Web Development with Java Server Pages (Paperback)

~ (Author), Mark A Kolb (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Web Development with JavaServer Pages is truly an excellent and in-depth tutorial in the effective use of JSPs to build Web applications. Geared toward the Web designer or intermediate Java programmer who's making a transition to JSPs for the first time, this text contains a wealth of information on basic and advanced techniques.

This tutorial is as good as any that's available, and covers all of the necessary JSP directives and syntax. For each directive, possible attributes are listed in convenient tables, which makes this also a worthwhile reference to everyday JSP development that explores the nooks and crannies of JSP APIs, and how pages are built (and cached) on today's JSP platforms.

Web Development with JavaServer Pages also does a good job of showing how to design JavaBean components and integrate them into your JSPs through tags. (Ideally, beans should do the calculation and "thinking" on the middle tier, while JSPs work on the front end.) You'll learn the right way to proceed with JSPs and beans--reinforced via a number of effective code samples. A larger example, a Web database of frequently asked questions (FAQs), demonstrates the big picture with JSPs and beans. Final chapters turn toward a useful aspect of JSP, custom tags, which allow Java programmers to extend the set of available tags for JSP front-end designers. There's even a sample of interactive tags, in which tags work together with other tags, with sample code.

Filled with plenty of details that carry the reader well beyond the basics, this text is one of the better available tutorials for learning JSPs. Its no-nonsense presentation style and useful examples can help put JSP development into the hands of anyone who has some prior HTML or Java experience. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered:

• Overview of JavaServer Pages (JSPs)
• Server-side scripting languages, compared
• The advantages of Java servlets and JSPs
• Tutorial for basic JSP (tags and directives, expressions and scriptlets, flow control, and comments)
• JSP implicit objects, including request, response, and out
• Tutorial for simple JavaBean components
• The JSP useBean, setProperty, and getProperty tags
• Defining bean properties, including indexed properties
• Sample beans for JSPs
• Quick tutorial for JDBC and Java database programming
• Web application architecture using JSPs and beans
• Servlets vs. JSPs
• Introduction to Enterprise JavaBeans
• Case study for an FAQ database
• Web archive (WAR) files, and deploying JSP-based Web applications
• Advanced topics in JSP development, including using cookies, error pages, JavaScript, and validating HTML form data
• Sample JSPs, including banner ads and a random-quote generator
• Custom tag libraries (basic and advanced interactive tags)
• Running Tomcat
• Combining JSPs with applets
• JSP syntax reference

Review

"This is the only other one of the JSP books that I consider outstanding...I give it an unbiased enthusiastic endorsement." -- Marty Hall, author of Core Servlets and JavaServer Pages

Salient language leads the reader from simple to complex Web development with JSP. Clear, concise, comprehensive, and an enjoyable read overall. -- Web Builder Magazine

the authors make it a point to discuss the technology thoroughly with well-placed examples...without a doubt the best book I've read on JSP development. -- Web Techniques Magazine

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Product Details

• Paperback: 554 pages
• Publisher: Manning Publications; 1st edition (May 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1884777996
• ISBN-13: 978-1884777998
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #382,447 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the better book!, August 5, 2000

By A Customer

This is presently, one of two better books on JSP. The other book is "core servlets & jsp" by M. Hall. Hereby, I will compare these two books:

1. I like the clarity of Hall's book. Hall expained everything very well although he did not touch as much depth as Fields & Kolb. Fields & Kolb's book was also well written, although a little on the verbose side; but it has the advantage of reaching further in depth: for example, the use of token handling to prevent re-execution of critical requests when the users push refresh...

2. The code examples in both books are excellent and worked very well. Again, Hall's examples lack some depth. For example, the databases examples are pretty poor and another key examples such as the Travel Agency examples are not as nearly as complete. Fields & Kolb's examples, some of them probably require more of your attention, reach far more in depth. I particularly like the examples on databases and customtags, expecially the examples on FAQ which is really outstanding.

My conclusion is the two books complement each other pretty well and you should buy both. And forget about those wrox books which are often an horror when it comes to testing the code examples. And you know, in programming, without good codes, you don't learn much!

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great tutorial on JSP with in-depth coverage of custom tags, April 4, 2000

By	Foster Schucker (Eagle, PA) - See all my reviews

If you are new to Java Server Pages this is the book to start with. It covers the basics on JSP construction, bean creation and connection and how work with data bases. There is a section on how to architect JSP applications to make their construction easier.

The book is full of easy to understand examples. They range from the simple "hello world" to the complex (and useful) FAQ manager.

There is also in-depth coverage on how to build your own custom tag libraries. Until now you needed to wade into the Sun Java docs, this book makes custom tags painless.

If you are serious about JSP / XML combinations, this is the book to get started with.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book on JSP, June 25, 2000

By	Ram Anantha (USA) - See all my reviews

Just finished reading this excellent book. I believe this is one of the best well-written books ever since Java came into existence. The things I liked about this book are:

- The authors spent a lot of time explaining the fundamentals of JSP in detail, thereby providing a very good foundation.

- The chapters "Architecting JSP application" and "An example JSP project" have been very useful for me. In fact, I am using the concepts and examples presented in these chapters for a project that I am working on.

- The tips, notes, and warnings throughout the book are very useful in applying JSP technology in the real world.

- The support sites, author-online at the Manning web site are available for us to ask questions to the authors and also for discussion on JSP. I have personally found these sites to be extremely useful.

I hope to see the following things in the next version of the book:

- An exclusive chapter on the fundamentals of servlets and how it ties with JSP.

- An exclusive chapter on how JSP and EJB can work together - A real world "non-trivial" example will certainly help.

- I would also like the authors to address some of the concerns that Jason Hunter (Author of JAVA servlet programming, by O'Reilly) listed on his site,