Core Servlets and JavaServer Pages (JSP) (Paperback)

by Marty Hall (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Servlets and JavaServer Pages dramatically simplify the creation of dynamic Web pages and Web-enabled applications. With Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE), these tools have come of age, earning the support of an unprecedented range of Web and application servers on every major operating system. This book is a comprehensive guide for every experienced developer who wants to master the new versions of these powerful tools. Start by mastering servlet syntax, installation and setup fundamentals and the servlet life cycle. Use cookies and session tracking, optimize browsers, compress pages to slash download time, and decrease overhead with persistent HTTP sessions. Next, master every key JavaServer Pages 1.1 technique you'll need: expressions, declarations, and scriptlets; controlling the format of the servlet that results from the page; incorporating reusable JavaBeans; sharing Beans among pages; dynamically including other files; defining your own JSP tag libraries, and combining servlets and JSP in a single application. Part III offers the industry's most in-depth, practical coverage of using applets and HTTP tunneling as servlet front ends, using JDBC and connection pooling, and HTML forms.

From the Back Cover

• Practical guide to using Java for Web-enabled applications and dynamic Web sites
• In-depth coverage of the latest J2EE standards: servlets version 2.2 and JSP 1.1
• Hundreds of completely portable, fully documented, industrial-strength examples
• Configuration details for Apache Tomcat, Sun's JSWDK, and the Java Web Server

Servlets and JavaServer Pages provide a powerful, efficient, portable, and secure alternative to CGI programming for developing professional e-commerce sites and other Web-enabled applications. Here's all you need to leverage the latest J2EE servlet 2.2 and JSP 1.1 standards: real-world insight, advanced techniques, industrial-strength code, and hands-on coverage of three top servlet/JSP engines, including Apache Tomcat.

• Part I gives exhaustive coverage of servlets 2.1 and 2.2. Starts with basic syntax, the servlet life cycle, and use of form data. Moves on to leveraging HTTP 1.1, cookies, and session tracking. Advanced topics include compressed Web content, persistent connections, dynamically generated images, and shopping carts for e-commerce.
• Part II provides an in-depth guide to JSP 1.0 and 1.1, including advice on when to use servlets, JSP, or a combination of the two. Discusses every standard JSP element, including approaches for integrating JavaBeans. Advanced techniques include sharing beans, generating Excel spreadsheets, and defining custom JSP tag libraries.
• Part III covers key supporting technologies: HTML forms, JDBC and database connection pooling, and the use of applets to communicate with servlets.
• Servlet and JSP Quick Reference provides a handy syntax and usage summary.

Every Core Series book:

• Demonstrates practical techniques used by professional developers
• Features robust, thoroughly tested sample code and realistic examples
• Focuses on the cutting-edge technologies you need to master today
• Provides expert advice that will help you build superior software

Core Servlets and JavaServer Pages delivers:

• Practical techniques for streamlining Web-enabled application development
• Proven strategies for optimizing servlet and JSP performance
• In-depth, hands-on coverage of the latest standards: servlets 2.2 and JSP 1.1
• On-line access to all source code, available free for unrestricted use

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Product Details

• Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR; 1 edition (May 26, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130893404
• ISBN-13: 978-0130893406
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.8 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (226 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #362,888 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This item is part of The Core Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but sometimes spotty indexing, October 20, 2000

By	W. A. Norris (Laramie, WY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a solid book, and an effective tutorial, but it is sometimes frustrating as a reference. It will tell you pretty much everything you need to know about writing real applications with Servlets and/or JSP, including good coverage of how to integrate multiple JSPs and servlets together to build a real application. This is important, because who really creates websites where the pages don't have to integrate together?

This book includes a reasonable discussion of the various JSP/servlet engines out there, and how to set up Apache Tomcat, the reference implementation (the commercial implementations are easier to set up). It also has good coverage of all the standard topics, like HTML form data, dealing with HTTP headers and status codes, using cookies, and session management. It also includes a reasonable chapter on JDBC and another on JavaBeans, and if you understand SQL and your needs aren't very elaborate, you may not need to buy another book on either topic. It also includes code for some handy utilities like a simple database connection pool (important since you almost certainly want your web application to be multithreaded) and a visual HTTP client that lets you specify the HTTP headers to send and view all the headers that are returned. Overall, this book is clear and thorough and I highly recommend it.

However, I still found this frustrating at times, due to the indexing. For example, in its discussion of sharing Java beans between multiple JSPs, it discusses the ability to share beans at different scopes--session, page, request, and application. The problem is, it doesn't define what is and isn't included in application-level scope, or how you define some pages to be part of an application but not others. If you plan to have multiple applications on your web server, this is important. Like several other topics I looked for, there was no way to find this using the index, though it may be in the book somewhere. I finally solved this by going to the Apache Tomcat documentation.

Still, occasional frustrations aside, I have yet to find another book this good on the subject, and it did teach me how to build applications out of JSPs effectively. So even though it's not perfect, I recommend it to anyone who needs to understand the topic.

