JavaServer Faces: The Complete Reference (Complete Reference Series) (Paperback)

by Chris Schalk (Author), Ed Burns (Author), James Holmes (Author)
Key Phrases: request processing lifecycle, backing bean, apply request values phase, Example Usage, Attributes Attribute Type Description Required, Common Extended Attributes (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Ideal for the 3+ million Java developers, this fast-paced tutorial offers in-depth coverage of JavaServer Faces (JSF) -- Sun Microsystem's Web application architecture for the future. Co-written by the #1 JSF expert in the Java community, this book offers the most complete resource on JSF available. * Extensive coverage on JSF custom component development * Serves as a thorough introduction to AJAX technology and techniques * Numerous custom JSF component examples including AJAX enabled components provided

From the Back Cover

The Ultimate JavaServer Faces Resource

Deliver feature-rich, cross-browser Internet applications using JavaServer Faces (JSF) and this one-stop guide. Written by experts directly involved in developing this important technology, JavaServer Faces: The Complete Reference fully explains every aspect of JSF.
The book begins with a fast-paced introduction so you can get your first JSF application up and running quickly. Then, each aspect of JSF is examined in depth, including the request processing lifecycle, page navigation, component development, AJAX, validation, internationalization, and security. Throughout, Expert Group Insights offer an insider's view into the design of JSF.
Inside you'll find:

• Comprehensive coverage of the JSF lifecycle, managed beans, expression language (EL), the Faces event, UI component, and navigation models
• Techniques for transforming and processing data from disparate sources using converters and validators
• A complete, integrated sample application to use as a model for your own JSF applications, with code available online
• Instructions on how to use Hibernate to integrate JSF with production-quality databases
• Details on building AJAX-enabled custom UI components, complete with numerous examples
• Instructions for extending Faces by building custom non-UI components ranging from validators and converters to NavigationHandlers and ViewHandlers
• Techniques for debugging and developing automated software tests for JSF applications
• Extensive discussions of third-party Faces technologies, including MyFaces, ADF Faces, Facelets, Shale, and Faces-enabled IDEs
• Detailed coverage on security (using JAAS), accessibility, internationalization, and localization with JSF

 

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Product Details

• Paperback: 864 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media; 1 edition (August 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072262400
• ISBN-13: 978-0072262407
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.7 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #200,792 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book (from review on TheServerSide.com), October 12, 2006

By	Joseph Ottinger "(illegible scrawl)" (Lexington, KY) - See all my reviews

JavaServer Faces: The Complete Reference, by Chris Schalk and Ed Burns, is a once-and-for-all reference to JSF 1.1 and 1.2, covering almost anything and everything JSF-related.

Differences between JSF 1.1 and 1.2 are noted whenever they might occur. The book also has some very helpful and interesting design notes from the specification group to enlighten readers of why some choices were made or not made, so that the reasoning behind decisions is exposed.

The book has five sections: an introduction to the framework, extending JavaServer Faces, applying JSF (which addresses security, i18n, and testing/debugging), JSF tools and libraries (with coverage of the standard component library, the MyFaces JSF implementation, and configuration files), and a set of appendices covering the Faces Console (a third-party tool to help configure JSF), Shale, migration from Struts, and a set of third-party component libraries.

The first section starts off with a history of JSF, and quickly launches into an application - a simple registration application, complete with error checking, data validation, navigation, and a working UI. Along the way, the authors explain the concepts used so that readers don't get confused. The details are explained in enough depth that readers can see why something is being done without drowning them in excess detail about what's actually happening.

Each chapter builds on the previous one, and in this reviewer's opinion, most readers would be able to actually start applying JSF almost from the very beginning. An idea is hardly ever presented without a clear explanation of why readers would want to understand it, although the request lifecycle is explained in the third chapter. That said, the request lifecycle is very clearly explained and justified, so while it's not clear why it's presented so early at first glance, a quick scan reveals how important it is to JSF, and why understanding it is a core concept JSF developers should be aware of.

The section on extending JSF covers custom UI components, custom components without a user interface, AJAX components, and the use of alternative display technologies like Facelets. Having this information clearly expressed in print is very useful, and it's also fairly complete, with hardly any core functionality left unexplained or without examples.

The section on security is also useful, especially since it does a good job of explaining the servlet security model by design and then cleanly integrates it with JSF, through both container-managed security and application-managed security.

The only complaint I had about the book was that it was too short: the examples of the components in the various reference sections were not complete enough. In particular, the Tomahawk references (the MyFaces AJAX extensions) were slightly out of date (hardly the fault of the book authors) but also incomplete, which made using some of the Tomahawk extensions less pleasant. It doesn't help that the MyFaces documentation itself is not as complete as one would like.

It's a credit to the authors that, at the book's weakest, it's as useful as the official documentation, and at its strongest, is easily becoming the first reference reached for.

[...]

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most comprehensive JSF coverage so far!, January 23, 2007

By	Kyrill Alyoshin (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I really enjoyed reading this book. I have several JSF books, and I feel that most of them were rushed to the market. This one is an exception. The coverage is very comprehensive (the book is written by the spec lead), JSF 1.2 is extensively discussed. The book covers multiple open-source "sub-frameworks" for JSF such as Shale and Facelets as well as various component libraries.

JSF is a relatively complex framework, and one does need a good reference to be able to master it. I think this book is it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good book, its deep and explains very good, February 17, 2007

By	Tomer Ben David - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The book goes over all the stuff in JSF and explains in a very clear language exactly whats happening under the hood of JSF. I have also some other JSF books and this is by far the best.