Struts in Action: Building Web Applications with the Leading Java Framework [Paperback]

Ted Husted (Author), Cedric Dumoulin (Author), George Franciscus (Author), David Winterfeldt (Author), Craig R. McClanahan (Author)

Book Description

Series: In Action series | Publication Date: November 2002

A comprehensive introduction to the Struts framework that is complemented by practical case studies that implement applications with Struts, this book is intended for professional developers who want practical advice on how to get their applications working the "Struts way." The hot topics in the construction of any Web site such as initial design, data validation, database access, unit testing, authentication and security, J2EE integration, dynamic page assembly, extending framework classes, and product configuration are covered. Also demonstrated are dozens of proven design techniques, patterns, and strategies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It doesn't just talk about how to configure and develop with Struts. It's a web application manifesto." -- Slashdot.org

"The author's approach to making the reader a Struts expert is effective . . . Go from Struts beginner to Struts expert." -- JavaRanch.com

"The clarity of Struts in Action is even more appealing when compared to The Struts Framework and Mastering Jakarta Struts." -- Dr. Dobb’s Journal

About the Author

Vincent Massol is the creator of the Jakarta Cactus framework and an active member of the Maven, Gump, Struts, and MockObjects development teams. He is the cofounder and CTO of Pivolis, a company that specializes in applying agile methodologies to offshore software development. Ted Husted is an active member of the Struts development team and the manager of the JGuru Struts Forum. His most recent development project uses test-driven design throughout and is available as open source [wqdata]. He is the author of "Struts in Action," He lives in Fairport, New York

George Franciscus is an independent consultant at Nexcel.ca, providing technical and management consulting services. He has experience in a diverse range of technologies, including Java, J2EE, Domino, relational databases, and mainframe technologies and is the coauthor of Struts In Action. He lives in Toronto, Ontario. Danilo Gurovich is the manager of web development at LowerMyBills.com. He has designed and implemented Struts-based applications in high traffic commerce, enterprise application integration monitoring and controlling, and business process management. His non-Java experience extends to GUI Design, Human Factors, and Graphics. He lives in Northridge, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 630 pages
• Publisher: Manning Publications (November 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930110502
• ISBN-13: 978-1930110502
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #515,800 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good solid Struts tutorial, November 18, 2003

By 

Vinit Carpenter "j2eegeek.com/blog" (Brookfield, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Struts in Action: Building Web Applications with the Leading Java Framework (Paperback)

Struts in Action is a good book that has some flaws. I had this book pre-ordered on Amazon from the minute I heard about its publication. The lead author Ted Husted is very active in the Struts development community and still manages a great Struts resource site.

I read the book right away and spent a few weeks going over all the examples in the book. My overall feeling is that this is a good book but it suffers from a lot of the same thing that affects other Struts book. These books were published right around the release of Struts 1.1 and so they are on the fence where they talk about Struts 1.0 and 1.1. Since I had used Struts 1.0 before, the sections that described the changes from 1.0 to 1.1 was very helpful.

Like other books, there is some mention of JSTL but not any details. The section on tag libraries is extensive and well written.

I just went through all my Struts books again as I had to teach a 6 week class on Struts. I went through the five Struts books I owned and I settled on 'Programming Jakarta Struts' by Chuck Cavaness as my finalist. Struts in Action is really a good book but I felt the Chuck Cavaness did a better job of acting as a tutorial. So if you only want to buy one Struts book, I would recommend the Chuck Cavaness book. However, if you want more than one, I would highly recommend this book as your second book on Struts.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars yes, Yes, YES, OH.... what a letdown., December 23, 2002

By 

Danilo Gurovich "[e-mail]" (Northridge, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Struts in Action: Building Web Applications with the Leading Java Framework (Paperback)

I purchased Struts in Action because the web contains horribly incomplete and obtuse information about struts. I have to search through three or more sites to find what I'm looking for, and then test and wonder if I got it right.

After reading the reviews I thought this book thinking would be right on the mark, and after reading the first couple of chapters I was going to write a glowing review but....

So close. It's a great book with 1/3 of the information missing. The big picture is here, it's just not explained fully, or pieces are left out. Struts in Action starts beautifully, explaining the struts-config files, the details behind the struts-basic app, and an excellent later chapter about struts-tiles. This book just falls flat extending and scaling this knowledge in any depth. I was hoping for DETAILS about the struts taglibs, and I was let down by how it glosses over even some of the less granular points, such as what are the important and more oft-used attributes for each tag, and multiple examples of these tags in use (i.e how does the html:text tag use labels? How do I set a static checkbox to selected? Why was the html:form tag left out of the appendix?). It seems that the author just assumes that once you know the basics and go over the code, you can do anything. Well, that's why I was reading this book, because I expected it to be full of examples and code. He does such a fabulous job with the config file, and then loses focus.

Still, out of the current Struts books, Ted's is BY FAR the most detailed, authoritative, and useful, and for these reasons worthy of an extra star.

I'd still recommend this book, but unfortunately it's only as complete as the typically incomplete information on the Jakarta site. If you know nothing about struts, this will get you going. If you already know something but want to extend your knowledge in breadth and depth past the struts-config, you may be let down.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just a struts book, a web application architecture book!, November 28, 2002

By 

"cpfeifer" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Struts in Action: Building Web Applications with the Leading Java Framework (Paperback)

That's what I love the most about this book, it doesn't just talk about how to configure and develop with Struts. It's a web application manifesto. Anyone can write a book about how to use Struts to build a web application. That's not the point. This book is ~8 people-years worth of first-hend developer knowledge (4 authors x ~2 years of working on the Struts project) condensed down into 630 pages. It doesn't just teach you how to use Struts (and Velocity and Taglibs and Tiles), but why you should use them. That's the most important thing this book has to offer. If your project is looking at using Struts & other Jakarta technologies, you need this book. If your project is currently using Struts & other Jakarta technologies, you need this book