Speed J2EE component development with XDoclet

I wrote a tutorial on XDoclet for IBM developerWorks.

"This tutorial shows how to speed J2EE development with XDoclet. Why write five classes and three deployment descriptor when you can write one and generate the rest? This tutorial consists of step by step examples using XDoclet with Servlets, Custom Tags and EJB (with CMP, CMR 2.0). XDoclet is an open source project that aids in the development of J2EE components."

DeveloperWorks article
Java Channel link to tutorial
JavaRanch link to tutorial
JavaLobby link to tutorial

JDJ this month: Good Articles this month

Picked up a copy of the JDJ this month. What a great issue! I am really enjoying reading about in container caching, although I don't 100% agree with the conclusion. I believe the results she got, but I don't agree that that is the type of thing you usually cache. I thought the article could have spent more time talking about when/why to use caching instead of making up a contrived example that would obviously break. And, although I did not agree with the conclusion, I really found the article interesting. I've run into problems with caching before. I have had similar experience that the article was talking about. A little caching good.... too much is evil. Be careful what you cache. It can be great. Too much and it can kill.

I browsed the rest of the magazine. There seems to be some good articles on Abbot and Big Brother (CI tool). I look forward to reading these as I fly from AZ to Minnesota on Tuesday. Has anyone tried using caching against a RAM Disk? I was going to try this on a project, but decided to cache some results on HD and small frequently used data in a weak hash map instead. The important thing is that I knew how much the data would grow (the upper limit). I'd like to try the RAM disk approach (with a LRU type cache) so the garbage collector would not have to manage the memory. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Hmmmmm..... I noticed my resume comes up second when searching for Rick Resume I love google

Click here and look at the second link

Rick Resume

Get Tomcat book examples working for Xdoclet 1.2

Get Tomcat book examples working for Xdoclet 1.2
Upgrade examples to the lastest version of Xdoclet (xdoclet 1.2)
Finish writing/updating tutorial
Add EJB support....from previous work.
sounds like a lot of work.

Find the files move them over... then port. Start with the Servlet example and Custom Tag example. Upgrade to latest ant first.

I changed the script to use a path instead of putting a list of jars in the build.properties.

Upgrading example to 1.2 from Xdoclet 1.1 problems:

1) the webdoclet task no longer supports sourcepath. I removed it from the example ant script.

2) xdoclet.web.WebDocletTask is deprecated. I changed the taskdef to use xdoclet.modules.web.WebDocletTask

After that everything worked groovey.I came up with an idea. An Ant task that takes an eclipse .classpath file (which is just an xml file anyway) and adds every item to the classpath. This would make things a little easier.when working with eclipse. Hmmmm....

Tutorial for IBM, toot-o-matic

I am working on a tutorial for IBM. My laptop crashed since the last time I wrote a tutorial. I have a new laptop. I need to reinstall all of the software to write the tutorial. You write the IBM tutorials in XML then use a tool called Toot-o-matic from IBM to convert it to HTML and PDF format. The tool is open source and uses XSLT.

I wrote a preprocessor that coverts a text file into the XML file in jython so that I can use the spell checker and grammar checker of MS Word before I make a fool of myself.

I have to download jython, toot-o-matic, and who know what else to get this

started.... here we go....

Doug Tidwell is too funny.... I am looking for a download link for

toot-o-matic and I ran into his bio....


About the author
MC Dug-T is developerWorks' Minister of Science, droppin' the XML, Java,

and Web services 411 on the public. In his travels, he gets mad props from

his peeps worldwide for the stone-cold, stoopid-fresh style sheets he leaves

behind. All his mad-phat nollidge will soon be published by O'Reilly and

Associates in the Strictly Non-Fiction book XSLT (ISBN 0596000537, pre-order

your copy today at amazon.com) which will then start slayin' soft-sellin'

suckas at tha local booksella. Discussing the book in a recent dW interview,

he boasted, "I'm gonna empty mah dome into one supa-fly tome."
For relaxation, he likes to put his hands up in the air, and in his words,

"wave 'em around like I just don't care." When not chillin' with his

worldwide XML krew, he maxes at the crib in Raleigh with his wife, cooking

teacher CT-ONE, and their six-year-old shortie, Lily the Flayva Princess.

You can send him a shout-out at dtidwell@us.ibm.com.


