Atlantic Northeast Software Symposium

August 8 - 10, 2008 - Princeton, NJ


Westin Princeton @ Forrestal Village
201 Village Boulevard
Princeton, NJ   08540
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David Geary

Author of Graphic Java, co-author of Core JSF, member of the JSF Expert Group

David Geary is the president of Clarity Training, Inc. (corewebdevelopment.com), where he teaches developers to implement web applications using JavaServer Faces (JSF) and the Google Web Toolkit (GWT).

A prominent author, speaker, and consultant, David holds a unique qualification as a Java expert: He wrote the best-selling books on both Java component frameworks: Swing and JavaServer Faces. David's Graphic Java Swing was the best-selling Swing book, and is one of the best-selling Java books of all-time, and Core JSF, which David wrote with Cay Horstman, is the best-selling book on JavaServer Faces.

David was one of a handful of experts on the JSF 1.0 Expert Group (EG) that actively defined the standard Java-based web application framework, and David is currently on the JSF 2 Expert Group, helping to vastly improve JSF in version 2.

Besides serving on the JSF and JSTL Expert Groups, David has contributed to open-source projects and he has written questions for two of Sun's Certification Exams: Web Developer Certification and JavaServer Faces Certification. He invented the Struts Template library which was the precursor to Tiles, a popular framework for composing web pages from JSP fragments, was the 2nd Struts committer and contributed to the Apache Shale project.

David has spoken at more than 100 NFJS symposiums since 2003, and he also speaks at other conferences such as TheServerSide Java Symposium, JavaOne, JavaPolis, and JAOO. David has taught at Java University for the past three years, and is a three-time JavaOne rock star.



Presentations

JavaServer Faces: A Whirlwind Tour

In April 2005, annual growth rates for jobs in JavaServer Faces, Struts, and Ruby on Rails were all at about 0%. Today, Struts' growth rate still hovers around 0%, but JSF and Rails have taken off. At the end of 2007, both JSF and Rails were growing at a rate of between 400-500% annually (according to indeed.com).

JSF has passed the adoption tipping point, and is now the Java-based framework of choice, as is evidenced by its ecosystem. From vendors such as MyEclipse and RedHat to open source projects such as Seam, Facelets, and Ajax4JSF, JSF is where the action is.

Come see why JSF is so popular. In this code- and demo-intensive session, I'll show you the fundamentals of JSF.

This session is taught by a member of the JSF Expert Group for JSF 1.0 and 2.0., and co-author of the best-selling book on JSF: Core JavaServer Faces. David will take you through a whirlwind introduction to JSF including what JSF is, how it was developed, and how you can best take advantage of the technology. Here is a list of topics:

Components, managed beans, value expressions, and static navigation i18n, CSS, and actions The Faces Context and Faces messages The JSF Event Model Using JavaScript with JSF

This introduction to JSF also contains 5 live-code demos, where David will develop a simple, but robust application during the course of the session.

Facelets

Facelets is a combination of Tiles and Tapestry, and it's the hottest JSF-related open source project on the planet. It's popularity is well deserved, and in fact, much of what is in Facelets today will make its way into the JSF 2.0 spec due out in 2008. So not only can you come to this session and see some really cool demos that you can put to use in the real world, but you'll also be learning JSF 2.0 before it's even been defined! How's that for a ROI?

This session is 90 minutes of nothing-but-Facelets, so we're going to cover a good bit of ground. You'll see all of the basics, such as templating, error handling and debugging, and some of the more advanced aspects, such as creating your own components and tag libraries.

Rich Faces

This talk explores the RichFaces Ajax framework, which is really two frameworks: Ajax4jsf and RichFaces components. In this session you will see how to implement low-level Ajax functionality using Ajax4JSF, and how to use high-level Ajax components from RichFaces.

The JSF spec has changed little since JSF debuted in 2004. However, the open source community is a frentic cauldron of activity that has produced lots of cool innovations, many of them related to Ajax. In this talk, we'll look at two of the most popular open source Ajax frameworks for JSF: Ajax4jsf and RichFaces.

