JavaServer Pages Developer's Handbook [Paperback]

Nick Todd (Author), Mark Szolkowski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 9, 2003

JavaServer Pages Developer¿s Handbook gives practical, in-depth implementation advice on building robust JSP applications. Learn how to use JSP within enterprise Java applications, and when working with databases and Enterprise JavaBeans. Incorporate JSP tag libraries and frameworks, including Struts, to simplify page construction. This book covers JSP 2.0 and Servlets 2.4 including the expression language, filters, and expanded support for XML in JSP applications.

Create custom tags to automate common functions, interact with Enterprise JavaBeans, and ensure security and reliability in JSP applications. The authors demonstrate transforming and presenting XML data, building Web Service applications, and deploying JSP applications using Jakarta Tomcat. At the end of the book, you¿ll build a complete working Web application incorporating many of the topics discussed.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

JavaServer Pages Developer¿s Handbook gives practical, in-depth implementation advice on building robust JSP applications. Learn how to use JSP within enterprise Java applications, and when working with databases and Enterprise JavaBeans. Incorporate JSP tag libraries and frameworks, including Struts, to simplify page construction. This book covers JSP 2.0 and Servlets 2.4 including the expression language, filters, and expanded support for XML in JSP applications.

Create custom tags to automate common functions, interact with Enterprise JavaBeans, and ensure security and reliability in JSP applications. The authors demonstrate transforming and presenting XML data, building Web Service applications, and deploying JSP applications using Jakarta Tomcat. At the end of the book, you¿ll build a complete working Web application incorporating many of the topics discussed.

About the Author

The authors of this book work for Content Master Ltd., a technical authoring company in the United Kingdom specializing in the production of training and educational materials. For more information on Content Master, please see its Web site at www.contentmaster.com.

Nick Todd B.Sc. PGCE has been with Content Master since 2000 and has been working in technical education since 1997. Prior to that, he was a Web designer, the lead developer on a Web site for a British university, and he also worked on a Web site for British Telecom. Nick has wide experience in providing training and consulting in Java, XML, and Internet technology to companies such as Sun Microsystems, Art Technology Group, Stilo Technology, and the UK eScience Institute based at Edinburgh University. In conjunction with Content Master, Nick has also written courses on Java technology for the Sun Microsystems global curriculum and also courseware on Web-related technology for Microsoft. When Nick is not sitting in front of a computer or standing in front of a technical class, you will often find him working in the Christian church that he leads in Bristol, England.

Mark Szolkowski, M.Eng was born in Manchester, England in 1972, and has a Masters degree in Microelectronic Systems Engineering. During his four years at UMIST, he spent the summers learning the wonders of writing 16-bit Windows software in C using nothing more than M and a command-line compiler. After leaving university, Mark worked as a System Administrator at a software house, which allowed him to feed his programming habit. Since 2000, Mark has mostly worked as an independent technical trainer and author, specializing in Java and XML technologies. Mark has been working with Content Master since 2001.

Product Details

• Paperback: 840 pages
• Publisher: Sams (June 9, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0672324385
• ISBN-13: 978-0672324383
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,648,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for developers, November 29, 2003

By 

cassian78 "cassian78" (Orlando, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: JavaServer Pages Developer's Handbook (Paperback)

I'm a seasoned ColdFusion and Java developer who wanted to learn JSP. I found this book to be fast moving, with many examples and solid explanations of the topics at hand. You'll find coverage on using JavaBeans, EJBs, and J2EE containers with JSP to prime you for books dedicated to each of those subjects, along with great explanation on when to use what, and how JSP fits into the J2EE framework. Chapters are around 30-40 pages each, with enough detail to get you started whilst wheting your appetite for your own experimentation on Tomcat. I read the book in less than 2 weeks and felt comfortable with all the material covered.

I would not recommend this book to an inexperienced developer. There are a handful of minor code and example errors (such as an OS X screen shot for no reason!) which might confuse somebody new to Java and web development in general. Also, the coverage for configuring Tomcat, taglibs, etc. is probably not comprehensive enough for a newbie - you'll have to read the Jakarta docs to get some of the examples working. Of course, this is also a great way to learn how to configure the platform, since you're going to have to learn these things sooner or later anyway.

If you are already in web development and need a fast paced, comprehensive resource for learning JSP, I recommend this book wholeheartedly. This is a great starting point for learning J2EE as a framework.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars As a servlet guy I like this book., March 25, 2004

By 

Bradley Simonin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: JavaServer Pages Developer's Handbook (Paperback)

I am a hard core Java Servlet guy. Never really had much desire for JSPs. To me Servlets was "real" programming and JSP's were for folks who didn't like Java programming. But after reading through this book I am beginning to like JSP's. It's a great quick reference for using JSP's with JavaBeans. It's a bummer there isn't any coverage of JavaServer Faces; that would have been an excellent addition to this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good introduction to JSP, November 17, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: JavaServer Pages Developer's Handbook (Paperback)

Quite comprehensive coverage of JSP2.0 especially JSTL.

The book attempts to cover a lot of topics. Web applications, JNDI, XML,XSLT, JDBC and JSTL. Even a smattering of Struts and EJBs.

One thing I liked about the book is the fact that everything is covered with an intent to portray the way a JSP utilizes these technologies. JSTL tag coverage is comprehensive. The authors keep coming back to the JSTL tags to show how they simplify matters and achieve the view and model separation.

In short read this book if you want to :
1. Learn all the Jsp directives.
2. Familiarize yourself with the JSTL core, xml,sql and internationalization tags.
3. Write your own JSP tags. The custom tags treatment can be improved but it does get the point across.
4. Acquire an understanding 'under the hood'. Generated servlets are listed and analyzed to give an idea to the user as to how the jsp code was processed by the servlet container.

Tomcat 4.1 and a preview version of Tomcat that incorporates JSP 2.0 were used to demonstrate the book's material.