O’Reilly news

"Java Servlet and JSP Cookbook": Problem-Solving Recipes Put Theory into Practice

February 4, 2004

Sebastopol, CA--Java servlet and JSP theory is all well and good--and there's plenty of opportunity to immerse oneself in it with many of the books available. But sometimes what Java web developers need most are up-to-date, practical code solutions for the development challenges they face every day. The new Java Servlet and JSP Cookbook (O'Reilly, US $44.95) puts theory into practice with efficient solutions to the most pressing and complex real-world web-related problems. As author Bruce W. Perry puts it, "this book is here to help you get your job done."

"The recipes are mainly designed for experienced developers who design, build, deploy, and revise Java-based web applications," says Perry. "This includes JSP, servlet, and JavaBeans developers. But it's also appropriate for experienced web developers who are just learning Java and migrating from another web programming platform, such as Active Server Pages (ASP), PHP, or Perl."

With literally hundreds of examples and thousands of lines of code, the Java Servlet and JSP Cookbook delivers useful tips and techniques for everyday use as well as full-fledged solutions to significant web application development problems that developers can insert directly into their own applications. The initial recipes are basic and will instruct new Java web developers in the mechanics of servlets and JSPs (including packaging servlets and JSPs, writing the deployment descriptor, deploying servlets and JSPs, using Apache Ant, precompiling JSPs, and creating JSPs as XML documents). The more advanced recipes in the book cover topics that vex even the most seasoned developers.

Brimming with more than 230 recipes on a number of important everyday web technologies, using both Tomcat and BEA WebLogic as servlet containers, this expansive collection of solutions and best practices covers:

  • Working with sessions, filters, custom tags, and the JavaServer Pages Standard Tag Library (JSTL)
  • Authenticating web clients
  • Interacting with database and email servers
  • Reading and setting cookies
  • Uploading files from clients
  • Integrating JavaScript with servlets and JSPs
  • Embedding multimedia files (such as digital movies and music) in JSPs and servlets
  • Handling web clients whose users speak different languages (internationalization)
  • Logging messages from servlets and JSPs
  • Dynamically including chunks of content, as in traditional server-side include (SSI) code
  • Using the Amazon and Google Web Services APIs from a servlet or JSP
  • The user-friendly cookbook format allows developers to quickly look up a concise solution to a specific problem. The recipes themselves incorporate many new features associated with the Servlet 2.4 and JSP 2.0 specifications, including ServletRequestListeners, new JSTL 1.1 functions, the use of JSTL elements inside of template test, tag files, and the XML Schema-based deployment descriptor.

    Best of all, the individual recipes are straightforward and thorough. Each includes an introduction that has enough information to get started with the various technologies and code samples; offers clear explanations of how and why the code works; warns of potential pitfalls; and directs developers to reputable sources of additional information for further exploration.

    Additional Resources:

    Java Servlet and JSP Cookbook
    Bruce W. Perry
    ISBN 0-596-00572-5, 746 pages, $44.95 US, $65.95 CA
    order@oreilly.com
    1-800-998-9938; 1-707-827-7000

    About O’Reilly

    O’Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O’Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying “faint signals” from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.

    Email a link to this press release