How funny is that? :)

The tutorial link for toot-o-matic
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/x-toot/index.html

Here is the download link from the tutorial
https://www6.software.ibm.com/dl/devworks/dw-tootomatic-p

There are two download files.... jars.zip and tootomatic.zip...
Hmmm... jars.zip is ten times bigger than tootomatic.zip
better get them both.

now what... no instructions....

Ahhh... the directions are in the tootomatic.zip file....

here they are....
****************************
Installing the Toot-O-Matic:

To install the Toot-O-Matic, unzip the files tootomatic.zip and jars.zip

into the same directory on your hard drive.

Toot-O-Matic uses the Java 2 SDK, 1.3.0_02. You can download it from
http://java.sun.com/products/archive/index.html.
****************************

now i need to install jython...
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=12867&release_id=67726


it looks like tootomatic changed since the last time I used it...
now they are using XML Schema instead of dtds... hmmm....
my xml tut files don't work anymore... hmmm...
looks like i can use either dtd or xsd... i'll stick with dtds for now.

my preprocessor sticks the wrong dtd location in the file....
quick change. no problem... i am up an running.

Looking for an eclipse plugin that support XDoclet and finding all kinds of other stuff too

I want to checkout Easy Struts, the JBoss IDE, and Lomboz , and this http://sourceforge.net/projects/javacodemaker.

The last one does not appear to be fully baked... yet.

Anyone tried any of these.....

Hmmmm..... unrelated....
Jdepend does metrics… do we want this…. ???

Here is an article I plan on reading regarding EJB testing.... Automating EJB Unit Testing.
See if he has similar thoughts than I do on this subject.... maybe catch an aha or two in the progress.

and just for kicks.... i want to check out http://sourceforge.net/projects/xpetstore/. This is a project I would like to get involved in.... after I am done with EasyEJB 1.0 release.

Another tool i am dying to try out is MiddleGen.... http://sourceforge.net/projects/middlegen/

Hmmm... i want more eclipse tools.... i need a UML plugin, a database plugin and a good xdoclet plugin.....

JDJ Mag..... CD packed full of articles

I got my new JDJ Mag with the CD of every article ever written by the JDJ.
I was searching for article I wrote when I ran accross this.....

It was a show report by Stephen Berkowitz:

"I would be remiss if, in the focus on Web services, I failed to point out that the conference also had a Java focus. The best Java presentation I went to was given by Rick Hightower of Trivera. His talk on "Java Tools for Extreme Programming" was well presented and rather informative. Rick focused on the testing and continuous integration portions of XP, discussing JUnit, Ant, and Cactus in detail. His talk proved to me that no matter what you are doing, no matter what you call your methodology, testing is invaluable and that these tools will make your life easier. "

Excellent. I am glad you liked it.
This was my first presentation in a long time, and I was pretty nervous.

Custom Tag

Last night (yesterday) I wrote a custom tag for the Struts course, and wrote a Cactus test for it.
The custom tag prints out a value of a property from an EJB. It is called EJBWrite.
It is like BeanWrite (a struts custom tag), but different.

It uses BeanUtils, ResponseUtils, RequestUtils, and Property Utils. (three birds.... one stone)

I also dug into WSAD for several hours. I am becoming an expert. If you love Eclipse, you will go ga ga over WSAD

Speaking at JavaOne... Info....

Speaking at JavaOne! Yeah!

Using Enterprise JavaBeans(TM) (EJBTM) Technology on More Projects with CMP, CMR and XDoclet TS-3198
Speakers: Rick Hightower
Thursday Jun 12, 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM, Esplanade 301, Moscone Center

There has recently been a lot of discussion about whether or not to use Enterprise JavaBeans(TM) (EJBTM) technology. This session shows that EJB technology can be used on many more projects than it is currently. The argument against using EJB technology tends to be that it is too complex. This is ironic since EJB technology's purpose was to simplify server-side development. While it is true EJB.....

This is the first time speaking at JavaOne. I was part of a BOF once. I was on a BOF panel. And, I've had booth duty for three different companies at JavaOne, but never a session. I am stoked!

I really dig StrutsTestCase

It took me a while to get things installed and configured, but it was worth it. (StrutsTestCase in not compatible with the version of Cactus that the Eclipse Cactus plugin in uses..... this was one of the many issues I ran into.)

StrutsTestCase allows you to easily test StrutsActions:

Check out the following code listing:

public class EditEmployeeActionTest extends CactusStrutsTestCase {



	

	

	/**

	 * Constructor for EditEmployeeActionTest.