Ajax4jsf gives you a very capable set of low-level Ajax tags (JSP or Facelets), along with their corresponding APIs, that let you easily incorporate Ajax features, most of the time by just using a custom tag or two. Ajax4jsf is an ideal solution if you want to add Ajax functionality to an existing JSF application.

RichFaces components is a library of components built on top of Ajax4jsf. You get basics such as toolbars list shuttles, and a MS Virtual Earth component.

In early 2008, the JSF Expert Group has begun to focus it's attention on incorporating concepts from best-of-breed JSF Ajax frameworks, such as Ajax4jsf and ICEfaces. What you learn in this session will give you both a preview, and a leg up, on JSF 2.0.

Intro to Seam

Have you ever stopped to think that you need to learn two frameworks to develop a non-trivial, database-backed, web application? Struts and iBatis; JSF and Hibernate; Tapestry and EJB3.0.

Two frameworks. And then you have to learn to use them together. Why do we have to learn two frameworks just to retrieve "Hello World" from a database and show it in a view. Isn't that crazy?

Now you can use one framework, and use one component model. One. Isn't that nice?

Filthy Rich Clients with the Google Web Toolkit, Part I

The Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is truly a revolutionary framework that lets you develop Ajaxified web applications without knowing anything about Ajax or JavaScript. But the GWT goes way beyond basic Ajax by letting you implement desktop-like applications that run in the ubiquitous browser.

In this, the first of a two-part session on the GWT, you will learn about the framework and its fundamental capabilities, such as: rapid development with project and application generators; the GWT widget hierarchy; remote procedure calls; the GWT's history mechanism, including its integration with the Back button and bookmarks; and integrating JavaScript frameworks, such as Script.aculo.us, with your GWT applications.

Filthy Rich Clients with the Google Web Toolkit, Part II

In the second part of this talk, you will learn how to extend the GWT by implementing custom widgets, including a scrolling viewport and a drag and drop framework. After discussing custom widgets, you will see how to integrate database access into your GWT applications, and how to deploy your GWT applications to external servers.

You will also learn how to integrate GWT widgets into legacy applications built with web application frameworks such as Struts, JavaServer Faces, or Tapestry. The GWT is one of the most powerful Ajax frameworks on the planet, and one of the few that let you easily implement desktop-like applications that run in a browser, and because of that, it has gained incredible mindshare in a short period of time. Come to these two sessions on the GWT and see what all the buzz is all about.

Books

by David Geary and Cay S. Horstmann

Core JavaServer Faces (3rd Edition) Buy from Amazon
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Price: $33.58
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  • JavaServer Faces (JSF) is the standard Java EE technology for building web user interfaces. It provides a powerful framework for developing server-side applications, allowing you to cleanly separate visual presentation and application logic. JSF 2.0 is a major upgrade, which not only adds many useful features but also greatly simplifies the programming model by using annotations and “convention over configuration” for common tasks.

     

    To help you quickly tap into the power of JSF 2.0, the third edition of Core JavaServer™ Faces has been completely updated to make optimum use of all the new features. The book includes

    • Three totally new chapters on using Facelets tags for templating, building composite components, and developing Ajax applications
    • Guidance on building robust applications with minimal hand coding and maximum productivity–without requiring any knowledge of servlets or other low-level “plumbing”
    • A complete explanation of the basic building blocks–from using standard JSF tags, to working with data tables, and converting and validating input
    • Coverage of advanced tasks, such as event handling, extending the JSF framework, and connecting to external services
    • Solutions to a variety of common challenges, including notes on debugging and troubleshooting, in addition to implementation details and working code for features that are missing from JSF
    • Proven solutions, hints, tips, and “how-tos” show you how to use JSF effectively in your development projects

    Core JavaServer™ Faces, Third Edition, provides everything you need to master the powerful and time-saving features of JSF 2.0 and is the perfect guide for programmers developing Java EE 6 web apps on Glassfish or another Java EE 6-compliant application servers, as well as servlet runners such as Tomcat 6.


by David Geary and Rob Gordon

Google Web Toolkit Solutions: More Cool & Useful Stuff Buy from Amazon
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    Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is an open source Java development framework for building Ajax-enabled web applications. Instead of the hodgepodge of technologies that developers typically use for Ajax–JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and XMLHttpRequest–GWT lets developers implement rich client applications with pure Java, using familiar idioms from the AWT, Swing, and SWT. GWT goes beyond most Ajax frameworks by making it easy to build desktop-like applications that run in the ubiquitous browser, where the richness of the user interface is limited only by the developer’s imagination.

