Re: Taking a step forward in JAVA programming
ruds wrote:
I'm currently working inJSP along witj Tomcat as my server and
Editplus as my editor.
I have to rebuild / redesign an existing web application.It is small
application showging records from database( MS-Access is my database),
and few functionalities like uploading documents, etc.
For this I'm thinking of using a framework(JSF, Spring, Hibernate)
(just for my intellectual growth, as I'm working alone and not in a
team but would like to).
I am not adept at Spring, and so far I don't like it much, but I've
used JSF and Hibernate extensively. I've also used OpenJPA and
EclipseLink as JPA layers (in lieu of Hibernate). I've done projects
with Struts, and also "raw" JSP/servlet applications (like Struts
where you reinvent the wheel).
I love Tomcat as an application server, particularly for one-person
projects such as you describe. You can set up data sources in the
deployment descriptors as explained in
<http://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-6.0-doc/jndi-resources-howto.html>
and
<http://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-6.0-doc/jndi-datasource-examples-
howto.html>
which also leverages the built-in version of Apache DBCP (Database
connection pooling).
It ties in well with Apache Web Server (httpd) or runs nicely
standalone.
JSF can be a little tricky. For me the insight was to think of it as
a component framework sort of like Swing, rather than a classic JSP
Web model. Facelets, which is JSF plus XHTML rather than JSP, is very
powerful. I always use Tomahawk with my JSF, apparently a widespread
practice.
The key to effective JPA (Hibernate, EclipseLink, OpenJPA) is to
expose an object model to the application, not a data model. There's
little point to an object-to-relational mapping (ORM) tool if you use
it for relational-to-relational mapping.
I spent a lot of time practicing on my own with JSF and JPA before
finding jobs that paid me to use them. All that practice was
extremely useful.
--
Lew