| The book as a whole can be used methodically as your roadmap to learning J2EE and Web services development by leveraging the WebLogic Platform. Alternatively, because each chapter is self-contained, you can use the book as a quick reference or as an opportunity for targeted development in those subject areas that are closely coupled to your role in a J2EE software development effort. Part I: J2EE Application Development Essentials The mission of Part I is to provide the prerequisite knowledge you need before embarking on a J2EE or Web services development effort. -
Chapter 1, Understanding the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition, provides a high-level perspective of the J2EE technology components and services standard. If you are new to J2EE, this chapter will be your first stop in this book. -
Chapter 2, J2EE Software Development Methodologies, discusses software methodologies and project management best practices and how they can be adopted to implement structure and discipline in a J2EE development effort. This chapter is essential reading for all members of a software development project team. -
Chapter 3, A Developer s Guide to the Unified Modeling Language (UML), discusses how business and technical design decisions can be organized and visually presented using UML to fully communicate the goals of a software development project. If you will be involved in gathering requirements for a software development effort, you should definitely read this chapter. -
Chapter 4, Best Practices for Java Development, discusses Java programming development standards and related best practices that need to be considered by developers in order to form a consistent approach to developing Java code. If you are developing, refreshing, or enhancing your Java skills, or need insight into how to implement a consistent development framework for a team of Java developers, you will find this chapter a very informative and productive read. -
Chapter 5, The J2EE Architecture and APIs, provides an in-depth perspective of the J2EE technology components and services and how they are utilized to develop enterprise Web applications using the J2EE Application Programming Model. Along with Chapter 1, this chapter provides the foundation of J2EE knowledge for all novice J2EE developers. -
Chapter 6, Transitioning from Software Design to J2EE Technology Components and Services, presents a valuable roadmap on how a design model created with UML can be transformed into an enterprise application by using J2EE technology. Along with Chapter 3, this chapter provides the foundation for J2EE developers to understand the analysis and design phases of a software development effort. -
Chapter 7, An Introduction to Web Services, provides a contextual introduction to Web services. This chapter is an excellent read for grasping what Web services are and the value proposition they provide for an enterprise. Part II: Introducing the BEA WebLogic Platform 7 The mission of Part II is to provide you with a detailed overview of the WebLogic Platform product and a kick start to using WebLogic Server, the nucleus of the WebLogic Platform. -
Chapter 8, Deriving Application Infrastructure, provides a detailed discussion on how to derive the application infrastructure needs for your organization and explains why the value proposition presented by the WebLogic Platform 7.0 is so appealing. This chapter is ideal for people who need to understand application infrastructure and how it relates to the technical agility of an organization. -
Chapter 9, Introducing the BEA WebLogic Platform 7, provides context for the rest of the book by examining the products that constitute the WebLogic Platform 7 ”WebLogic Server, WebLogic Workshop, WebLogic Portal and WebLogic Integration. Each WebLogic Platform product is technically decomposed so you can clearly understand their respective features and capabilities. -
Chapter 10, Installing and Configuring the WebLogic Server 7, describes how to install and correctly configure WebLogic Server for a development environment. If you are installing WebLogic Server on a Windows or Linux platform, this chapter also describes how you can install, configure, and use the new BEA performance-based Java Virtual Machine, JRockit. Because it could be your first hands-on experience with WebLogic Server, a great deal of thought has been put into this chapter to ensure that you feel comfortable in navigating through the WebLogic Server environment. -
Chapter 11, Working with the WebLogic Server Tools, focuses on giving you hands-on experience in using the WebLogic Server tools and utilities that support two important operational tasks that are core to WebLogic Server: administration and deployment. This chapter is prerequisite reading for all chapters in Part VI. Part III: WebLogic and J2EE Services Support The mission of Part III is to provide J2EE developers with in-depth knowledge of the J2EE architecture and the technologies the WebLogic Platform uses. Enterprise J2EE applications are built on individual technologies provided by the J2EE Software Development Kit (SDK). These technologies include Remote Method Invocation (RMI), Java Database Connectivity (JDBC), Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI), Java Messaging Service (JMS), and Java Transaction API (JTA) and are discussed in their respective chapters, as follows : -
Chapter 12, Distributed Processing Using RMI -
Chapter 13, Accessing Data Repositories Using JDBC -
Chapter 14, Locating Named Services Through JNDI -
Chapter 15, The Java Messaging Service (JMS) -
Chapter 16, Managing Java Transactions Using JTA By having a thorough understanding of the underlying services J2EE provides, software developers and enterprise bean providers are able to enhance the performance, portability, scalability, reliability, and durability of the applications they produce. For example, Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs) directly build on the distributed architecture of RMI. The persistence provided by entity EJBs is implemented by using JDBC. The reliability and durability of the persistent data is ensured by using JTA for transaction management. The J2EE services provided by the WebLogic Platform and the client-side interfaces to the EJBs are located by using JNDI. Hence, J2EE developers must understand these technologies to build quality, high-performance, and reliable J2EE enterprise applications. Part IV: Developing Presentation Logic ”JSPs and Servlets The mission of Part IV aims to educate J2EE Web application developers in effectively using the JavaServer Pages (JSP) and servlet portion of the J2EE specification. This is accomplished with simple-to-follow examples of advanced techniques and tips to help you develop with, and understand the use of, the JSP and servlet technology components. -
