Jakarta Struts Cookbook (Paperback)

by Bill Siggelkow (Author)
Key Phrases: using indexed properties, global error page, security filter, Struts Cookbook, Solution Use, Tomcat Manager (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The Jakarta Struts Framework is a popular open source platform for building web applications from top to bottom with Java. While this popularity has led to a wealth of online and in-print documentation, developers still find themselves faced with a number of common tasks that are not clearly and succinctly explained. In these situations, programmers can now turn to the Jakarta Struts Cookbook an amazing collection of code solutions to common--and uncommon--problems encountered when working with the Struts Framework. Among many other recipes, this book explains how to:

• display data in complex HTML tables
• use JSP, the JSTL, and JavaScript in your user interface
• define static and dynamic action forms
• validate data and respond to errors
• use Logging, Validation, and Exception Handling
• integrate Struts with persistence frameworks like Hibernate and iBATIS

This look-up reference is just what today's time-pressed developers need. With solutions to real-world problems just a few page flips away, information is instantly available. And while the book's solutions focus on getting to the point, each recipe's discussion section imparts valuable concept and insight from a Struts veteran. The Jakarta Struts Cookbook is perfect for independent developers, large development teams, and everyone in between who wishes to use the Struts Framework to its fullest potential. Plus, it s completely up-to-date with the latest versions of Framework, so readers can be sure the information is viable.

About the Author
Bill Siggelkow is an independent consultant specializing in software design, development and technical training. Bill is an active member of the Atlanta Struts User Group (http://www.struts-atlanta.org) and frequently serves as a presenter for the group. With nearly 20 years of development experience, he has designed and developed systems for the manufacturing, energy marketing, e-commerce, and financial service industries. Bill enjoys training and mentoring developers in the art of object-oriented programming and web development. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia and has a degree in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech.

Product Details

• Paperback: 526 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; illustrated edition edition (February 23, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059600771X
• ISBN-13: 978-0596007713
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #590,910 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A variety of information, March 7, 2005

By	E. Wuehler (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I liked this book because it covers a variety of Struts-related topics - it's not just a "Struts and only Struts" cookbook. It mixes in a little Struts + database related stuff (Hibernate, MySQL), a little Struts + XML, a little Struts + JSTL, a little Struts + JWebUnit, and so on. While I wouldn't suggest getting this book if you want to learn everything there is to know about hooking Struts up with Hibernate (for example), it does give you a pretty nice overview of a variety of things you might want to integrate/use with your Struts application.

The book's assumption is you have some experience with Struts, Tomcat (or other servlet container), JSPs and Java. If you're not comfortable with any of those I'd recommend getting familiar with those first. Other than that, this is a nice book with plenty of examples to increase your Struts knowledge - whatever your current level may be.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful information for real world projects, May 23, 2005

By	akempo "akempo" (Lexington, SC United States) - See all my reviews

Although the book claims to be for those with some Struts knowledge already, as someone with no previous Struts knowledge, I was able to pick it up quickly

using this book as my main reference. While some of the information in here is basic, I found the validation and localization information particularly

useful for the projects I used it on. For me, the book's greatest value is the best practices sprinkled throughout the varoius chapters, so that I don't

have to re-invent a solution that's already been done or inadvertently make a mistake that results in less maintainable code.

I didn't try out the coding examples, but I did find them useful as illustrations for how to implement some of the best practices outlined in the book. One

true test of a book's usefulness is whether the information contained inside is useful in a real world situation, and by that criteria, this book definitely

passed. It should prove useful to new and experienced Struts developers alike.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow, I didn't know that, May 13, 2005

By	Vance Fellers (Alexandria, Virginia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

With this comprehensive work, Bill Siggelkow has covered the fundamental key Struts topics, about which every Struts developer should be knowledgeable. By key Struts topics, I mean discussions of validation, exception handling, module configuration, the different ways to dispatch to an action, and Tiles - just to name a few.

I particularly appreciate how large topics are divided, dispersed across several chapters, to be discussed in relation to broader subjects. For example, if you want to know more about Struts modules, I found 5 different recipe-like discussions, in 4 different chapters.

This book should be used as an how-to reference, particulary for intermediate-to-advanced Struts developers. If there is some special form control you want to use, or a wizard, or how to create tabs on your web page, you will find it here.

And thankfully the author writes well; in a very few pages, a given topic/recipe is explained clearly and succinctly.

I have been using Struts for almost 4 years, now to discover that there is a lot more for me to learn and use.