Programming Jakarta Struts [Paperback]

Chuck Cavaness (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0596003285 | ISBN-13: 978-0596003289 | Publication Date: November 20, 2002 | Edition: 1

Web tier frameworks have really taken off in the past year or so. Developers who used to spend hours and hours writing low-level features have realized the enormous benefits of using well-written frameworks to build the presentation tier so they can get to coding the "good stuff", the business logic at the core of the program.

The Struts Framework, originally created by Craig R. McClanahan and donated to the Apache Software Foundation's Jakarta project in 2000, has become one of the most popular presentation frameworks for building web applications with Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages (JSP) technology. It encourages application architecture based on the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design paradigm, colloquially known as the Model 2 approach.

As popular as Struts is becoming, the online documentation is inadequate, focusing on the most basic functionality and leaving out information crucial to developers writing today's complex web applications. O'Reilly's Programming Jakarta Struts was written by Chuck Cavaness after his internet company decided to adopt the framework, then spent months really figuring out how to use it to its fullest potential. He calls the books, "the culmination of lessons learned (the hard way) during the building of our application."

Readers will benefit from the real-world, "this is how to do it" approach Cavaness takes to developing complex enterprise applications using Struts, and his focus on the 1.1 version of the Framework makes this the most up-to-date book available.

Programming Jakarta Struts covers:

• An overview of the concepts involved in writing web applications
• Detailed installation and configuration instructions to get Struts up and running quickly
• A thorough discussion of how Struts implements the Model-View-Controller pattern, and how to interface with that pattern in your own applications
• JSP and Jakarta Tag Libraries for authoring complex web pages
• Logging, Validation, and Exception Handling with Struts
• Using the new Struts template framework, Tiles.
• Writing internationalization and localization code using Struts
• Practical, real-world best practices for web applications

Craig McClanahan, originator of Struts, says of the book, "One thing a lot of open source packages lack is a comprehensive guide to all of the features -- something that goes far enough past "hello, world" to get you into solving real application design problems, and it looks like you've hit just the right level for a lot of people."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you've adopted Java as your organizational language, you're probably using, or planning to use, some sort of multitier design to maximize maintainability while making your data store accessible to as many applications as possible. The Jakarta engine ranks as the interface server of choice in that environment, and the Jakarta Struts Framework 1.1 makes it far easier to implement multitier information systems. Programming Jakarta Struts is the best how-to documentation around--in print or on the Internet--on the subject of using Struts to their greatest potential. Chuck Cavaness's book is comprehensive, detailed, critical of its subject where appropriate, and generally invaluable to anyone implementing the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern in Java with the assistance of Struts.

Thankfully, Cavaness opens with an overview of the MVC pattern with a focus on how you're meant to implement it under Struts. For anyone thinking that implementing MVC sounds like more trouble than it's worth, this clarifies why such design usually pays off in the long run. After that, it's into the particulars, which include code listings (lots of them, delightfully commented) and crystal-clear block diagrams that show the flow of messages among objects. There are also many database schema charts that show how the authors structure data in the storefront and shopping cart application that spans the whole of this volume. --David Wall

Topics covered: The Jakarta Struts Framework 1.1 and how to use it to implement the Model-View-Controller (MVC) software design pattern. All the important features of Struts 1.1 get attention, including exception handling, the validation framework, internationalization, logging, and templating with the Tiles framework.

About the Author

Chuck Cavaness is a graduate from Georgia Tech with degrees in computer engineering and computer science, has built Java-based enterprise systems in the healthcare, banking, and B2B sectors. Working at an Internet company to design and develop software architecture, Chuck has spent many frustrating hours figuring out the dos and the don'ts of web applications. With each enterprise system he's developed, Chuck has learned several valuable lessons about building "real-world" web applications, information that he's made available to developers who haven't had the opportunity to work on large systems. Chuck is the co-author of Special Edition Using Java 1.3 and Special Edition Using EJB 2.0, both available from QUE.