	 * @param arg0

	 */

	public EditEmployeeActionTest(String arg0) {

		super(arg0);

	}



	/*

	 * @see TestCase#setUp()

	 */

	public void setUp() throws Exception {

		super.setUp();

	}



	/*

	 * @see TestCase#tearDown()

	 */

	protected void tearDown() throws Exception {

		super.tearDown();

	}



	public void testEditEmployeeAction () throws Exception{

	

			/* Create the test employee */

		 String firstName = "Bob";

		 String lastName = "Jones";

		 String phone = "555 1212";		 

		 Integer id = Util.createTestEmployee(firstName, lastName, phone);	

		 

			/* set the path to the EditEmployeeAction's path */

		 setRequestPathInfo("/editEmployee");

		 

			/* set the employee id to load */

		 addRequestParameter("id", "" + id);

		 

			/* Force the action to occur */

		 actionPerform();

		 

		 	/* Make sure the action forwarded to the form */

		 verifyForward("form");

		 

		 	/* Get the EmployeeForm from the request attribute */

		 EmployeeForm form = (EmployeeForm) request.getAttribute("employeeForm");

		 

		 	/* See if it is in edit mode */

		 assertEquals(EmployeeForm.EDIT_MODE, form.getAction());

		 

		 	/* Make sure this is the right employee */

		 assertEquals(firstName, form.getEmployee().getFirstName());

		 assertEquals(lastName, form.getEmployee().getLastName());

		 assertEquals(phone, form.getEmployee().getPhone());

		 

		 Util.killTestEmployee(id);

		 

		 	/* Make sure there are no errors */

		 verifyNoActionErrors();



	}

 

}

Studying WebSphere 5

WebShpere Architecture overview:


Base configuration means seperately administered.

A node is a group of managed WebSphere servers that share configuration.

Configuration repository is in XML.

PMI stands for Performance Monitoring Interface.

In the base configuration the adminconsole runs on the one app server.

In the network deployment configuration, the adminconsole in run on the Deployment Manager.

Each server has an Admin Service.The Admin Service stores xml config files local to the server.

wsadmin allows the adminstration to be scripted.

JMS is used for intra cell communication. It is also used for in memory session replication.

There can be several nodes in a cell.

In the base config, JMS runs in the same machine as the server.

In the network deployment config, JMS runs in a dedicated JVM.

Session data can be stored in a database or replicated from server to server in the case of a network deployment. The server to server replication is done interanlly with JMS.

JNDI for WebShpere is built on top of CORBA CosNaming.

Security is not covered in this redbook, if I want to read about security I need to read IBM WebSphere V5.0 Security Handbook, SG24-6573.

Web Services in not covered in this redbook. If I want more information on WebShpere web sevices I should read WebSphere Version 5 Web Services Handbook, SG24-6891.

A network deployment consists of multiple Nodes.
A Node consist of a node agent process and several application servers.
The app servers in a node are managed by an adminstrative cell by the Deployment Manager process.

Clusters of load-balanced application servers are configured with the Network Deployment cell.

The Deployment manager sychronizes the binaries (code) and config (deployment descriptors) of every component to local copies of every node. The DM stores the binaries and config for each component in the master config repository. The DM talks to the Node agent to coordinate and synchronize management operations.

A cell is a node group for admin purposes.

The UDDI Registry is not covered in this redbook. For detailed information on the Web services support in WebSphere Application Server V5, see WebSphere Version 5 Web Services Handbook, SG24-6891.

The Web Services Gateway is not covered in this redbook. For detailed information on the Web services support in WebSphere Application Server V5, see WebSphere Version 5 Web Services Handbook, SG24-6891.


The edge components consist of the cacher and the load balancer.

The load balancer manages site selection, workload management, session affinity, and transparent failover.


The caching and filtering component are used for recieving request and serving URLs. The nice thing about the cacher is that it is programmable. Thus you can customize when the cache will be invalidated.

Follow up reading on caching and filtering:

Patterns for the Edge of Network, SG24-6822

WebSphere Edge Server New Features and Functions in Version 2,
SG24-6511

The concept of cluster is divorced from cells and the deployment manager. The only req. for a cluster is that they serve the same application. It could be a laptop and a server is the example they give. The configuration does not have to be identical. A cluster is just to provide failover support and workload balancing not duplicate config.

