Java Enterprise in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Nothing is as constant as change, and this is as true in enterprise computing as anywhere else. With the recent release of Java 2 Enterprise Edition 1.4, developers are being called on to add even greater, more complex levels of interconnectivity to their applications.

To do this, Java developers today need a clear understanding of how to apply the new APIs, use the latest open source Java tools, and learn the capabilities and pitfalls in Java 2 Enterprise Edition 1.4 — so they can plan a technology and implementation strategy for new enterprise projects.

Fortunately, this is exactly what they get with the new Java Enterprise in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition. Because most integrated development environments (IDE) today include API lookup, we took out the main API sections from our previous edition to make room for new chapters, among others, on Ant, Cactus, Hibernate, Jakarta Struts, JUnit, security, XDoclet, and XML/JAXP.

Revised and updated for the new 1.4 version of Sun Microsystems Java Enterprise Edition software, Java Enterprise in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition is a practical guide for enterprise Java developers.

For the intermediate to advanced Java developer, Java Enterprise in a Nutshell shows how to work with all of today’s relevant Java APIs. Plus, it’s a topnotch reference for all enterprise classes. Part tutorial and part reference work that you can use everyday at your desk, this title is a worthwhile resource for any Java developer building Web or enterprise software.

The practical, succinct focus here on actual Java enterprise APIs helps distinguish this text from the pack. Early sections provide short, clear examples along with just enough background to help you use APIs like JDBC, servlets and JSPs, EJBs, and others. Coverage of Java’s ability to interface with legacy CORBA systems is just excellent, with a full tour of Java IDL, CORBA services, and Remote Method Invocation (RMI). Typically, readers will be familiar with some J2EE APIs and not others. This book can help fill in the gaps.

Updated with the latest standards from Sun, including JDBC 3.0, Servlet 2.3, and EJB 2.0, this is an essential primer for today’s high-end (and high-paying) Java. The basic presentation of servlets/JSP and EJBs (among the most important APIs for current Java Web development) is concise and nicely digestible. We also liked the chapter on JMS for messaging (also a hotbed of Java job activity).

The second half of this text lists every J2EE class, along with methods and properties, in a very valuable reference section that makes good use of two-toned shading for easy access. Entries are organized by package name. (One small oversight here is that an index of cross-listed packages, classes, and methods omits page numbers.)

Overall, this book is truly indispensable for any working Java programmer. The second edition of Java Enterprise in a Nutshell is a fully up-to-date tutorial and reference that lives up to the standards of O’Reilly’s Nutshell series. Both thorough and concise, it’s a handy resource for anyone who works with the hundreds and thousands of Java enterprise APIs on a regular basis. –Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Introduction to enterprise computing with the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE), survey of Java enterprise APIs, JDBC 3.0 (including database connections, ResultSets, prepared statements, BLOB fields, transaction support, stored procedures), the JDBC Optional Package (and connection pooling), Remote Method Invocation (RMI) described (building stubs and skeletons, dynamically loaded classes and remote object activation, RMI over IIOP), in-depth tutorial for Java IDL (with CORBA) and designing remote objects, Java Servlet 2.3 APIs (basic servlet processing and the servlet lifecycle, chaining and filters, thread safety, managing state, cookies, servlets used with JDBC), JavaServer Pages (JSP): including custom tags, JNDI and directory tutorial (contexts, looking up objects, accessing and modifying directory entries), Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) 2.0 (conventions for entity, session and message beans, using transactions), Java XML APIs (DOM, SAX and XSLT), Java Message Service (JMS), point-to-point and publish-subscribe messaging models, message selectors, JavaMail, reference to SQL and relational databases, RMI tools, reference to all IDL keywords, data types and declarations; CORBA services, Java IDL tool reference, Enterprise JavaBeans Query Language (EJB QL) 2.0 query language, and an alphabetical listing of all APIs for Java enterprise programming (listing of classes, methods, and properties).

Table of Contents

Part I: The Java Enterprise APIs
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Application Assembly and Deployment
Chapter 3. Java Servlets
Chapter 4. JavaServer Pages
Chapter 5. JavaServer Faces
Chapter 6. Enterprise JavaBeans
Chapter 7. Java and XML
Chapter 8. JDBC
Chapter 9. JNDI
Chapter 10. J2EE Security
Chapter 11. Java Message Service
Chapter 12. Web Services with JAX-RPC and SAAJ
Chapter 13. Remote Method Invocation
Chapter 14. Java IDL (CORBA)
Chapter 15. JavaMail
Chapter 16. Transactions

Part II: Open Source Enterprise Tools
Chapter 17. Ant
Chapter 18. JUnit and Cactus
Chapter 19. Struts
Chapter 20. Hibernate
Chapter 21. Annotations with XDoclet and J2SE Metadata

Part III: Appendixes
Appendix A. J2EE Deployment Descriptor Reference
Appendix B. JavaServer Faces Tag Libraries
Appendix C. Enterprise JavaBeans Query Language Syntax
Appendix D. SQL Reference
Appendix E. JMS Message Selector Syntax
Appendix F. FRMI Tools
Appendix G. IDL Reference
Appendix H. HJava IDL Tools