Product Details

• Paperback: 462 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (November 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596003285
• ISBN-13: 978-0596003289
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,786,556 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A disappointment, January 7, 2003

By 

"bitbucket44" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Programming Jakarta Struts (Paperback)

I've relied on O'Reilly books to provide the gist for any number of topics but this one disappoints on a number of levels. Too much filler material (if you don't know about EJBs and WARs then you shouldn't be reading this book) and an imbalance of detail. I need to know how to enable debugging in struts-config.xml or how to specify the message properties files in web.xml, not individual attributes to custom tags; I can find those in the javadocs.
Granted it's a relatively new technology but this treatise didn't provide much more than what I could find on-line. There wasn't even decent coverage of the specifics of minLength and other validator features. Trash the fluff and stick to the details which implementors require and you might have a decent book.
Now I'll just have to buy the Husted tome. It's not like I'm made of money, you know? I just can't recommend this book to someone trying to develop a production application in "web time".

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Serious Review about Programming Jakarta Struts, January 8, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Programming Jakarta Struts (Paperback)

I've wanted to write a review for this book ever since I started reading the draft chapters on theserverside.com. I was one of the many who participated in submitting feedback from the very beginning and feel like I've learned so much from the material, but understand how someone might not get it immediately.

This book was written specifically to teach Struts developers how to fish; it wasn't designed to fish for us. This is something the Author mentioned on the list many times. You won't find a million different ways to use a specific tag for example. Instead, I think the coverage is more advanced and attempts to strive higher than just Struts.

So, here's my review for this book. I hope it helps you decide whether this book is for you or not.

First the bad - This book is light on the tags section. If you are looking for every which way to use the iterate tag for example, you won't find it here. Also, the modules coverage could have been better. Of course, I think that's due to the flux that modules was in at the time of release. I don't personally hold this against the Author. The other books (especially the ones that came out before it) have the same issue.

The other topic I would have liked to see covered in the book is Security. It's actually not covered in any of the books very well. Based on the earlier table of contents that the Author published, it was included. However it was posted on the mailing list that the chapter on security was being cut due to size and time. Maybe the 2nd edition will add this (hint, hint).

Now the Good - This book covers so much about how to hook Struts up to a Model architecture; especially Chapter 13 (the one on EJB). I really like this chapter and have learned so much from it. The examples are clear, concise and helpful.

The coverage of exception handling is superb! As is the coverage of logging (using log4j), tiles and the validator framework. The packaging chapter was very beneficial as was the chapter on I18N. However, what I liked about this book the most and what I think is the most valuable is the following:
The Author clearly has built Struts applications for real companies and it's obvious to me (at least) that he's sincerely trying to communicate what's important for the big picture.

So my advice to you if you are considering buying this book is, if you want to see how the tags can be used in every situation, buy another book. Actually you'll probably have to just read the user guide because I don't think the other books cover this any more. On the other hand, if you want to learn the 1.1 features in depth and learn big picture ideas and concepts, then I wholeheartedly recommend this book. It's possible that you won't appreciate all the material in the beginning, but after you work with Struts for 6 months, you most certainly will.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Agreed... not as good for beginners, April 23, 2004

By 

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

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Programming Jakarta Struts (Paperback)

This book does an excellent job of laying out the Struts framework at a high level and then explaining each individual component of the framework in detail. It provides clear examples of good design patterns separating the business model from the view/controller of the application, and decent documentation of the use of each parameter in the configuration files.

What it does not do is provide easy, step by step, "this is what we just did and this is the result"-style tutorials on building your first Struts application.

I read most of the book without attempting to sit down and write any code. When I finished reading, I had a clear understanding of how the framework operated and a good idea about how I wanted to build my first Struts application. However, when I sat down to actually code the application using the book as a reference, I was completely lost.

I must say that I am disappointed because the book does seem to market itself to all levels of Struts developers, but I think it's really only useful to somebody who has already gone through a few tutorials. I learned more about building my first Struts application by following tutorials in the MyEclipse IDE, and reading the code and configuration files from existing Struts applications.

I give this book 1 star for beginners and 5 for experienced developers - so let's call it a 3.