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Struts Kick Start
- By James Turner, Kevin Bedell
- Published Dec 9, 2002 by Sams. Part of the Kick Start series.
- Copyright 2003
- Dimensions: 7-3/8" x 9-1/8"
- Pages: 504
- Edition: 1st
- Book
- ISBN-10: 0-672-32472-5
- ISBN-13: 978-0-672-32472-7
- eBook (Adobe DRM)
- ISBN-10: 0-7686-6320-2
- ISBN-13: 978-0-7686-6320-4
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Product Author Bios
James Turner is the manager of Black Bear Software, LLC, and the Apache Jakarta Struts project. He has more than 22 years of experience in the computer field and has worked for organizations that include MIT, Xerox, Solbourne Computer, BBN Planet, and Interleaf. He spent the last seven years managing and implementing e-commerce Web sites for companies including CVS, The Christian Science Monitor, and Woolworths UK. In addition, he is an active contributor to various Apache Jakarta projects and recently was the Release Manager for the Jakarta Commons Validator 1.0 release. Mr. Turner is also a well-published freelance journalist and technology writer who has written for publications including The Christian Science Monitor, WIRED, and Web Developers Journal. He lives in Derry, New Hampshire, in a 200-year-old colonial farmhouse along with his wife and son. James is also the author of MySQL and JSP Web Applications: Data Driven Programming Using Tomcat and MySQL, published in 2002 by Sams Publishing.
Kevin Bedell is an E-Business Systems Architect with Sun Life Financial in Wellesley, Massachusetts. His career has crossed a number of different fields including programming, consulting, IT management, network integration, and corporate finance and accounting. In the software development world, he worked for large and small companies including Oracle, Johnson Controls, and Sun Life Financial. He's a Sun Certified Java Programmer and has earned his MCSE certification from Microsoft. Kevin holds a BS in engineering from Michigan Tech and an MBA from the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.
Learn to build applications with Jakarta Struts, the most popular JSP development framework. Struts Kick Start is a "hands-on" book filled with sample applications and code snippets you can reuse, and in-depth coverage of new features in Struts 1.1. If you are looking for a practical book that "shows you how to do it", then Struts Kick Start is for you. Plus, it's the first Struts book with detailed examples of the major Struts tags.
The book begins with a discussion of Struts and its Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture. The authors' then demonstrate Struts' power through the development of a non-trivial sample application - covering all the Struts components in a "how to use them" approach. You'll also see the Struts Tag Library in action - use tags for HTML, javabeans, logical operations and more. You'll learn to use Struts with JBoss for EJB's, with Apache Axis to publish and use Web Services, and with JUnit for testing and debugging. The authors work with the latest Struts 1.1 features including DynaForms, Tiles and the Validator.
The book includes a CD-ROM containing the tools discussed in the book: Struts 1.1 beta 2, Java 2 Standard Edition, JBoss 3.0.3, MySQL 3.23, XDoclet, Torque, Tomcat, Ant, Axis, Cactus, and JUnit. Plus, it comes with an electronic, fully searchable version of the book.
From the Inside Cover: Thoroughly covers the essential features of Struts in a clear and readable style.
Struts Kick Start is a solid starting point for learning how to develop web applications using Struts. The authors start you off by reviewing the foundational technologies on which Struts is based, and immediately get into the sorts of practical "how to" information and examples that get you up to speed quickly.
Notable features that I really appreciated include the coverage on integration with other technologies (such as EJBs and web services), using Ant to set up your development environment, and the fact that the software goodies you need are available on the included CD. Struts does not live in a vacuum -- it is one of the tools in the developer's toolkit, so knowing how it works with other technologies is very useful.
Of particular importance is the coverage on testing your web application as you build and maintain it. Developing a solid testing methodology, and a substantial suite of tests (to protect yourself against regressions), is critically important to a rapid development cycle that still needs to produce high quality applications. Coverage of testing, though, tends to be minimal in many books about programming technologies. James and Kevin provide specific advice on how to use the JUnit and Cactus testing frameworks with your Struts based applications.