     

    This book focuses on the more advanced aspects of GWT that you need to implement real-world applications with rich user interfaces but without the heavy lifting of JavaScript and other Ajax-related technologies. Each solution in this practical, hands-on book is more than a recipe. The sample programs are carefully explained in detail to help you quickly master advanced GWT techniques, such as implementing drag-and-drop, integrating JavaScript libraries, and using advanced event handling methodologies.

     

    Solutions covered include

    •   Building custom GWT widgets, including both high-level composites and low-level components

    •   Implementing a viewport class that includes iPhone-style automated scrolling

    •   Integrating web services with GWT applications

    •   Incorporating the Script.aculo.us JavaScript framework into GWT applications

    •   Combining Hibernate and GWT to implement database-backed web applications

    •   Extending the GWT PopupPanel class to implement a draggable and resizable window

    •   Creating a drag-and-drop module, complete with drag sources and drop targets

    •   Deploying GWT applications to an external server

    •   Dynamically resizing flex tables

    •   Using GWT widgets in legacy applications developed with other frameworks, such as Struts and JavaServer Faces

     

    Complete Sample Code Available at www.coolandusefulgwt.com

     

    All of the code used in this book has been tested, both in hosted and web modes, and in an external version of Tomcat (version 5.5.17), under Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. For Windows and Linux, we used 1.4.60, and for the Mac we used 1.4.61.  NOTE: There are three separate versions of the code. Please download the correct JAR file for the operating system you are using.




    Foreword xiii

    Preface xvi

    Acknowledgments xviii

    About the Authors xix

     

    Solution 1: GWT Fundamentals and Beyond 1

    Solution 2: JavaScript Integration 53

    Solution 3: Custom Widget Implementation 71

    Solution 4: Viewports and Maps 103

    Solution 5: Access to Online Web Services 133

    Solution 6: Drag and Drop 167

    Solution 7: Simple Windows 199

    Solution 8: Flex Tables 237

    Solution 9: File Uploads 283

    Solution 10: Hibernate Integration 303

    Solution 11: Deployment to an External Server 325

    Solution 12: GWT and Legacy Code 343

    Index 371



     


     


by David Geary

Core JSTL: Mastering the JSP Standard Tag Library Buy from Amazon
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  • In Core JSTL, leading Java platform expert David Geary presents the definitive guide to JSTL. Through practical examples and extensive sample code, Geary demonstrates how JSTL simplifies, streamlines, and standardizes a wide range of common Web development tasks. Coverage includes using JSTL tags for accessing JavaBeans components and collections, iteration, importing URLs, database access, working with XML, internationalization and localization; using the brand new JSTL expression language; and extending JSTL with custom tags.

by David Geary

Advanced JavaServer Pages Buy from Amazon
Price: $44.99
  • Aimed at the more experienced Java Web developer, Advanced JavaServer Pages covers leading-edge techniques for writing more maintainable Web applications in Java. Stressing custom tag libraries and other reusable components, this book is all you need to take your programming skills to the next level.

    There are any number of good introductory texts on JavaServer Pages. This title distinguishes itself with techniques recommended by Sun for building better Web applications. Backed up by the author's own collection of custom tag libraries, which allow ordinary Web designers to program with tags instead of Java code, this text covers all the bases from getting started with tags to more advanced techniques. Early examples of tag libraries include a variety of ways to validate data in HTML forms. Throughout, the book deftly describes installing tag libraries, and shows how HTML designers can use custom tags after Java developers have created them.

