Prentice hall core javaserver faces jun 2004 ISBN 0131463055

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TableofContents
Index

coreJavaServer™Faces
ByDAVIDGEARY,CAYHORSTMANN

Publisher :AddisonWesley
PubDate :June15,2004
ISBN :0-13-146305-5
Pages :552


JavaServerFacespromisestobringrapid
user-interfacedevelopmenttoserver-side
Java.Itallowsdeveloperstopainlesslywrite
server-sideapplicationswithoutworrying
aboutthecomplexitiesofdealingwith
browsersandWebservers.Italsoautomates
low-level,boringdetailslikecontrolflowand
movingcodebetweenwebformsand
businesslogic.
JavaServerFaceswasdesignedtosupport
draganddropdevelopmentofserver-side


applications,butyoucanalsothinkofitasa

conceptuallayerontopofservletsand
JavaServerPages(JSP).ExperiencedJSP
developerswillfindthatJavaServerFaces
providesmuchoftheplumbingthatthey
currentlyhavetoimplementbyhand.Ifyou
alreadyuseaserver-sideframeworksuchas
Struts,youwillfindthatJavaServersFaces
usesasimilararchitecture,butismore
flexibleandextensible.JavaServerFacesalso
comeswithserver-sidecomponentsandan
eventmodel,whicharefundamentallysimilar
tothesameconceptsinSwing.
JavaServerFacesisquicklybecomingthe
standardWeb-applicationframework.Core
JavaServerFacesistheonebookyouneedto
masterthispowerfulandtime-saving
technology.
WithoutassumingknowledgeofJSPand
servlets,CoreJavaServerFaces:
showshowtobuildmorerobust
applicationsandavoidtedioushandcoding
answersquestionsmostdevelopersdon't


evenknowtoask
demonstrateshowtouseJSFwithTilesto
buildconsistentuserinterfaces
automatically
provideshints,tips,andexplicit"how-to"
informationthatallowsyoutoquickly

becomemoreproductive
explainshowtointegrateJSFwith
databases,usedirectoryservices,wireless
apps,andWebservices
teachesbestpracticesandgoodhabitslike
usingstylesheetsandmessagebundles
coversalloftheJSFtagsandhowto
createnewtaglibraries



