships involves setting up Web Services, and so on. The authors' hope is that a coherent business application in action will hopefully give you a clearer idea of how the various layers interact, as opposed to a series of disjointed "Hello World" examples exercising each layer in isolation, and I think their concept worked out very well.

The security portion of the book's example web application makes use of JAAS (Java Authentication & Authorization Service), which enables an application to protect its resources by restricting access to only users with proper credentials and permissions. It is a standard extension in J2SE 1.4, but is not yet widely understood. Thus, one of the appendices is devoted to a tutorial on its use, which I found very helpful.

The authors assume that you're experienced in programming with the Java language and are familiar with Open Source tools such as Ant and XDoclet. They show how to download and install them, and they also provide Ant scripts for compiling and deploying the "JAW Motors" application. If you're new to J2EE, this book serves as a gentle introduction, but don't mistake it for a true J2EE reference manual. I found this book immensely helpful and clear and highly recommend it to anyone who wants to get to work quickly using JBoss as an application server. The table of contents is as follows:

1. GETTING STARTED WITH JBOSS
Why "JBoss at Work"?; Why JBoss?; The Example: JAW Motors; The Tools; Installing JBoss; Deploying Applications to JBoss; Looking Ahead;

2. WEB APPLICATIONS
The Servlet Container; Three-Tier Applications; Exploring the Presentation Tier; Building the View Cars Page; Adding a Model and Controller; Looking Ahead;

3. BUILDING AND DEPLOYING AN EAR
WARs Versus EARs; Application.xml; Common JAR; Deploying the EAR; Adding a DAO; Using XDoclet; Looking Ahead;

4. DATABASES AND JBOSS
Persistence Options; JDBC; JNDI; JNDI References in web.xml; JBoss DataSource Descriptors; JDBC Driver JARs; Database Checklist; Accessing the Database Using Ant; Creating JDBCCarDAO; Looking Ahead;

5. HIBERNATE AND JBOSS
The Pros and Cons of ORMs; Hibernate Mapping Files; Hibernate MBean Service Descriptor; Creating a HAR; Adding the HAR to the EAR; Creating a JNDI lookup; Hibernate Checklist; HibernateCarDAO; Adding a Car; Editing a Car; Deleting a Car; Looking Ahead;

6. STATELESS SESSION BEANS
Issues with EJBs; Should I Use EJB or Not?; Business Tier; Enterprise JavaBeans; Our Example; Iteration 1-Introduce a Session Bean; Calling the Session Bean from the Controller Servlet; EJB-Based JNDI References in Web-Based Deployment; Descriptors; Session Bean Types; Session Beans; Remote Versus Local EJB Calls; Local and Remote Interfaces; Home Interfaces; Reviewing Iteration 1; Testing Iteration 1; Iteration 2-Move Business Logic Out of the Controller; Reviewing Iteration 2; Testing Iteration 2; Iteration 3-Buy a Car; The AccountingDTO; Developing the HibernateAccountingDAO; Adding buyCar( ) to the InventoryFacadeBean; Reviewing Iteration 3; Testing Iteration 3; Final Thoughts on Session Beans; Looking Ahead;

7. JAVA MESSAGE SERVICE (JMS) AND MESSAGE-DRIVEN BEANS
Sending Messages with JMS; Upgrade the Site: Running a Credit Check; JMS Architecture Overview; JMS Messaging Models; Creating a Message; Sending the Message; Core JMS API; Sending a JMS Message; JMS-Based JNDI References in Web-Based Deployment; Descriptors; Deploying JMS Destinations on JBoss; JMS Checklist; Message-Driven Beans (MDBs); MDB Checklist; Testing the Credit Check; Looking Ahead;

8. JAVAMAIL
Running a Credit Check; Sending Email Messages with JavaMail; Upgrading the MDB to Send an Email Message; Sending an Email Message; JavaMail-Based JNDI References in EJB Deployment; Descriptors; Automating JavaMail-Based JNDI References with XDoclet; Deploying JavaMail on JBoss; JavaMail Checklist; Testing the Credit Check Notification Email; Looking Ahead;

9. SECURITY
J2EE Security; Web-Based Security; Restricting Access with web.xml; JAAS; Deploying a JAAS-Based Security Realm on JBoss; Testing Secure JSPs; Protecting the Administrative Actions; Web Security Checklist; Integrating Web Tier and EJB Tier Security; EJB Security; EJB Security Checklist; Looking Ahead;

10. WEB SERVICES
Web Services Architecture; JBoss 4.x and Web Services; J2EE 1.4 and Web Services; Implementing J2EE 1.4 Web Services; Service Endpoint Interface (SEI); Modifying ejb-jar.xml; webservices.xml; JAX-RPC Mapping File; WSDL File; Set the Web Service URL; Modifying the InventoryFacadeBean EJB; Web Services Deployment; Automating Web Services Deployment; J2EE Web Services Checklist; Testing Web Services Deployment; Web Services Client; Implementing a Web Service Client; Web Service Client Checklist; Testing the Web Service Client; Final Thoughts on J2EE 1.4 Web Services; Conclusion;

I was looking for a guide for JBoss application server from a beginer's point of view (I have been working with Weblogic for several years but not JBoss) and bought this book since it was rated so high. However, after I finished reading the book, I felt very disappointed since this book talks so little for JBoss! Instead, it puts most of the content on J2EE programming, how to develop 3-tier application, and MVC framework etc. I am not buying this book to learn J2EE techniques!!! What I want to know is how JBoss is managing all its services, how to config different settings, what logging mechanisms are provided (general, JDBC, http, etc.), or how to tune the performance of a JBoss server. Unfortunately, thost topics are either just mentioned slightly (like logging in appendix B), or not there at all.

