Practical Apache Struts 2 Web 2.0 Projects (Practical Projects)

by Ian Roughley

List Price:	~~$39.99~~
Amazon Price:	$23.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.
You Save:	$16.00 (40%)
Average Rating:
Lowest New Price:	$14.71
Availablitiy:	Usually ships in 24 hours

Editorial Reviews
Product Description

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

Customers who bought this item also bought

All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: 3 out of 5 stars

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

4 out of 5 stars

This book is very useful, 2008-03-07
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.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

3 out of 5 stars

walkthrough of developing a struts2 app, 2008-02-23
"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.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4 out of 5 stars

Much better than expected..., 2008-01-26
I was extremely disappointed in the authors other struts 2 book; and was planning to avoid this one, but all the other stuts 2 books kept slipping their date, so I picked this one up on a whim.

I'm rather surprised by the negative reviews people are giving it, as I found it a very useful book. Yes the title is a little hokey and the content only pays lip-service to Web 2.0 aspects. I have been working on my own personal projects in Struts 2 for a few months so I wasn't a complete novice coming into the book, and I lurk on both the users and developer mailing lists. I felt the material was well laid out and followed a natural progression. The book doesn't really cover MVC theory nor how it applies to any of the "Action" frameworks, so its not really a book for people with no prior experience in those areas.

The other limitation I found was the book just ends. There was no real wrap up or conclusion. Basically he finishes developing the last use case of this sample application and on the facing page is the index. To me this was the only place that felt rushed.

The book doesn't cover a fair bit of the annotation based configuration opposed to XML and a few of the more established plugins however that are a few places where it might not be "future-proof" given the works that's going on now merging/combining several of the convention-over-configuration plugins into a single unified one for struts 2.1

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4 out of 5 stars

sprinkling of useful information, 2008-01-20
Like others said its not for beginners. However, that doesn't make it a bad book. If you are looking for guide for going to struts 1 to 2, this book is not it. With that said, if you are a webwork developer or already have a handle on the Struts 2 basics this book does provide some nice samples. It provides a nice sampling of how to integrate with some of the plugins that have been added over the last year. (zero config, wild cards in configuration, gwt, hibernate, spring, security). You may already be an accomplished struts 2 development however, their may be some things to take away from this to add to one's cookbook.

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2 out of 5 stars

Its not for beginers, 2008-01-05
Its not for beginners

This book is not good for beginners. Its very hard to follow this book with so many assumptions.

Price is accurate as of the date/time indicated. Prices and product availability are subject to change. Any price displayed on the Amazon website at the time of purchase will govern the sale of this product.