JMS Server, App server, Node agent, and the Deployment manager are all managed services via JMX.


Topology Selection:

I read the entire topology section. I need to reread this. There is a lot of info I want to go over.
I've read the first 103 pages of the admin book. Hmmmm.... only 900 more pages to go.

EasyEJB: Struts CRUD framework, getting started....

Status:

I figured out how to use CVS with SourceForge.
I figured out how to upload the main website.
I updated my project to use Eclipse 2.1 and started using the new Resin EE and Cactus plugin.

The Cactus plugin was a wash for me. It uses Jetty, and I am not to interested in that. The Cactify feature was nice and useful, but I resorted to using the cactus.properties file. I am really enjoying the JUnit/Eclipse integration.

I am impressed with the Resin EE plugin from Improve. I need to adjust Resin to reload classes more often. I have been resorting to restarting it often.

I wrote the tests for the new class that was EJBUtils now renamed to LocalFinderUtils. Here is a sample of what you can do with LocalFinderUtils:

    //The default context is set to java:comp/env/ejb. You can override the default or set a new default.

                                                    

    //Find a single bean by primary key

Dept dept = (Dept) LocalFinderUtils.findByPrimaryKey(pkey, "DeptBean");



    //Find a collection of entities

Collection collection = LocalFinderUtils.findAll("DeptBean");



    //Find a collection of entities by dept name that start with eng (one criteria)

Collection collection = LocalFinderUtils.findCollection("findByDeptNameLike", "eng", "DeptBean");



    //Find a single entity by dept name (many criteria supported)

Dept bean = LocalFinderUtils.findObject("findByDeptName", new Object [] {testName}, HOME_LOCATION, "DeptBean");

There are many more variations of the above (12 so far).
Making the code generic (something we did not have to worry about at eBlox) for general consumption is time consuming.
I wrote tests for the above. In order to do that I had to include a few EJBs (Dept and Employee).
I spent a lot of time writing JavaDocs. The tests turned out well.

I changed EJBUtils (after the rename) to use MethodUtils from the BeanUtils commons project as Apache. I was caching my own method calls. At some point in the future, I want to benchmark EJBUtils (used cached method calls) against the new version vs. accessing the home method directly. Hmmm.....

I am going to document TransactionUtils, write the tests for it, and push it out. Nick L. wrote transaction utils (as far as I know).
Here is an example usage of TransactionUtils. I don't have a published test.

 		TransactionUtils.runInTransaction(

			new Runnable(){

				public void run(){

					try {					

						Dept dept = (Dept) home.create(testName);

						pkey = dept.getId();

					}catch (CreateException ce){

						throw new EJBWrapperException(ce, "unable to create Dept");

					}

				}

			}

		);

Task list before Alpha release

1. Incorporate EJBUtils and TransactionUtils (almost done) (document, test)


2. Incorporate EJB plugin I wrote for Struts (document and test)


3. Include and refactor EJB CRUD framework. Change to use LookupDispatchAction action. Get it working in a more genric manner wrt to keys. Old verions only works with int and Integer keys. This can be improved! Write tests, and javadocs(document and test)


4. Create base classes for EJB types and classes (PK key, Entity and Session for this release) (document and test)


5. Create EJB Home Cacher for locals and remotes (document and test)


6. Modify plugin to use new utilities EJB Home Cachers and Transaction Utils (document and test)


7. Make plugin Struts modules aware (document and test)


8. Move 5 custom tags for dealing with EJB (document and test)

Strtus CRUD framework

I came up with an Idea for a Struts based, EJB CRUD framework when I worked at eBlox. We wrote it. Andy, Ron, Nick, and Paul contributed to it.
I got permission from Andy to make it open source. I need to clean it up a bit. I have been working on it every night for a few hours (for the past two nights).

I doubt I will be able to give it the attention that it needs. I want to get what is there working. I want to clean it up a bit. I will keep working on it until it at least equals what we had.

Anyway, I started a Sourceforge project and committed my first three files.

Your project registration for SourceForge.net has been approved.

Project Descriptive Name: EJB Utils (Struts based CRUD framework)
Project Unix Name: easyejb
CVS Server: cvs.easyejb.sourceforge.net
Shell/Web Server: easyejb.sourceforge.net

I started setting up my env. for development. I upgraded to Eclipse 2.1. I had to reinstall XMen, and the Resin plugin. I decided to use the new Cactus plugin. I've been playing around with it and other plugins. I just got Eclipse working with CVS. In the past, I always used WinCVS. I could not get WinCVS to talk to the source forge CVS server so I fooled around with the Eclipse CVS support. Very Nice!

