JavaServer Faces [Paperback]

Hans Bergsten (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 30, 2004

JavaServer Faces, or JSF, brings a component-based model to web application development that's similar to the model that's been used in standalone GUI applications for years. The technology builds on the experience gained from Java Servlets, JavaServer Pages, and numerous commercial and open source web application frameworks that simplify the development process.

In JavaServer Faces, developers learn how to use this new framework to build real-world web applications. The book contains everything you'll need: how to construct the HTML on the front end; how to create the user interface components that connect the front end to your business objects; how to write a back-end that's JSF-friendly; and how to create the deployment descriptors that tie everything together.

JavaServer Faces pays particular attention to simple tasks that are easily ignored, but crucial to any real application: working with tablular data, for example, or enabling and disabling buttons. And this book doesn't hide from the trickier issues, like creating custom components or creating renderers for different presentation layers. Whether you're experienced with JSF or a just starting out, you'll find everything you need to know about this technology in this book.

Topics covered include:

• The JSF environment
• Creating and rendering components
• Validating input
• Handling user-generated events
• Controlling page navigation
• Working with tabular data
• Internationalization
• Integration between JSF and Struts
• Developing custom renderers and custom components

JavaServer Faces is a complete guide to the crucial new JSF technology. If you develop web applications, JSF belongs in your toolkit, and this book belongs in your library.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Hans Bergsten is the founder of Gefion Software, a company focused on Java services and products based on the J2EE technlogies. Hans has been an active participant in the working groups for both the servlet and JSP specifications from the time they were formed. He also contributes to other related JCP specifications, such as JSP Standard Tag Libraries (JSTL), and helped get the development of the Apache Tomcat reference implementation for servlet and JSP started as one of the initial members of the Apache Jakarta Project Management Committee.

Product Details

• Paperback: 624 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1st edition (April 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596005393
• ISBN-13: 978-0596005399
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #211,522 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worst Java Book I've ever bought, June 1, 2005

By 

Code Guru - See all my reviews

This review is from: JavaServer Faces (Paperback)

Okay... if you have any modicum of experience with Java web technologies, but are looking at expanding your horizons, DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK! It will frustrate you beyond belief.

1. The author spends over 60 pages just introducing JSP: If I wanted a book on JSP there are already plenty available, and much better at explaining it since the author does a very sparse job of it.

2. The author spends 7 pages just discussing HTTP! If you don't know what HTTP is, once again there are better introductory books on web technologies.

3. The author's examples are rarely fully explained, but instead he continuously uses mere 'snippets' without ever giving the entire code. I understand that the code is available online, but I don't want to toggle between reading code on my computer and then having to flip through pages in a book: Keep it all in one place.

4. The author also spends a fair portion of the book talking about other non-JSF related issues: Internationalization, CSS, Tabular data???? (which, by the way, is a horrible example that does not model anything close to a real-world example.)

5. Over 200 pages of the book are simply reference pages which are available to anyone online (which is when you want them since that's when you're coding!)

6. He has 36 pages (in appendix C pp. 444-476) on the HTML-Specific Component classes... read through these and see exactly how useful this reference is: It only lists the components and the litany of methods with absolutely no explanation.

7. He never really adequately puts all the pieces together and shows the JSF novice how to create anything that resembles something that would be a good starting point for real-world development.

These are just some of the incredible deficiencies of this book. My opinion of O'Reilly has been tainted as of late and this book certainly doesn't do O'Reilly any favors. Overall, this is by far the very worst Java book I've ever read and a definite waste of my money and time.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars OK Starting Point, November 8, 2006

By 

Kelby Zorgdrager "DevelopIntelligence" (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: JavaServer Faces (Paperback)

This book is an "OK" starting point for someone learning JSF.

Here are some things to be aware of:
1) Does a poor job explaining the lifecycle of a JSF component; he writes the sequence of events out in paragraph style and does not provide diagrams (UML or otherwise) to help with the illustration

2) Constantly switches metaphors as he is explaining JSF; sometimes he will be talking about the implementation view of a JSF component and then other times he will be talking about the application view of a component. It would be better if there were one or two chapters that focused on the "how the heck does this work behind the scenes" and the rest of the book focused on applying JSF.

3) There are syntax errors throughout the examples; this includes the code examples (.jsp examples) and the configuration examples (web.xml and faces-config.xml). To his credit, he constantly references the appendix section for a more complete example. As a reader, I personally don't like flipping back and forth all the time.

4) His coverage of the application (using JSF actions) is very basic (academic). He doesn't go through the academically classified edge-cases, which is disapppointing because those are typically classified as real-world.

5) He forward references way too much; for example he will talk about / use something in say chapter 4, and then states something to the effect "oh, we'll come back to that later, don't worry about it now". From a learning perspective this is terrible. It causes your train of thought to be derailed and you end up asking yourself the question "what does that do?".

On the positive side, the flow does seem to make some sense from a learning perspective. He builds on the foundational concepts and frames the learning in the context of creating a "real-world" application.

I understand this book is a bit out of date (suprises me O'R hasn't encouraged an update). My suggestion is to buy this book used.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Look instead at Core JavaServer Faces or free J2EE tutorial, September 26, 2005

By 

A.S. Pushkin (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: JavaServer Faces (Paperback)

1/4 of the book goes explains how to use JSP, JSTL
2/4 of the book API reprint
1/4 of the book actual JSF stuff - not real world related - unless you know exactly what you are looking for you'll never find it...
i'm surprised this book went into print - probably somebody upstairs decided to have at least something rather than nothing.
waste of time and money.