Chapter 17, Introduction to Servlets, explains using servlets in WebLogic Server by walking the J2EE developer through examples showing the power of using servlets in an enterprise Web application. -
Chapter 18, JavaServer Pages and Tag Libraries, introduces the J2EE developer to JSP and explains how to leverage the JSP tag library. The tag library is used to improve code reuseability by separating presentation logic from business logic. -
Chapter 19, Servlets and JavaServer Pages ”Best Practices, ties the previous Part IV chapters together with best practices for using the servlet and JSP presentation technologies. Part V: Developing Business Logic ”Enterprise JavaBeans The mission of Part V builds on Parts III and IV of this book by discussing and providing examples of how the EJB component architecture specification can be used to implement business logic in your J2EE application. There are four types of EJBs you can use in your J2EE application: stateless and stateful session beans, entity beans, and message-driven beans, which are discussed in the following chapters: -
Chapter 20, Developing Business Logic ”Session Beans -
Chapter 21, Managing Persistence ”Entity Beans -
Chapter 22, Asynchronous Message Processing ”Message-Driven Beans EJB development, testing, and deployment best practices for session, entity, and message-driven beans are discussed in Chapter 23, EJB Best Practices. Part VI: BEA WebLogic Server Administration The mission of Part VI is specifically focused on providing the essential administration skills required to manage WebLogic Server. -
Chapter 24, Administering and Monitoring Your WebLogic Domain, clearly describes the concepts, skills, and practical knowledge to enable you to confidently create, configure, manage, and monitor a distributed production WebLogic domain as a true WebLogic Server practitioner. -
Chapter 25, Implementing Highly Available and Scalable Solutions Using the WebLogic Cluster, introduces the WebLogic cluster, which in conjunction with a load-balancing solution, is a far more cost-effective , flexible, and reliable solution for meeting the demands of highly available and scalable J2EE applications. You will not only learn how to intelligently discuss high availability and scalability in the context of your J2EE solutions, but also how to construct and implement clustering solutions using the WebLogic cluster. -
Chapter 26, Managing the WebLogic Security Service, provides a detailed discussion on the new WebLogic security service architecture and explains how you can leverage it to implement a robust and flexible security model for your J2EE applications deployed on WebLogic Server. -
Chapter 27, Packaging, Assembling, and Deploying J2EE Applications, explains and demonstrates how to package and deploy your J2EE application using the WebLogic Server tools: WebLogic Builder and weblogic.Deployer. For those interested in automating the deployment process, a detailed discussion on the Apache Ant utility is also provided. -
Chapter 28, Performance Tuning WebLogic Server, discusses the steps that experts take to initiate performance-tuning activity. After you formulate a performance-tuning roadmap, this chapter examines and demonstrates how to performance-tune specific aspects of WebLogic Server so that you become proficient in ensuring that your WebLogic server is continuously operating in an optimal configuration. Part VII: Web Services The mission of Part VII focuses on the WebLogic Platform s support for Web services technology. -
Chapter 29, Web Services and the WebLogic Platform, provides an in-depth technical perspective on Web services and how they are implemented in the WebLogic Platform. -
Chapter 30, Developing Web Services for WebLogic Server, provides a methodical roadmap for developing Web services on WebLogic Server from Web service conception , design, and security to development, deployment, and debugging. This roadmap includes design guidelines to help you build more effective and maintainable Web services on WebLogic Server. -
Chapter 31, Discovering Web Services, provides a cursory discussion on Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) and the available WebLogic Server features for hosting your own private or public registry or being a client to a private or public registry. -
Chapter 32, Web Services Made Easy ”WebLogic Workshop, covers the best practices and sound engineering principles that Workshop brings to Web services design and development: loose coupling, asynchronous communications, and coarse-grained interactions. This chapter also includes an end-to-end example of developing and deploying a Web service using Workshop without knowledge of J2EE. Part VIII: Integration Services Provided by WebLogic Server 7 The mission of Part VIII focuses on standards-based integration technology offered by BEA WebLogic Integration. It also explains the functional areas of WebLogic Integration in substantial technical detail with easy-to-follow examples. -
Chapter 33, Introducing WebLogic Integration (WLI), introduces integration and standards in the integration arena. The standards-based approach of WebLogic Integration is discussed, and a brief overview of the WLI s functional areas is provided. -
Chapter 34, Business and Workflow Process Management Using WLI, introduces WebLogic Integration s Business Process Management (BPM) functionality, which provides a powerful process management engine. This chapter also gives you an in-depth understanding of the BPM APIs and tools for designing and monitoring workflows through pertinent examples. -
Chapter 35, Understanding J2CA Through the WLI Application Integration Framework, focuses on understanding the J2EE Connector Architecture through WLI s Application Integration framework. -
Chapter 36, Data Integration and B2Bi, discusses data and business-to-business integration, which makes it easier for trading partners to collaborate in real time. Case Study: A Sample End-to-End Example Using The WebLogic Platform The case study implementation described in Appendix A presents a fictitious company, Avitek, that wants to take advantage of the entire WebLogic Platform. Avitek wants to provide customers with business-to-consumer portal and e-business capabilities. Additionally, it needs to provide intranet capabilities for its employees and business-to-business capabilities for interacting with business partners. All aspects of the WebLogic 7 Platform are touched on: WebLogic Server with Web services, WebLogic Portal for customizing the end user experience, WebLogic Integration to speed partner integration, and WebLogic Workshop to drastically improve developer productivity. |
