Java Studio Creator Field Guide - Softcover

Anderson, Gail; Anderson, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0131491687 ISBN 13: 9780131491687

Publisher: Pearson P T R, 2004

Synopsis

Sun's Java Studio Creator (formerly Project Rave) offers you a remarkably productive visual environment for building, integrating, and delivering business-critical applications. Direct from Sun, Java™Studio Creator Field Guide is your definitive guide to Java Studio Creator. Leading Java platform instructors and consultants Gail and Paul Anderson help you use Java Studio Creator to simplify and accelerate your entire development process.

One step at a time, the Andersons walk you through

Mastering Java Studio Creator's interface and workflow

Simplifying Web development with JavaServer™ Faces components, validators, and data converters

Controlling Web application page flow with the Page Navigation editor

Building Creator projects with JavaBeans™ components

Accessing Web services using XML-based open standards: a case study using Google Web Service APIs

Using databases and data-aware components--including detailed coverage of new JDBC™ RowSets

Customizing applications: localization, internationalization, and custom validation

Debugging with Creator's built-in debugger

With Java Studio Creator and this book, you'll spend less time on application "plumbing"--leaving more time for the high-value tasks you really care about. Simply put, you'll get more done, faster...and have more fun doing it.

About this title

About the Author:

Paul Anderson, founding member of the Anderson Software Group, specializes in making software engineering understandable. He has taught courses at IBM, AT&T, Yahoo, Hewlett-Packard, the U.S. Navy, Qualcomm, and other leading firms. Together, Paul and Gail Anderson have coauthored The UNIX C Shell Field Guide, Navigating C++ and Object-Oriented Design, and Enterprise JavaBeans Component Architecture.

Gail Anderson, founding member and Director of Research at Anderson Software Group, specializes in Java, UNIX/Linux, C, C++, and object-oriented design. She has developed courseware on EJB, JSP, servlets, JDBC, and UML. Together, Gail and Paul Anderson have coauthored The UNIX C Shell Field Guide, Navigating C++ and Object-Oriented Design, and Enterprise JavaBeans Component Architecture.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

You're about to embark on a journey that we hope will prove both enjoyable and fruitful. Certainly the aim of any application development tool is to help developers become efficient and allow them to spend time on creative tasks while the tool silently generates the drudgery for them. To that end, we hope this book will teach you the ins and outs of Creator so that you can quickly begin to build web applications. Before you start, we'd like to take a moment to explain the organization of the book and the "method behind the madness" of our project examples.

How This Book Is Organized

Chapter 1 introduces the world of Java and its supporting technologies. Creator depends on these well-established Java technologies to do its job. With the Java programming language and XML, JavaServer Faces component system, and NetBeans tool building technology, Creator has tapped the available standards. Here we provide a gentle introduction to these topics, so you'll get the "big picture" of how Creator fits into the Java world. We also spend ample time on the Java programming language since you will use Java often with Creator. If you come from another programming environment, we want you to feel comfortable right away with the myriad of pieces that make up a Java-based web application.

Chapter 2 introduces Creator, with the aim of getting you up to speed with its various windows, the design canvas, and its editors. A good tool lets you accomplish tasks in the order that's best for the developer. Knowing how to move about within a Creator project will quickly make you productive. You'll also build your first project from scratch.

Chapter 3 is your "Components Catalog." This reference chapter lets you choose the best component for your application from Creator's store of components, validators, and data converters. All the projects that you build use these components, so as we discuss each one, we'll point you to places in the book where you can see how they work.

Chapter 4 introduces Page Navigation in Creator. You'll learn how to specify page flow in a web application and understand which components are suitable for page navigation. We'll also discuss Creator's navigation model and illustrate page navigation with several projects that you can build.

Chapter 5 explains JavaBeans components (beans). JavaBeans components provide one of the key supporting technologies that Creator uses. Developers who understand the advantages of JavaBeans components can build robust applications with reusable components for related or evolving applications.

Chapter 6 shows you how to access a web service from a Creator-built application. Creator bundles a full selection of web services, which are all readily usable once you add them to your project. In this chapter, you'll build an application that uses the Google Search Web Service.

Chapter 7 shows you how to use a database with Creator. You'll build projects with essential database operations, such as read, update, insert, and delete. Web applications that tie into databases are an important and common need for today's developer. Creator's data-aware components make linking to a database easy and straightforward.

Chapter 8 shows you how to customize a web application from Creator. You'll learn how to localize an application and how to internationalize it. We also show you how to write and install custom validation methods.

Chapter 9 shows you defensive programming techniques for web development and how to use Creator's debugger in your projects. You'll learn how to set breakpoints, look at the server log file, and respond to exceptions. Althoughthis chapter is at the end of the book, we expect you to refer to it as soon as you start doing serious web development.

About the Examples

Java Studio Creator Field Guide is an example-driven book. You may certainly download and run all the projects in the chapters, but the real value of this book comes from doing these examples yourself, step by step. You can always check your work against our examples as you build your projects, too.

The database chapter includes a sample Music database, which we also provide in the download bundle. The example code is available at an FTP site for all the projects in this book. Check your firewall to ensure that you can access the FTP site. You can download the example code from our web site at Stay Current with Creator!

Creator is an evolving product, so make sure that you visit our web site at the above URL. We'll give you updated example projects, including new code(which may be different than what's here in the book). We'll also keep you up to date with the newest features of Creator and any changes to the product. Don't forget to check in with us!http://www.asgteach.com

About the Front Cover

I.M. Pei's Glass Pyramid is an apt symbol for a book on Java Studio Creator. The pyramid serves as the entrance to the Louvre Museum in Paris. Truly international, it was designed by a Chinese-American, who is both an engineer and an artist. We were drawn to its elegant simplicity of glass and light, its multiple facets, and the blending of a structure that is modern yet simultaneously representative of Ancient Egypt.

Java Studio Creator is built on the same concept of layered architecture. Based on JavaServer Faces technology, Creator leverages the existing Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition (J2EE) architecture and of course, the solid foundations of Java and its runtime environment. Likewise, the Glass Pyramid is an extraordinary example of layered architecture whose backdrop is a traditional Renaissance palace. The Louvre itself houses artistic treasures dating from antiquity, perhaps none more famous than Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

Gail and Paul Anderson
Anderson Software Group, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pearson P T R
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0131491687
• ISBN 13: 9780131491687
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 338