Our objectives

This book is designed to provide an overview the WebSphere Application Server  Express platform, and the WebSphere Studio development environment. As an verview of the specified material, the book will set forth concepts in terms that ttempt to avoid technical complexity.

The book provides a systematic approach to the Web application development rocess, as well as a step by step worked sample that addresses the creation or ddition of commonly used areas of functionality for Web applications.

WebSphere Application Server - Express defined

WebSphere Application Server - Express is an offering that includes:  Express Application Server

– A Web application server supported on Windows NT, Windows 2000, Linux (Red Hat Advanced Server and SuSE) and iSeries platforms.

_ WebSphere Studio

– A development environment designed for Web application construction and deployment, supported on Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Red Hat and SuSE.

– Provides the interface for systems management and operation of the application server.

_ IBM Agent Controller

– Allows communication between the managing Studio Site Developer (either on a workstation or on the same machine) and the application server instance.

_ Sample applications

– Sample application code designed to show examples of the functionality provided with the WebSphere Application Server - Express offering.

The WebSphere Application Server - Express offering can be implemented with Application Server - Express installed on the same machine with the Studio Site Developer. Alternatively, Application Server - Express can be installed on a separate server and managed by WebSphere Studio installed on a workstation.

Chapter 1. Introduction 11

Our focus

This book is intended for business and technical users tasked with developing a dynamic Web application to solve a business problem. It outlines a sound development process and illustrates the step-by-step use of WebSphere Studio to build an application. It does not assume a deep technical background, but rather is geared toward a WebSphere Application Server - Express user for whom Web application development has not been a primary role.

WebSphere Application Server - Express users

It is useful to categorize Web application developers using WebSphere Application Server - Express and WebSphere Studio into three general groups to further illustrate the focus of this book. Group one users represent a business user that has a primary role in a business that is non-technical. While these users’ primary role is non-technical, they may be tasked with design, development and deployment tasks either to build a new application, update an existing set of static pages using with dynamic functionality or re-design an existing dynamic Web application to add functionality or optimize performance. A group one user generally has a working knowledge of HTML, page layout, and Web authoring tools. Group two users usually have Web application development as part of their primary business role. They may be tasked with creation of a Web application or maintenance and addition of functionality to an existing Web application. Group two users are likely to be primarily focused on client-side programming. The applications they develop will be focused on end-user requirements. A group two user may also be responsible for monitoring the availability of a Web application and its general maintenance. A group two user is an HTML expert and uses DHTML to add functionality to Web pages. This user has the capability to update or make changes to server-side code (such as JavaServer Pages and Enterprise JavaBeans, and Java Servlets) but they normally do not author server-side code. Group three users have Web application development and sever-side development and maintenance as their primary business role. These users will be involved with Web application development at all phases of the development process but they will be focused on server-side development and will develop code (such as JavaServer Pages Java Servlets and Enterprise JavaBeans) that are used by other developers. The focus of this book is the WebSphere Application Server - Express user described in group one. This book does not assume experience and technical background in the principles of Web application development and associated protocols and technologies. For the purposes of this book, readers in the target audience will be globally referred to as non-technical.

Group two and three users will find the content of this book to be a useful tool to introduce the WebSphere Application Server - Express platform and WebSphere Studio and a standard of development (best practices) for Web applications using the WebSphere Application Server - Express platform. For the purposes of this book, readers in groups two and three will be globally described as technical. As this book is an overview, the users in groups two and three will be interested in further detail and technical background on many of the topics addressed. This book will provide resources for further education and technical background on WebSphere Application Server - Express where appropriate. For a technical reference on the WebSphere Application Server – Express platform, please refer to the IBM WebSphere Application Server - Express V5.0 Handbook, SG24-6555,

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/pubs/pdfs/redbooks/sg246555.pdf

Application stages

This book outlines a development process for building a new sample solution. However, the principles set forth in the chapter covering the development process and in the chapter covering design and specification can also be applied by the reader when adding dynamic functionality to existing static pages, or modifying a dynamic Web application.

How to use this redbook

The book is organized into two parts.

Part 1

 “The development process” on page 1 is an overview of the Web application development process and the tools available within WebSphere Studio. It contains the following chapters:

 Chapter 1, “Introduction” on page 9 An introduction to the material covered by this book.

 Chapter 2, “Getting started” on page 15 An overview of the WebSphere Application Server - Express platform and the types of business problems that can be solved using it.

 Chapter 3, “Development tools” on page 31 An overview of common tasks performed with WebSphere Studio and the use of Struts.

 Chapter 4, “The development process” on page 109 Outlines a process that can be used when planning and building reliable and scalable Web applications.

Part 2

 “The sample solution” on page 121 describes a sample solution that illustrates how to achieve areas of functionality commonly found in dynamic Web applications. The sample solution provides a step by step explanation of how to use WebSphere Studio to develop a Web application. This part includes the following chapters:

 Chapter 5, “Requirements” on page 123

A complete listing of the required functionality (functional requirements) of the sample solution.

 Chapter 6, “Building a prototype” on page 135 Describes a prototype and how to use it, then steps through the construction of the sample solution prototype.

 Chapter 7, “Application architecture” on page 163 Describes the layered architecture we use to build our sample application

 Chapter 8, “Design and specification” on page 175 Describes the finalized design of the sample solution.

 Chapter 9, “User registration and security” on page 195 Describes the construction of user registration and security functions within the sample solution.

 Chapter 10, “Property catalog” on page 253 Describes the construction of the catalog and search features within the sample solution.

 Chapter 11, “Interest lists” on page 313 Describes construction of the order placement feature within the sample solution.

 Chapter 12, “E-mail” on page 385 Describes the construction of the e-mail response feature within the sample solution.

 Chapter 13, “Administering the catalog” on page 403 Describes the construction of the product administration feature within the sample solution.

 Chapter 14, “Building a news component” on page 485 Describes the construction of the feature used to enter new or featured items within the sample solution.

 Chapter 15, “Reporting component” on page 529 Describes the construction of the reporting feature within the sample solution.