Practical Apache Struts 2 Web 2.0 Projects (Practical Projects)

Apache Struts has long provided Java developers with a powerful framework for building extensible, maintainable web applications. Yet the latest version 2 release takes developers? capabilities to the next level, having integrated Ajax support, the ability to easily integration with the Spring framework, and the ability to take full advantage of POJOs. Practical Apache Struts 2 Web 2.0 Projects shows you how to capitalize upon these new features to build next?generation web applications that both enthrall and empower your users.

Gain an in?depth understanding of the Struts framework, with special attention paid to key version 2 features. Learn how to take advantage of Web 2.0 concepts alongside Struts 2 to build next?generation web sites. Follow along with the introduction of important concepts and development techniques by way of a web site project closely resembling what you might encounter in any enterprise environment. What you?ll learn Build a practical Struts 2 Web 2.0?enabled application project from the ground up. Enable participation by manipulating data. Share data by implementing powerful search utilities. Syndicate web content created using RSS and REST. Discover advanced features available in Struts 2 web framework. Integrate Ajax frameworks to produce user?friendly, responsive interfaces. Integrate and use Struts 2 with other frameworks such as Spring to form a broader enterprise Java application stack. Who is this book for?

Developers who want a hands?on practical book demonstrating how Web 2.0 features are implemented in Struts 2. The audience could range from beginner to advanced, as the configuration and basic framework usage will be explained, as well as the advanced extension features.

The book would also appeal to developers who wish to understand the Web 2.0 development paradigm from an implementation standpoint.

About the Apress Practical Series

The Practical series from Apress is your best choice for getting the job done, period. From professional to expert, this series lets you apply project?motivated templates (or frameworks) step by step in a very direct, practical, and efficient manner toward current real?world projects that may be sitting on your desk. So whatever your career goal, Apress can be your trusted guide to take you where you want to go on your IT career empowerment path.

Related Titles from Apress Beginning POJOs: Lightweight Java Web Development Using Plain Old Java Objects in Spring, Hibernate, and Tapestry The Definitive Guide to Apache MyFaces and Ajax

User review
Pleased with book
I really liked this book. I am already a user of Spring, Hibernate, JUnit and Velocity. For this reason I found the integration of Struts2 with these very useful. I can see where others not versed in these may find it a little difficult, but the sample uses of these technologies are pretty simple and straightforward. Therefore, new users of these technologies may have to spend some extra time in Chapter 4 to familiarize themselves with these technologies and how Struts2 works with them.

I started using Maven2 with this book and it was a very useful jumpstart into Maven2. I also use Eclipse and MyEclipse and was able to use Maven2 to create eclipse projects (mvn eclipse:eclipse) for each chapter and follow along by stepping through and changing the code in MyEclipse by running the war file (mvn package) in the built-in Tomcat web server.

Also, I am not an experienced user of Struts 1. I have working knowledge of Struts 1 having been involved in a project where I had to make some enhancements. But I didn't have a problem learning Struts2 with very little knowledge of Struts 1 using this book.

My only problem has been getting the Persistence rollback to work in the JUnit tests. Still trying to figure that out, but I have been able to work around this.

Some of the concepts and details used in the example code aren't fully discussed in the book. However, I have been able to study those by looking at the sample code.

I would recommend this book to those that are already familiar with the Spring framework, Hibernate, JSPs and J2EE. It's an excellent jumpstart into Struts2 if you're familiar using those technologies.

User review
Good Book for integrations Bad Book for beginers
Some Positives:
This is a very good book to learn the integrations of struts 2, with Spring, and Hibernate. There are a many samples of how to tie some of the Web 2.0 technologies together and that is very hard to find in other books. Most other books i have looked at put the blinders on when looking at this framework and ignore the need for other integrations. (as everyone else has stated THIS IS NOT FOR BEGINNERS and an understanding of Hibernate, Struts, and Spring is recommended )

Some Negatives:
Although it gives examples of how to tie some projects together it does not go into implementation details of any other project (struts only) there by leaving you hanging. So unless you are familiar with Hibernate, Spring, Velocity ect, and how to set them up this book will be very difficult to follow.

I think the place where people will be frustrated most is in chapter 4. It talks about creating a UML model `and through some magic` the Persistence classes get generated. Nowhere does it talk about the generation of hbm files or how they translate to the export of the schema. And without that understanding it is very difficult to get past chapter 4.

User review
Very Good and Practical Book
The book has been written by the author with a very clear intent. Complete proof of Concept and not only Struts 2.0. It is a must read for any Developer.


User review
This book is very useful
The samples in the book learn you very useful information about the Struts 2. You can download the sample codes. Futhermore you are immediately able to use them in your applications. Then you feel as you are at very good point to go forward into the details of the Struts 2.

User review
walkthrough of developing a struts2 app
`Practical Apache Struts2 Web 2.0 Projects` walks you through developing an app in Struts2. It includes use cases, iterations, a build process and some unit tests.

A number of other reviews correctly point out this book is not for beginners. You should be familiar with MVC before starting out. This was ok as I wasn't expecting an `intro to struts 2` book based on the title. The author includes a section on Hibernate bare essentials to get readers with different experience on the same page.

I found there to be a good balance between how Struts 2.0 works and implementing common things you might actually want to do in practice. While the book does cover Web 2.0 a bit, this is more of an extra buzzword in the title. The last two chapters are really the Web 2.0 part - RSS and AJAX.

The end left me a little off balance. There was a whole chapter of introduction. The end was the AJAX chapter and the immediately dumped you in the index. A bit of conclusion, or at least a blank page, would have been nice.

Overall, the book was fine. It is good for a `recipes of common tasks` type book once you have read a bit about Struts 2.0.