•
•


TableofContents
Index

coreJavaServer™Faces
ByDAVIDGEARY,CAYHORSTMANN

Publisher :AddisonWesley
PubDate :June15,2004
ISBN :0-13-146305-5
Pages :552



Copyright

AboutPrenticeHallProfessionalTechnicalReference

Preface
AboutThisBook

RequiredSoftware

WebSupport


Acknowledgments

Chapter1.GettingStarted
WhyJavaServerFaces




SoftwareInstallation




SampleApplicationAnalysis




JSFFrameworkServices

ASimpleExample
VisualDevelopmentEnvironments
BehindtheScenes

AutomationoftheBuildProcesswithAnt


Chapter2.ManagedBeans
DefinitionofaBean



MessageBundles




ASampleApplication




BackingBeans




ConfiguringBeans

BeanScopes

TheSyntaxofValueBindingExpressions


Chapter3.Navigation
StaticNavigation

DynamicNavigation

AdvancedNavigationIssues


Chapter4.StandardJSFTags
AnOverviewoftheJSFCoreTags




AnOverviewoftheJSFHTMLTags




TextFieldsandTextAreas




SelectionTags

Forms

ButtonsandLinks
Messages

Panels


Chapter5.DataTables
TheDataTableTag




ASimpleTable




HeadersandFooters




EditingTableCells




DatabaseTables

h:dataTableAttributes

JSFComponentsinTableCells
StylesforRowsandColumns
TableModels

ScrollingTechniques


Chapter6.ConversionandValidation
OverviewoftheConversionandValidationProcess




UsingStandardConverters




ProgrammingwithCustomConvertersandValidators

UsingStandardValidators
ImplementingCustomTags


Chapter7.EventHandling
Life-CycleEvents

ValueChangeEvents

ActionEvents
EventListenerTags






ImmediateComponents
PhaseEvents

PuttingItAllTogether


Chapter8.SubviewsandTiles
CommonLayouts




ABookViewerandaLibrary




ContentInclusionintheBookViewer

TheBookViewer

TheLibrary


Chapter9.CustomComponents
ImplementingCustomComponentswithClasses

Encoding:GeneratingMarkup




Decoding:ProcessingRequestValues




RevisitingtheSpinner

ImplementingCustomComponentTags
EncodingJavaScripttoAvoidServerRoundtrips

UsingChildComponentsandFacets


Chapter10.ExternalServices
AccessingaDatabase

UsingLDAPforAuthentication
ManagingConfigurationInformation

UsingWebServices


Chapter11.WirelessClients
RenderingTechnologiesforMobileClients




MIDPBasics




ComponentImplementationforMobileClients

MobileCommunicationandControlFlow
TheBattleshipGame


Chapter12.HowDoI…
WebUserInterfaceDesign

Validation

Programming
DebuggingandLogging
Index


Copyright
©2004SunMicrosystems,Inc.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.
4150NetworkCircle,SantaClara,California
95054U.S.A.
Allrightsreserved.Thisproductandrelateddocumentationare
protectedbycopyrightanddistributedunderlicensesrestricting
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productorrelateddocumentationmaybereproducedinany
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anditslicensors,ifany.
RESTRICTEDRIGHTSLEGEND:Use,duplication,ordisclosure
bytheUnitedStatesGovernmentissubjecttotherestrictions
setforthinDFARS252.227-7013(c)(1)(ii)andFAR52.227-19.
TheproductsdescribedmaybeprotectedbyoneormoreU.S.
patents,foreignpatents,orpendingapplications.
TRADEMARKSHotJava,Java,JavaDevelopmentKit,J2EE,JPS,
JavaServerPages,EnterpriseJavaBeans,EJB,JDBC,J2SE,
Solaris,SPARC,SunOS,andSunsoftaretrademarksofSun
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PrenticeHallPTRoffersexcellentdiscountsonthisbook

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AcquisitionsEditor:GregoryG.Doench
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AboutPrenticeHallProfessional
TechnicalReference
Withoriginsreachingbacktotheindustry'sfirstcomputer
sciencepublishingprograminthe1960s,andformallylaunched
asitsownimprintin1986,PrenticeHallProfessionalTechnical
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solutions.


Preface
WhenweheardaboutJavaServer™Faces(JSF)atthe2002
JavaOneconference,wewereveryexcited.Bothofushad
extensiveexperiencewithclient-sideJavaprogramming,and
hadlivedtotellthetaleDavidinGraphicJava,andCayinCore
Java,bothpublishedbySunMicrosystemsPress.Whenwefirst
triedwebprogrammingwithservletsandJavaServerPages
(JSP),wefoundittoberatherunintuitiveandtedious.
JavaServerFacespromisedtoputafriendlyfaceinfrontofa
webapplication,allowingprogrammerstothinkabouttext
fieldsandmenusinsteadoffrettingoverpageflipsandrequest
parameters.Eachofusproposedabookprojecttothe
publisher,whopromptlysuggestedthatweshouldjointlywrite
theSunMicrosystemsPressbookonthistechnology.
IttooktheJSFexpertgroup(ofwhichDavidisamember)
anothertwoyearstoreleasetheJSF1.0specificationand
referenceimplementation.Thisreleasefulfillsmanyofthe
originalpromises.Youreallycandesignwebuserinterfacesby

