Java EE 5

Ratings and Stats

ISBN:	9782212120387	Relevance:	5
Publisher:	Eyrolles	Readability:	5
Author(s):	Antonio Goncalves	Overall:	5
Bottom Line:	The book is well written, well researched, and best of all, only a bit over 300 pages. I'd heartily recommend it for someone making the transition to Java EE 5. Of course, since the book is written in French, the barrier of language would be forbidding for most of the people I personally know, but perhaps that can be solved in time as well. 5 stars!

Intent and Audience

If this text was not intended as a textbook, it should have been. It reads like the best kind of textbook - clear, concise coverage of major issues; excellent working examples; a well-developed application that picks up more and more features as the book goes on; unusually detailed descriptions, not only of the results, but of the design process and the thinking that went into making them what they are.

Blessedly, this is not a book that tries to be everything to everybody and loses its soul in the process. The audience for this text is likely to be newcomers to the Java EE 5 specifications. They will find all of the major Java EE 5 specifications (except JTA, which is probably out of range for this audience) included and described in translucent prose. Experienced Java EE 5 users will not find so much to captivate them, but for a handy review of parts of the specifications we don't use every day, this book would be excellent. The application design, while not the standard Sun Java Pet Store, is well done, and the bits of humor that make it into the text are welcome.

To be honest, I'd like to have this book in English for newbies in the field! We'd have a lot better applications built, I can say that.

Chapter Highlights

Chapter 1. Présentation de l'étude en cas (The case study)

First, we must know what we are building. Accordingly, we start with a general description of the Pet Store application. This is followed by a use case diagram and more detailed discussion of the individual use cases ("Look up an item", "Log in and out", and so forth).

Chapter 2. Architecture de l'application (Application architecture)

Knowing what we are building is great, but we must also know something about the application architecture. We are using the Java EE 5, which is built upon Java SE (the version used here is Java 5). The various Java EE 5 specifications are described at a very high level, as are XML, HTML, and so forth. The idea of design patterns is briefly touched upon, as is UML 2, which is used throughout the text to illustrate design points. The three-tier application architecture is explained.

Chapter 3. Outils et installation (Tools and installation)

So much for the high level. Now for the low: the JDK, Ant, the Glassfish Java EE 5 application server, and the Derby database. The reader is guided through installation and configuration of these basic tools.

Chapter 4. Objets persistants (Persistent objects)

And now, the EJBs (version 3, of course). This chapter starts with entity beans, their lifecycle and relationships, and finally addresses the main "nouns" of the case study (Category, Product, Client, Address, etc.). A brief look at the underlying database schema concludes the chapter.

Chapter 5. Traitements métier (Business logic)

Stateless session beans are the main carriers of business logic, as might be expected. Discussions of the Entity Manager, JPAQL, transactions, and exception handling give the reader the necessary background for next steps in application development. Specific examples of application beans are presented, followed by the first of several increasingly complex UML diagrams describing the general workings of the application.

Chapter 6. Exécution de l'application (Application execution)

To use the application, we need some sort of client interface. We begin with a graphical user interface (GUI) built using Swing. The Service Locator and Business Delegate design patterns are introduced.

Chapter 7. Interface web (Web interface)

In this chapter we move to a web client, keeping the whole application within Java EE 5. We start with a discussion of servlets and JSP, follow with a taste of the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern, and present details of EL and JSTL. JavaServer Faces (JSF) are introduced as a way to simplify and clarify JSP pages by moving the logic out of the pages. Specific Pet Store application web pages are covered.

Chapter 8. Gestion du panier électronique (Management of the shopping cart)

We couldn't hardly shop without a cart, now could we? This introduces the stateful session bean and its lifecycle. A shopping cart bean is introduced, with a ShoppingCartController interposed as a JSF managed bean between the pages and the EJB. More web pages must be added, of course, to present the shopping cart and checkout functionality.

Chapter 9. Échanges B2B (B2B transactions)

Web services are a big thing these days, and are used here for business-to-business (B2B) transactions. Validating credit cards with BarkBank, arranging transportation with PetEx: these are essential parts of making the customer experience a pleasant one.

Chapter 10. Traitements asynchrones (Asynchronous logic)

Not everything has to be done right this moment. Aspects of the application that can be deferred until time permits should be, in order to make sure that the application can perform as well as possible when time is really of the essence. The JMS and JavaMail specifications are introduced, the message-driven bean (MDB) is explained, and the handling of order fulfillment and confirmatory emails to the customer is deferred to the appropriate beans. The close of this chapter presents the entire application architecture as developed heretofore.

Appendix A. Spécifications Java EE 5 (The Java EE 5 specifications)

This appendix presents a set of tables detailing the Java EE 5 specifications, which version and JSR they represent, and where to locate them on the web.

Appendix B. Tâches Ant (Ant tasks)

This appendix details the Ant build script used in developing the application, explaining as it goes.

Appendix C. Sigles et acronymes (Glossary)

With all the acronyms in JEE, a glossary is surely a handy thing to have.

Appendix D. EJB 2 (EJB 2)

The coverage of EJB is entirely of EJB 3, which makes sense, as it is the new functionality of Java EE 5. However, EJB 2 still must be supported; this appendix looks briefly but thoroughly at what is involved in entity and stateless session beans in EJB 2. By the time the reader has finished it, he or she will have a thorough understanding of exactly why EJB 3 was developed.

Relevance of Material

The coverage of the Java EE 5 specifications is excellent. I could perhaps have used a bit more detail on transactions. However, it can be argued that this is a highly technical area better covered in depth after an initial immersion into JEE 5.

The other thing I wasn't entirely happy with was the brevity of coverage of design patterns. If this text really is intended as a textbook, of course, the fact that it gives plenty of external references to source material is plenty - this would make for a excellent extra-credit research paper. Even so, however, there is enough here to give the idea.

One can scarcely overrate the rest of the handling of the subject matter. The approach is confident, serious, and comprehensive. The writing is clean and well-illustrated with code samples and screen shots. You can hardly go wrong with this text.

Resources

The book website: http://www.editions-eyrolles.com/Livre/9782212120387/java-ee-5

The main Java EE 5 page at Sun: http://java.sun.com/javaee/technologies/javaee5.jsp

The Glassfish application server: https://glassfish.dev.java.net/

The main Java SE 5 page at Sun: http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/