In summary, if you are a beginner for J2EE and want to start your development with JBoss, this book might be good for you. Don't expect to find more information of JBoss from it! I am a fan of O'Reilly books, but this one is not one of them!

This is probably the most practical book there is out there on the subject of JBoss. Some other books are basically a re-print of on line information.

If you are especially a new JBoss user this book is for you. The on line documentation seems to be too advanced for beginners.

That doesn't mean that this book only covers the basic. Once you go through this book you'll have a solid foundation for the basics and some of the advanced topics as well.

I think the authors did a great job. And it is true that they did their best to respond should you have questions.

I saw this book unexpectedly in a bookstore, sat down in the cafe to skim it, and wound up engrossed. It has since jumped to the top of my favorite development book list.

I teach software development for a living. I've never encountered a better demonstration of how all the pieces of J2EE fit together in a coherent application, all the while guiding the reader through the relevant architectural issues. I love the way it builds from a simple servlet/JSP app up through Hibernate, EJBs, JMS, JavaMail, and even web services. The book is witty and literate, and, to top it all off, the writers can code.

The fact that JBoss is in the title has caused some reviewers to focus on that aspect of the book, but in reality JBoss is just used as the free application server of choice. The book could just as easily have been called J2EE Development with Hibernate, XDoclet, and Ant on JBoss. Rather than worry about the details of all the specifications, the book concentrates on getting them to work together and demonstrate their capabilities.

I really enjoyed the book and highly recommend it for anyone trying to increase their server-side Java capabilities.

Some books have alot of pages with little information. This book is short, but every page is rich with facts and insights.

I work with integrating a 3rd party application that uses JBoss, and come from a Microsoft development background, so this whole world of Java/JBoss/EJB was a bit new to me. I needed a good guide which would explain what JBoss is, how it works, and how to set it up.

JBoss at Work was exactly what I needed. It walks through setting up JBoss and using it a practical application of a car sales website. Though the entire system is quite complex, the authors have distilled the essence of how it works and why. The examples are simple, yet reveal the full power of JBoss. And the examples build on each other, with sample code that you can edit, compile and deploy yourself. It was an incredible thrill to me (a java newbie) to actually create and deploy a full EJB application on my low-end laptop in just a few short chapters!

Though I know this is the tip of the iceberg into the JBoss world, Tom Marrs and Scott Davis have written an excellent map, laying down a good foundation for anyone who wants to understand JBoss.

i needed to get up to speed with jboss and web services.
the "A Practical Guide" subtitle made me try the book.
as promised, the book delivered practical info and guidance on working with jboss from the beginning, progressing all the way through web services.

i particularly like learning by doing, and the book is organized around building an application from basics through web services, covering all tiers of MVC.
how the authors progressed the construction of the application from beginning to end was simply awesome.
i highly recommed this book if you like learning by doing, by the end, you will have a good foundation of jboss and a real MVC application utilizing j2ee.

Just wanted to say that if you are looking for a book on J2EE and/or Jboss then this is the book for you. I have bought several books on J2EE and all of them had issues, such as: Not being clean, examples not working, steps skipped, etc..

This book did everything right. It takes one project and runs with it, slowly adding new technologies and showing you how to refactor it (which is a real-world possibility). It explains the technologies used and includes the 'when' and 'why'.

It also introduces and uses some of the best 3rd party OpenSource tools (Ant/XDoclet/Hibernate) out there to help simplify the build/deployment process, which I loved!

This has been one of the best books I have ever bought, and I own many.

As a bonus when I had a question the Authors replied with an answer in a timely manner which is rare.

Pros: I really enjoyed this book. It gradually introduces different techniques to the reader, but is still very detailed. In the end you have a (simple) application that still demonstrates good architectural practices and the features of a full blown JEE application. Highly recommended!

Cons: I did have some problems with the source code (there are some hardcoded references to xdoclet and jboss that you have to change), and there is a serious oversight in the security chapter. However, I'm sure, however, that errata will appear for these shortly.

I found JBoss at Work to be a great guide that takes you through the basic JBoss setup and configuration. Its perfect for someone who wants to get an overview of the process and understanding of how JBoss works, but doesnt want to take the time to become an expert. It serves well as a guide on understanding J2EE general development and also highlights the JBoss specifics when appropriate.
The only downside for me was the tedious review of the J2EE XML configs. I would have preferred to see just the XDoclet code and not the additional XML that it generates. Use that time to focus on WHAT config files are necessary opposed to what actually gets generated and goes into them. Its beyond the scope of the book to go into all the XML syntax in the configs so its not worthwhile to try and make the reader understand this. Again, a little extra is not so bad, but it does fill a good portion of the book with something I believe could have been left out or supplemented with a better review of what each config file does and when to use them.