puttingcomponentsonaformandlinkingthemtoJavaobjects,
withouthavingtowriteanycodeatall.Theframeworkwas
designedfortoolsupport,andthefirstbatchofdrag-and-drop
GUIbuildersisnowemerging.Theframeworkisextensibleyou
arenotlimitedtothestandardsetofHTMLcomponents,and
youcanevenusecompletelydifferentrenderingtechnologies,
tosupport,forexample,wirelessdevices.Andfinally,unlike
competingtechnologiesthatletyoutumbledownadeepcliff
onceyoustepbeyondtheglitz,JSFsupportsthehard
stuffseparationofpresentationandbusinesslogic,navigation,
connectionswithexternalservices,andconfiguration
management.
Ofcourse,beinga1.0release,thecurrentversionofJSFisfar
fromperfect.SomeoftheAPIsareawkward.Wesupplyyou


withutilityclassesinthecom.corejsf.utilpackagetoreduce
yourpain.Also,therearefewercomponentsthanweoriginally
expected.WhileJSFhasapowerfulandconvenientdatatable
component,someusefulcomponentssuchastabbedpanes,
scrollers,fileuploads,andsoon,werenotincludedforlackof
time.Inthebook,weshowyouhowtoimplementthese
features.Ofcourse,weexpectthenextreleaseofJSFto
remedymanyoftheseshortcomings.
WearestillexcitedaboutJSF,andwehopeyouwillsharethis
excitementwhenyoulearnhowthistechnologymakesyoua
moreeffectivewebapplicationdeveloper.


AboutThisBook

Thisbookissuitableforwebdeveloperswhosemainfocusis
userinterfacedesign,aswellasforprogrammerswho
implementreusablecomponentsforwebapplications.Thisisin
starkcontrasttotheofficialJSFspecification,adenseand
pompouslywordeddocumentwhoseprincipalaudienceis
frameworkimplementors,aswellaslong-sufferingbook
authors.
Thefirsthalfofthebook,extendingtothemiddleofChapter6,
focusesontheJSFtags.ThesetagsaresimilartoHTMLform
tags.TheyarethebasicbuildingblocksforJSFuserinterfaces.
Noprogrammingisrequiredforuseoftousethetags.Weonly
assumeonlybasicHTMLskillsforwebpagesandstandardJava
programmingforthebusinesslogic.
Thefirstpartofthebookcoversthesetopics:
Settingupyourprogrammingenvironment(Chapter1)
ConnectingJSFtagstoapplicationlogic(Chapter2)
Navigatingbetweenpages(Chapter3)
UsingthestandardJSFtags(Chapters4and5)
Convertingandvalidatinginput(Chapter6)
StartingwiththefinalsectionsofChapter6,webeginJSF
programminginearnest.Youwilllearnhowtoperform
advancedtasks,andhowtoextendtheJSFframework.Here
arethemaintopicsofthesecondpart:


Implementingcustomconvertersandvalidators(Chapter6)
Eventhandling(Chapter7)
Includingcommoncontentamongmultiplepages(Chapter
8)
Implementingcustomcomponents(Chapter9)

Connectingtodatabasesandotherexternalservices
(Chapter10)
Supportingwirelessclients(Chapter11)
Weendthebookwithachapterthataimstoanswercommon
questionsoftheform"HowdoI….?"Weencourageyoutohave
apeekatthatchapterassoonasyoubecomecomfortablewith
thebasicsofJSF.Therearehelpfulnotesondebuggingand
logging,andwealsogiveyouimplementationdetailsand
workingcodeforfeaturesthataremissingfromJSF1.0,such
asfileuploads,popupmenus,andapagercomponentforlong
tables.
JSFisbuiltontopofservletsandJSP,butfromthepointof
viewoftheJSFdeveloper,thesetechnologiesmerelyformthe
low-levelplumbing.Whileitcan'thurttobefamiliarwithother
webtechnologiessuchasservlets,JSP,orStruts,wedonot
assumeanysuchknowledge.


RequiredSoftware
Allsoftwarethatyouneedforthisbookisfreelyavailable.You
needtheJavaSoftwareDevelopmentKitfromSun
Microsystems,aservletcontainersuchasTomcat,and,of
course,aJSFimplementation,suchasSun'sreference
implementation.ThesoftwarerunsidenticallyonLinux,MacOS
X,Solaris,andWindows.Weusedthe1.4.2J2SEandTomcat
5.0.19onbothLinuxandMacOSXtodevelopthecode
examplesinthebook.
Wealsoexpectthatintegratedenvironmentswillbecome
commerciallyavailableinthenearfuture.

