WebSphere Version 4 Application Development Handbook

From the Book: Preface This IBM Redbook provides detailed information on how to develop Webapplications for IBM WebSphere Application Server Version 4 using a variety ofapplication development tools. The target audience for this book includes team leaders and developers who aresetting up a new J2EE development project using WebSphere Application Serverand related tools. It also includes developers with experience of earlier versionsof the WebSphere product, who are looking to migrate to the Version 4environment. This book is split into four parts, starting with an introduction, which is followed byparts presenting topics relating to the high-level development activities ofanalysis and design, code, and unit test. A common theme running through allparts of the book is the use of tooling and automation to improve productivity andstreamline the development process. In Part 1 we introduce the WebSphere programming model, the application development tools, and the example application we use in our discussions. In Part 2 we cover the analysis and design process, from requirements modeling through object modeling and code generation to the usage of frameworks. In Part 3 we cover coding and building an application using the Java 2 Software Development Kit, WebSphere Studio Version 4, and VisualAge for Java Version 4. We touch on Software Configuration Management using Rational ClearCase and provide coding guidelines for WebSphere applications. We also cover coding using frameworks, such as Jakarta Struts and WebSphere Business Components. In Part 4 we cover application testing from simple unit testing through application assemand deployment to debugging and tracing. We also investigate how unit testing can be automated using JUnit. In our examples we often refer to the PiggyBank application. This is a verysimple J2EE application we created to help illustrate the use of the tools,concepts and principles we describe throughout the book. The team that wrote this redbook This redbook was produced by a team of specialists from around the worldworking at the International Technical Support Organization, San Jose Center. Ueli Wahli is a Consultant IT Specialist at the IBM International TechnicalSupport Organization in San Jose, California. Before joining the ITSO 17 yearsago, Ueli worked in technical support at IBM Switzerland. He writes extensivelyand teaches IBM classes worldwide on application development, objecttechnology, VisualAge products, data dictionaries, and library management. Ueliholds a degree in Mathematics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Alex Matthews is a Consulting IT Specialist in the IBM Software Business,based in London, United Kingdom (UK). He has spent the last two and a halfyears providing post-sales services to customers who have purchasedWebSphere products and related tools. Alex has seven years experience buildingdistributed systems using a variety of middleware products. He holds a degree inComputing Science from Aston University, Birmingham, UK. Paula Coll Lapido works as an IT Specialist in the e-business Innovation Centerat Madrid, Spain. Her current area of expertise focuses on developing e-businessapplications using the WebSphere platform. She has been working at IBM forone year and a half. She holds a degree in Physics from the ComplutenseUniversity of Madrid. Jean-Pierre Norguet is an IT Specialist, Team Leader and Coach in the IBMe-business department in Belgium. He has been working at IBM for three years.His areas of expertise include the entire application development life cycle. Heholds a 5-year Engineering degree in Computer Science from the UniversiteLibre de Bruxelles and a Socrates European master's degree from the EcoleCentrale Paris. Special notice This publication is intended to help application analysts and developers to createWeb applications for WebSphere Application Server using a variety of applicationdevelopment and test tools. The information in this publication is not intended asthe specification of any programming interfaces that are provided by WebSphereApplication Server. See the PUBLICATIONS section of the IBM ProgrammingAnnouncement for WebSphere Application Server for more information aboutwhat publications are considered to be product documentation. Comments welcome Your comments are important to us! We want our IBM Redbooks to be as helpful as possible. Send us yourcomments about this or other Redbooks in one of the following ways: Use the online Contact us review redbook form found at:ibm.com/redbooks Send your comments in an Internet note to:redbook@us.ibm.com Mail your comments to the address on page ii.