JSTL in Action (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A nicely written book...beginner-friendly on all levels...concentrates on practice rather than theory and specifications..." -- JavaRanch

"A thorough, yet easy, introduction to the subject . . . don't overlook this title if you are involved in JSP development." -- Java Metroplex Users Group of Dallas, Ft.Worth, Texas

"An excellent introduction . . . Mr. Bayern clearly has the teacher's gift . . . I'll look forward to more books from him." -- Since1968.com

"Does a remarkably good job of unveiling relevant details...fluid, concise, entertaining, and informative." -- Java Pro Magazine

Product Description

JSTL is a Java standard for developing dynamic web sites. It gives non-programmers access to powerful operations through HTML-like tags. This makes JSTL an evolutionary step forward in simplifying the Java web platform.

JSTL in Action introduces and shows off JSTL's capabilities. It includes lots of useful code snippets so you can start using JSTL quickly. Large, working examples show you how to tie JSTL's features together. The book shows how to manipulate XML, use relational databases, format text, internationalize web applications, and an advanced part of the book covers configuration and integration of Java code with JSTL.

This book is written both for programmers and page authors. The coverage is comprehensive and still manages to guide the reader through the subject gently and with humor.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Manning Publications; illustrated edition edition (July 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930110529
• ISBN-13: 978-1930110526
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #474,653 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a good tutorial, August 18, 2003

By	Norman Richards "..." (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What the book is:

- the best JSTL tutorial I've found to learn JSTL from

What the book isn't:

- a good reference book if you already know JSTL

I got great value out of the book when I was first learning JSTL, but this book doesn't have the depth to hold my interest as a more proficient JSTL user. The reference material isn't very well formatted, and it can be somewhat difficult to find what I am looking for. Nonetheless. I highly recommend this book as a tool to learn the JSTL.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Friend in the Book Case, October 30, 2002

By	Swords and Plowshares (Tacoma, WA United States) - See all my reviews

Good programming books are not rampant. Manning tends to be a great source, however. They've done it again with this book. And, this time, they have the added attraction of a great, adult sense of humour with Shawn Bayern. If you cannot use JSTL with ease after reading this book, then you will be in the minority. I don't know if Bayern makes the hard easy or the easy easy, but it definitely is made easy. I sailed through this book wondering how 400 plus pages could seem like 90 pages. The best thing is that there is a forest for the trees to live in throughout this book. Bayern is a great teacher. I'm going to look at his other book now. Maybe it is good too.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good JSTL book!, November 3, 2003

By	Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Review
One way to develop dynamic page content on a web application is to use JavaServer Pages technology. This allows you to embed bits of Java code, or scriptlets, within the HTML page. The web server interprets the scriptlet when the page is called and produces the content that is coded. This is all good, but there are common tasks (such as looping) that each developer had to reinvent from scratch each time it was used in a page. To prevent this repetitive coding, a common set of JSP tags were created to allow developers to concentrate on business logic instead of coding structures. This creation is known as the JSP Standard Tag Library (JSTL). That's what this book is all about...

The book starts with an examination of how JSP and XML tags come together to form the basis of JSTL. This is followed by a number of chapters that cover the different tags that are used to control branching, flow, text formatting, and other various structures. After the basics of JSTL, the author looks at a number of common tasks encountered by JSP developers and how they would be coded using JSTL. Finally, the book wraps up with reference data needed on a regular basis as you use JSTL, such as the API.

The writing is clear and concise, with an abundance of diagrams and code to illustrate the points. The mix of reference, tutorial, and practical examples is perfect, and every developer will be able to use this book in a number of situations.

Websphere developers (both web application and portlet development) will get the most out of this book when it comes to the IBM/Lotus world. The use of JSTL will reduce the code complexity of your JSP pages and speed up your development efforts.

Conclusion
If you are developing JSP pages and haven't looked into the use of the JSTL area, get this book. It will save you time and effort in your coding, and you'll be glad you did.