Java Server Pages

Audience

This book is for anyone interested in using JSP technology to develop web applications. In particular, it is written to help the two types of people commonly involved in the development of a JSP-based application:

Page authors

Page authors primarily develop the web interface to an application. This group uses HTML, stylesheets, and client-side code to develop a rich user interface, and wants to learn how to use JSP elements in web pages to interact with the server components of the application, such as databases and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB).

Java programmers

Java programmers are comfortable with the Java programming language and Java servlets. This group is interested in learning how to develop JSP components that page authors can use in web pages, such as JSP custom actions and JavaBeans, and how to combine JSP with other Java server-side technologies, such as servlets and EJB.

This book is structured into three parts, which I describe shortly, to make it easier to find the material you are most interested in.

What You Need to Know

It’s always hard to assume how much you, as the reader, already know. For this book, it was even harder, since the material is intended for two audiences: page authors and programmers.

I have assumed that anyone reading this book has experience with HTML; consequently, I will not explain the HTML elements used in the examples. But even if you’re an HTML wiz, this may be your first exposure to dynamic web content and web applications. A thorough introduction to the HTTP protocol that drives all web applications, as well as to the concepts and features specific to servlet and JSP-based web applications, is therefore included. If you want to learn more about HTML, I recommend HTML and XHTML: The Definitive Guide, by Chuck Musciano and Bill Kennedy (O’Reilly & Associates).

If you’re a page author, I have assumed that you don’t know anything about programming, although it doesn’t hurt if you have played around with client-side scripting languages like VBScript or JavaScript (ECMAScript). This book contains a brief Java primer with enough information to allow you to use a modest amount of Java code in JSP pages. As you will see, I recommend that you use Java components developed by a Java programmer instead of putting your own Java code in the pages, so you don’t have to know all the intricate details of the Java language to use JSP.

I have assumed that programmers reading this book are familiar with Java programming, object-oriented concepts, and Java servlets. If you plan to develop JSP components for page authors and are not familiar with Java programming, I recommend that you read an introductory Java book, such as Exploring Java by Patrick Niemeyer and Joshua Peck (O’Reilly). If you need to learn about servlets, I recommend Java Servlet Programming by Jason Hunter and William Crawford (O’Reilly) or another book that covers servlet technology.

The chapters dealing with database access require some knowledge of SQL and databases in general. I will explain all that you need to know to run the examples, but if you’re hoping to develop database-driven applications, you will need to know more about databases than what’s in this book.