WebSupport
Thewebpageforthisbookis.Itcontains
Thesourcecodeforallexamplesinthisbook
Usefulreferencematerialthatwefeltismoreeffectivein
browseableformthaninprint
Alistofknownerrorsinthebookandthecode
Aformforsubmittingcorrectionsandsuggestions


Acknowledgments
Firstandforemost,we'dliketothankGregDoench,oureditor
atPrenticeHall,whohasshepherdedusthroughthisproject,
neverlosinghisnerveinspiteofnumerousdelaysand
complications.ThankstoMaryLouNohrforeditingthe
manuscript,andtoPattiGuerrieriforherproductionwork.We
verymuchappreciateourreviewerswhohavedoneasplendid
job,findingerrorsandsuggestingimprovementsinvarious
draftsofthemanuscript.Theyare:
LarryBrown
FrankCohen,PushToTest
RobGordon,CrookedFurrowFarm
MartyHall,authorofCoreJavaServletsandJavaServer
Pages
JeffMarkham,MarkhamSoftwareCompany
AngusMcIntyre,IBMCorporation
JohnMuchow,authorofCoreJ2ME
SergeiSmirnov,principalarchitectofExadelJSFStudio
RomanSmolgovsky,Flytecomm
StephenStelting,SunMicrosystems,Inc.

ChristopherTaylor,NanshuDensetsu
MichaelYuan,authorofEnterpriseJ2ME
Finally,thankstoourfamiliesandfriendswhohavesupported
usthroughthisprojectandwhoshareourreliefthatitisfinally
completed.


Chapter1.GettingStarted
TopicsinThisChapter
"WhyJavaServerFaces"onpage3
"SoftwareInstallation"onpage4
"ASimpleExample"onpage6
"SampleApplicationAnalysis"onpage12
"VisualDevelopmentEnvironments"onpage21
"JSFFrameworkServices"onpage23
"BehindtheScenes"onpage25
"AutomationoftheBuildProcesswithAnt"onpage30


WhyJavaServerFaces
Judgingfromthejobadvertisementsinemploymentwebsites,
therearecurrentlytwopopulartechniquesfordevelopingweb
applications.
The"rapiddevelopment"style,usingavisualdevelopment
environmentsuchasMicrosoftASP.NET.
The"hard-corecoding"style,writinglotsofcodetosupport
ahigh-performancebackendsuchasJ2EE(theJava2
EnterpriseEdition).

Aswewritethisbook,developmentteamsfaceadifficult
choice.J2EEisanattractiveplatform.Itishighlyscalable.Itis
portabletomultipleplatforms.Itissupportedbymanyvendors.
Ontheotherhand,ASP.NETmakesiteasytocreateattractive
userinterfaceswithouttediousprogramming.Ofcourse,
programmerswantboth:ahigh-performancebackendand
easyuser-interfaceprogramming.
ThepromiseofJavaServerFacesistobringrapiduser-interface
developmenttoserver-sideJava.
Ifyouarefamiliarwithclient-sideJavadevelopment,youcan
thinkofJSFas"Swingforserver-sideapplications."Ifyouhave
experiencewithJavaServerPages(JSP),youwillfindthatJSF
providesmuchoftheplumbingthatJSPdevelopershaveto
implementbyhand.Ifyoualreadyknowaserver-side
frameworksuchasStruts,youwillfindthatJSFusesasimilar
architecture.

NOTE


YouneednotknowanythingaboutSwing,JSP,orStruts
inordertousethisbook.Weassumebasicfamiliarityonly
withJavaandHTML.