68 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This book should be called "Core Minus The Real Core...", February 15, 2002

By	"javauser1" (Massachusetts USA) - See all my reviews

While this book may have been widely accepted in the old days, the technology improvements made by Sun to JSP/Servlets (and the wide vendor adoption of JSP 1.1 and Server 1.2) have rendered this "core" book as inadequate by contemporary standards. The author obviously realizes this, but rather than doing what most authors do (release a second edition), the author unconventionally released a "more..." book to fill in the gaps. This would be fine if the gaps were small or non-essential secondary topics, but the gaps are HUGE and actually represent the "core" of contemporary JSP and Servlets: web applications, application security, error handling and more.

I'm an architect that purchased this book because I am trying to recommend a good Servlet and JSP book to staff developers who are intestered in doing Java Web Development.

This is a great book for getting started with Servlets and JSP and learning the "old way" of how to implement Servlets and JSP as a haphazard grab bag of individual web components. But don't buy this bought and expect to pass serious code reviews by well informed colleagues. Two years ago, it would have been a great book. Now, its outdated and non-comprehensive of what Sun themselves consider to be "core" JSP and Servlets.

Do not expect any coverage of Sun's J2EE best practice recommendation for using JSP and Servlets to create robust "Web Applications". That fundamental piece of knowledge, which should be taught from the ground up, is now lumped into this book's sequel. What a mistake that that was! Rather than coming out with a much needed second edition of this book which would have sustained HUGE successes, the author decided to publish another book "More Servlets and JSP" to cover the really critical topics that were omitted from this book. The result: you buy two books when you should only need one (good for the seller i guess) and end up with an out of sequence set of topics that force you to learn the old way first, develop bad habits and at the very end of the learning process (when you are done with the "core..." and start reading the second "more..." book, you learn that you should forget what you learned in the first book, stop using the bad habits taught in book 1 and do it the right way.

The author covers the "guts" of the API well, but fails to describe the J2EE architecture and how important it is to use JSP and Servlets to deploy well architected "web applications". There is also no distinction made between web sites and web applicaitons. The following topics are omitted or given cursery treatment, yet they are supported by all major JSP/Servlet vendors, they are core objectives of the Sun Java Web Component Certification Exam and in my opinion, they make or break real world web applications:

The handling of web.xml is limited to JSP custom tags, and no emphasis is made that web.xml is a powerful AND recommended Java standard that can be used to encapsulate the configuration of a web application in a portable way for implementing servlet startup configuration, servlet mappings, web application security and servlet initialization parameters. The reader is left with the impression that web application configuration is a "vendor dependent" headache (see page 35), when in fact Tomcat, JRun, and WebLogic have been using web.xml to some degree since as early as 2000. Also, the treatment of error handling, a "core" part of a robust web application, is totally insufficient.

Another problem is that ServletContext, the primary API for sharing global resources among JSPs and Servlets a web application, is not even covered at all under Servlets. It is not mentioned until the JSP section (Chap 10, page 245).

I'm not one to complain without proposing a solution. To the authors. This book would sustain its life in the industry and leave little to be desired if a second edition were released with the following topics given more substance and added as new chapters around or after Chapter 7:

Developing a Web Application
- Describe the requirements of robust Web application models
- Describe the Web application descriptor file and web.xml tags <web-app>, <display-name>, <session-config>, <servlet> and <mime-mapping>
- Deploy a Web application using deployment descriptors

Sharing Resources Using the Servlet Context
- Describe the purpose and features of a servlet context
- Develop a servlet context listener that manages a shared Web application resource

Handling Errors in Web Applications
- Describe the types of errors that can occur in a Web application
- Declare an HTTP error page using the Web application deployment descriptor
- Declare a Java exception error handler page in the deployment descriptor
- Create an error handling servlet
- Write servlet code to log exceptions
- Write servlet code to capture a Java technology exception and forward it to an error handling servlet

Configuring Web Application Security
- Explain the importance of Web security
- Use the deployment descriptor to configure authorization for a Web application resource
- Use the deployment descriptor to configure authentication of users of a Web application

I refuse to buy the "More..." book. I want ONE book (not TWO) that present the "core" topics in a logical sequence. I'm definitely not alone: our local book retailers are slashing prices on the "more..." because its not selling.

TO OTHER READERS: If a second edition of this book comes out that covered the "core" JSP and Servlet topics above, then I would highly recomend the book. Until then, check out O'Oreily.

TO THE AUTHORS: Follow the advice of the GE Chairman. Every year, lose your losers and save your winners. "Core" was a winner, it may be in jeopardy of being a "loser" and it could be a huge "Winner" again. My 2 cents is to lose "More" and save "Core".

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Core Servlets sets itself apart from other JSP books, November 15, 2000

By	James Bryant (Florida) - See all my reviews

This book is truly a good buy. If you are new to JSP and servlets then I would definitely recommend this book. Before I bought this book I purchased professional JSP by wrox press and it was badly written and its explinations were unclear. Plus the number of spelling mistakes in that book were rediculous, making the book untrustworthy. Marty Halls's book is organized well and clearly explains the technology so that anyone can understand it. It is also advanced enough to be used as a good reference. If you have ever had trouble staying awake while reading a programming book, don't worry, Core Servlets is actually written well enough to keep you interested and awake. So I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in JSP or Servlets. It is also easy to skip around the chapters if you want to read up on something specific. It tells you in the chapters if it is discussing something from another chapter, which can be very helpful if you don't understand that topic or if you have not read the other chapter yet. He also has a nice web page with notes on JSP and all sample code in an easily downloadable format.