    Readers also get best practices for JSP and Beans, which is a big plus. Author David Geary presents both Model 1 and Model 2 architectures. (In Model 1, JavaBeans are used to present data to front-end JSPs. In Model 2, a more sophisticated set of Java classes using the Model-View-Controller design pattern allows even greater flexibility.) Sample code for using JSP and JavaBeans for internationalized code (including French, German, and Chinese) will show you how to take your Web application to worldwide markets. The book concludes with a working case study of an online fruit stand (using several languages) and applies the techniques presented earlier on.

    All in all, with its mix of practical advice and some very useful techniques for getting the most out of JSP and Java for Web applications, Advanced JavaServer Pages fills a valuable niche for any serious Java developer who wants to see some of the best ways to create Web applications today. --Richard Dragan

    Topics covered:

    • Custom tag tutorial (including JSP and TLD files)
    • The tag life cycle
    • Tag attributes
    • Tag classes
    • Body tag handlers
    • Scripting variables
    • Nested tags
    • HTML forms and JavaBeans
    • Validating form data with Beans and custom tags
    • Templates and custom tags for defining regions within Web pages
    • Model 1 and Model 2 basics
    • Sample classes and tags for Model 2 framework (including samples for managing logins)
    • Event handling
    • Sensitive form resubmissions
    • Internationalization techniques (including resource bundles and locales)
    • Security issues (including basic, digest, form-based, and SSL authentication)
    • Custom tags for JDBC database programming
    • Database connection pooling, XML, and JavaBeans
    • The Simple API for XML (SAX)
    • The Document Object Model (DOM) and custom tags for these APIs
    • XSLT and XML
    • Case study for an internationalized online fruit stand
    • Appendix on Servlet filters and the Servlet 2.3 specification

by David Geary

Graphic Java 2: Mastering the Jfc, By Geary, 3Rd Edition, Volume 2: Swing Buy from Amazon
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  • If you're developing software that will be used by a large group of people, you need to give it a good-looking front-end--in Java 2, that means you have to use Swing. An excellent resource, Graphic Java 2: Mastering the JFC, Third Edition (Volume 2: Swing) takes on the Swing components one at a time and shows you how to incorporate them into attractive, efficient programs.

    In many ways, Graphic Java 2 is a cookbook. You search the table of contents or index for a reference to the kind of problem you want to solve, then examine the author's examples for the solution (or at least some clues to it). This is the book to turn to if you're wondering how to implement the JComboBox.KeySelectionManager interface (which enables users to select items in a combo box) or compare the various ways of making the JTree component into a file browser. Those are just two of hundreds of examples in David Geary's book.

    While most examples don't serve any practical purpose by themselves, they do clearly illustrate how a specific aspect of Swing works. It's easy to adapt the details presented here into your own programs. Geary shows consideration for the reader by presenting all his examples as programs that can be compiled and including them on the enclosed CD-ROM. --David Wall


by David Geary

Graphic Java 1.2, Volume 1: AWT, Third Edition Buy from Amazon
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  • Java developers know that the Abstract Windowing Toolkit (AWT) is still an effective way to build functional user interfaces, whether inside Web browsers or in stand-alone applications. David Geary's guide to AWT programming in Graphic Java 1.2 shows you all the basics of AWT newly refitted for the new Java Developer's Kit (JDK) 1.2 standard from Sun, including some excellent 2-D animation examples.

    After introducing the basics of the AWT library, the author looks at simple painting and 2-D graphics. Standout sections here look at displaying images--a staple of Internet programming--as well as transforming images with "filters" (such as dimming and rescaling an image). Graphic Java 1.2 shows you a variety of advanced techniques for getting control of your bit-mapped content. The tour of Java graphics capabilities moves on with coverage of layout managers and basic AWT components such as buttons, text fields, lists, and choices. For those who want to create stand-alone Java applications, there's much material on using Java menus.

    The book's advanced material highlights new features of JDK 1.2, such as its support for lightweight controls, built-in double-buffering support, and advanced "native-style" operations (such as clipboard support and "rubber-banding" classes). The author also shows off his custom classes for 2-D sprite animation. --Richard Dragan