JSFhastheseparts:
AsetofprefabricatedUIcomponents
Anevent-drivenprogrammingmodel
Acomponentmodelthatenablesthird-partydevelopersto
supplyadditionalcomponents
JSFcontainsallthenecessarycodeforeventhandlingand

componentorganization.Applicationprogrammerscanbe
blissfullyignorantofthesedetailsandspendtheireffortonthe
applicationlogic.
ForthepromiseofJSFtobefullyrealized,weneedintegrated
developmentenvironmentsthatgenerateJSFapplications.As
wewritethischapter,theseIDEsarejustbeginningtobe
developed.Forthatreason,westartthistutorialchapterby
showingyouhowtocomposeaJSFapplicationbyhand.When
readingtheinstructionsinthischapter,considerthatmanyof
thestepscanandwillbeautomatedinthefuture.


SoftwareInstallation
Youneedthefollowingsoftwarepackagestogetstarted.
TheJavaSDK1.4.1orhigher( />TheTomcatservletcontainer
( />TheJavaServerFacesreferenceimplementation
( />Thesamplecodeforthisbook,availableat

WeassumethatyoualreadyinstalledtheJavaSDKandthat
youarefamiliarwiththeSDKtools.Formoreinformationon
theJavaSDK,seeHorstmann&Cornell,CoreJava,Sun
MicrosystemsPress,2003.
Inthischapter,wedescribehowtouseJSFwithTomcat5.
Tomcatisaservletcontainer:aprogramthatserveswebpages
andexecutesservletsJavaprogramsthatprocesswebrequests.
JavaServerFacesisbuiltontopoftheservlettechnology,but
youneednotknowanythingaboutservletstobuildJSF
applications.
DownloadandunzipTomcat,theJSFreferenceimplementation,
andthesamplecode.Placethemintodirectoriesofyourchoice.

(Asalways,itisbesttoavoidpathnameswithspaces,suchas
c:\ProgramFiles.)
Intherestofthebook,werefertothesedirectoriesastomcat,
jsfandcorejsf-examples.Forexample,ifwereferto


tomcat/conf/server.xml,youwillneedtolookinsidea
directorysuchas/usr/local/jakarta-tomcat-5.0.19/conf
orc:\jakarta-tomcat-5.0.19\conf.
IfyouuseWindows,youcanchooseaWindowsinstallerfor
Tomcatinsteadoftheplatform-independentZIPfile.Download
andexecutetheinstallerprogram.Whenyouarepromptedfor
theinstallationdirectory,wesuggestthatyouusec:\tomcat
insteadofthedefaultlocationinsidethec:\ProgramFiles
directory.

NOTE
YoucanrunJSFapplicationswithanyservletcontainer
thatsupportstheServlet2.3andJSP1.2specifications.
Tokeeptheinstructionssimple,wecoveronlyTomcat5.
Ifyoupreferanotherservletcontainer,simplyfollowthe
standardprocedurefordeployingwebapplicationson
yourserver.

NOTE
YoucanalsoobtainJSFfromothersources,suchasthe
J2EESDK(or
theJavaWebServicesDevelopmentPack
( />However,thesebundlescontainmanyothersoftware
componentsandhavemorecomplexconfigurations.We

suggestthatyoumoveontomoresophisticated
environmentsafterbecomingcomfortablewithTomcat
andtheJSFreferenceimplementation.


Nowyouarereadytogetstarted.Openacommandshelland
startTomcat.OnUnix/Linux,youusethecommand

tomcat/bin/startup.sh

(SeeFigure1-1.)OnWindows,launch

tomcat\bin\startup.bat

Figure1-1.StartingTomcat


Alternatively,ifyouusedtheWindowsinstallertoinstall
Tomcat,youcanusethe"StartTomcat"menuiteminthestart
menu.
TotestthatTomcatrunsproperly,pointyourbrowserto
http://localhost:8080.Youshouldseeawelcomepage(see
Figure1-2).

Figure1-2.TomcatWelcomePage


YoushutdownTomcatwiththecommand

tomcat/bin/shutdown.sh

or,onWindows,