Struts Kick Start is a good resource for learning about Struts, and it will help you get up to speed quickly.
- Craig McClanahan, Creator of Struts
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Looks hopeful, but really isn't, By Spanky Johnson (Roanoke, VA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Struts Kick Start (Paperback)
I bought this book to learn Struts: not to learn ABOUT struts. The authors clearly have a firm grasp on the topic, but unfortunately, this book is more of a 481 page example of them showing the reader what they know than it is instructing the reader in how to learn what they know. I have had this book for several weeks, and have read through many of the chapters before finally coming to the conclusion that this book is really quite worthless. For example, one of the main selling points for me was that Torque was covered - and even included on the CD. But when I got to Chapter 6, where Torque is discussed (all three paragraphs of it), it's such a "high-level" overview, that I'm no better off than when I started. Here's a quote from the book: "After you've set up the XML file [the code preceeds this quote] and a property file [no code, no explination - what property file?] that tells Torque which database and connection pooling scheme to use, you use Ant [how?] to... Read more
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Guessing with struts,
By A Customer
This review is from: Struts Kick Start (Paperback)
I'm totally surprised at the good reviews this book has been given. I purchased it based on those reviews and now ... well. The book is wordy and lacks some basic get you started information you would expect from a book with a title containing the words "kick start." The authors got it part right - it should read, "Start kicking." The authors seem to be upholding a long-standing java tradition: make it complex and avoid fundamental procedural steps. For what its worth, when I'm learning something new - upfront - I need to take baby steps - confidence builds and learning is accelerated on and up. Chapter 3 dives directly into a "hello world" application without one single word in the entire book devoted to "Here is what you need to follow along boys and girls..." Not one line of "before we begin, do this and do that." So if your looking for a good text on "guessing with struts" look no more. I give it two stars because there must be some value somewhere in these pages.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
A great resource - my favorite book on Struts, By
This review is from: Struts Kick Start (Paperback)
I disagree with the other reviewers that are complaining about the example applications or lack of advanced features. I think books that have examples that are too complex or advanced get away from helping you learn the basics because the examples are too complicated to read quikcly when you are in a hurry. With Struts Kick Start, I can go right to the place in the book that explains the specific thing I'm looking for quickly.I've looked at all the available books on Struts and I own three of them. Struts Kick Start is the one I have found the most useful in helping me learn because it provides the best coverage of the basics of Struts and has many more coding samples for the struts tags than any of the others. The others refer you to the site for struts tags or just seem to replicate what is already on-line. Struts Kick Start explains each one in detail and gives sample code that you can cut and paste to use on your own. It also provides some great examples of unit... Read more |
Online Sample Chapters
Struts Kick Start: Building Applications
Table of Contents
Introduction.
1. Struts in Context.
2. The Model-View-Controller Design Pattern: 'Model 2' JSP Development.
3. Hello World!: A First Struts Application.
4. HTTP Protocol: Web Application Communications and Control.
5. JSP, Taglibs, and JSTL: Extending Java onto the Page.
6. The Sample Application: A Financial Portfolio.
7. View Components: What the End User Sees.
8. The Controller: Directing the Action.
9. Model Components: Modeling the Business.
10. The struts-config.xml File: Tying All the Pieces Together.
11. How the Struts Tag Libraries Work: The View from Inside.
12. Struts HTML Tags: Page Construction and Form Processing.
13. Struts Bean Tags: Storing and Passing Data.
14. Struts Logic Tags: Conditional Presentation Logic.
15. The Nested and Template Struts Tag Libraries: Handling Subproperties and Inserting Content.
16. The Struts Tiles Tag Library: Creation Master Document Templates.
17. DynaForms and the Validator.
18. Using Struts with Enterprise JavaBeans.
19. Using Struts with Web Services.
20. Building, Deploying, and Testing Struts Applications.
Appendix A. Installing Struts and the Sample Applications from the CD.
Index.
Book
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