Java XML Programmer's Reference (Paperback)

by Eric Jung (Author), Andrei Cioroianu (Author), Dave Writz (Author), Mohammad Akif (Author), Steven Brodhead (Author), James Hart (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Aimed at readers with some basic knowledge of Java and XML, Java XML Programmer's Reference provides an extremely useful reference and tutorial to virtually all of today's common Java XML APIs and tools, including those used in the emerging world of Web services. Well organized and filled with useful tips and technical details for these often poorly documented tools, this book will earn a spot on many a working developer's bookshelf.

Finding all of the XML APIs in one handy volume is the real reason to buy this reference work. In the fast-changing world of emerging XML tools and standards, many maintained by open-source organizations, it's virtually impossible to keep up with the classes, APIs, and programming strategies needed to work with these tools. This book corrals the chaos with a lineup of the most popular and essential Java XML APIs, like the popular SAX and DOM standards. The authors also look at Sun's new JAXP (and related bundles), which help standardize XML coding in Java.

Each API is documented by package, class, and method. Many entries have documented sample code showing off just how to use each API, which is a real timesaver for any busy Java developer. While it's possible to decipher open-source documents, you'll save countless hours with this handy reference. Besides vendor-neutral APIs, the authors also tackle Oracle's XSK for working with XML on that platform.

The second half of this book zeroes in on XML standards used in Web services, including WSDL and UDDI. Web services are illustrated here with a solid case study for an online auction example. Other samples include an XML-based configuration with Ant, plus transforming content with XSLT for wireless user interfaces. There's also coverage on "lightweight" XML for mobile devices. Sections on querying using SAX, DOM, and XPath 1.0 will help you search XML effectively.

While readers can obviously dig in to these later topics selectively, the main focus here on XML parsers and Web services will more than justify the price of this title for most readers. This book is quite simply a must-have for anyone combining Java and XML, undoubtedly two of today's hottest computing technologies. --Richard Dragan

Product Description
XML is rapidly becoming the standard representation format for data interchange, data verification, configuration, RDBMS interaction, remote procedure invocation, and the representation of transformation processes. In all these areas the Java language provides the programming interfaces and tools needed for driving the underlying machinery.

The intersection between Java and XML is wide-ranging, and the knowledge required to use them together effectively is expanding daily. The API section of this book provides quick access to the essential Java XML programming interfaces: SAX, DOM Core, DOM Extensions, JDOM, JAXP and TrAX, together with dozens of illustrative examples. The Tools section includes chapters on Oracle XDK, IBM Web Services Toolkit, Apache XML Project, XML tools for lightweight/mobile devices, and an overview of Sun early access XML projects, all packed with examples and reference material. The final Techniques section explores Java XML over five projects, developing a distributed business casestudy.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 750 pages
• Publisher: Wrox Press (July 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861005202
• ISBN-13: 978-1861005205
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,028,366 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great reference on Java XML API'S, August 12, 2001

By	"ellango" (Avenel, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This book is an excellent reference for the Java XML API's. It is up to date on SAX 2 and DOM/DOM extensions. It also gives a good intro to many recent developments like SOAP and IBM WebServices Tools. An advantage of reading such a book is that it makes you familiar with many of the good features of API's - which otherwise I would have never bothered to look up. The chapter on JAXP is particularly well presented. I liked the case study in Chapters 12-15 which highlight techniques for configuring, querying , storing and transmitting XML - these can be put to use straight away. On the flip side, I would have liked to see more examples in each chapter on the usage of API's. I would have also liked some more focus on XSLT. Ant has been used extensively - and at first I found this a little disconcerting as I had not used Ant earlier.

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, January 23, 2002

By	Donald Gregory (Woodinville, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Being a Java developer and wanting to learn how to use XML technologies with that language I had high hopes for this book coming in. I had read the editorial review, have a high opinion of Wrox books in general, and was looking for a book that covered the scope of topics this book claims to cover. I was disappointed.
For the most part the text covering the various technologies, e.g. XML, SAX, DOM, JDOM, JAXP, etc., is a reformat and JavaDoc of the specifications. Almost every chapter opens with something like this from chapter two, 'This chapter contains the same information as the SAX 2.0 API specification...', and indeed it does. At least they're up front about it. The saving grace of each chapter are the small utility code bits, written in Java, that demonstrate the syntax of doing things but there is little elaboration.
As a reference this book pulls together a lot of technology into one place and puts it at your fingertips. Of course, by the time you've learned a couple of these sections the rest of the technologies in the book will be out of date ;) so you might be better off just bookmarking the reference pages on the web.
The Wrox motto is 'Programmer to Programmer'. They must mean mouth-to-mouth resuscitation after you've tried to plow your way through a few chapters of this book.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on the subject, August 23, 2001

By	Rainbow (USA) - See all my reviews

Java and XML are intricately related to each other and its importance is growing in building J2EE solutions. For any professional developer who is aspiring to build Enterprise Applications, knowledge of XML is a must. But more important than that is to be able to use the Java API's for XML. In a period when information about these is scattered and difficult to gather, this book has all you require to get started with Java XML in one place. The layout is perfect, the material is flawless and uptodate. The API's have been supplemented by useful examples where required which show exactly what can be done. Its a must buy for anyone. I never repented owning a copy. And my recommendation is - Go get it!