Anyway, this is what I plan to be doing in my spare time.

I just put the new proposal in for Java Tools for Extreme Programming the 2nd edition.

Best Practices

Here are the slides to the well recieved Principles and Practices of Effective Developers

http://www.rickhightower.com/BestPractices.pdf

JavaOne!

I just got accepted to speak at JavaOne on EJB CMP CMR and XDoclet. Apparently I was on the runner-up list, and someone canceled. I am really psyched!

Struts Course Updates

We are going to update our Struts course and offer it in a 5 day format with some addition sections on CRUD.

Best Struts Course
Best Struts Training

Java Freedom Conference: Great Fun! Strong Opinions

We had a lively roundtble discussion with James Duncan Davidson, Erik Hatcher, Bruce Tate, Macijec Zawadski, Stuart Halloway, I and more. James compared selecting a software methodology to sex that has to be the funniest moment of the whole show. The great thing about the roundtable discussion is we started debating a bit. Someone would say something, and someone else would chime in and say the exact opposite. There would be a pause and gasp and then on to the next rebuttal. This was the liveliest round table that I have seen. Bruce Tate is a real salt of the earth type guy, and I enjoy his views on software development. It is a real pleasure talking to him. Macijec Zawadski is quite the software rebel; he likes to challenge the norm. Stuart is a really good speaker; very polished. James Duncan Davidson is awesome. I really enjoyed Erik's talk on Extreme XDoclet. Erik rocks! We all went to dinner and saw "Anger Management". If you are going to go to one conference this year go to a Complete Programmer Network conference. It is 100% stuff you can use when you get back to work. This conference series is simply the best software development conferences on the market.

WebSphere certification and getting up to speed with WebSphere 5.0

I've decided to get IBM WebSphere certified, and get up to speed with the new features of WebSphere (v5.0). It is something that I have been thinking about for a while. I was hoping writing it down might help. BTW I am a big WSAD fan not to mention Eclispe.

Here is my reading list to get started:

1. WebSphere Application Server V5 for iSeries: Installation, Configuration and Administration


2. WebSphere V5.0 Applications: Ensuring High Performance and Scalability


3. WebSphere Version 5 Web Services Handbook


4. IBM WebSphere Application Server V5.0 System Management and Configuration: WebSphere Handbook Series


5. Testing Container Managed Persistence EJBs with the Table and Data Source Creator in WebSphere Studio Application Developer 5.0

I came up with the above list by searching for "redbook websphere v5" at WebSphere Developer Domain Library. Please let me know if you can think of other ideas.... pass them forward.

I thought I would rate and write a review for each item. Then I will spend some more time figuring out which certification I should take first, i.e., possible WebSphere certifications. I might stick to the developer certifications or not.

Java Freedom Conference

The Java Freedom Conference in Philly was fun. I tried out three new presentations, and one tried and true presentation. Two of the new presentations (Principles and Practices of Effective Developers and Bending Struts to fit your needs) were rated very high. The presentations that did well represent the highest ratings I recieved since I've been presenting for complete programmer network (I am getting better at it), and the third new presentation (Struts Primer) got horrible ratings (my standards are high... it did okay, but not really well).

Score card....
Java Tools for Extreme Programming did well
Principles and Practices of Effective Developers very good
Struts Primer session average
Bending Struts very good


The problem with the Struts Primer session was that I tried to fit too much material in too little time, and I did not gear it to a starter audience as promised in the abstract. It could be broken out into several presentations (Intro to Struts, Validation Framework and Tiles), but I tried to fit it all into one. Most people felt the material was too advanced. It seems people with Struts experience thought it was great, but those without Struts background thought it was too much (some suggested making it a longer session or splitting it).

The Principles and Practices of Effective Developers session was based on some of the ideas right from this blog. It is nice to verbalize these ideas and actually get good reviews from the thoughts. This is the first purely non-technical, all process/methodology/idealogy presentation that I have ever done, and people actually liked it.

I asked several times how many people were implementing custom tags. I was surprised how many people were not using custom tags at all. I find custom tags are useful and easy to learn. Hmmmm.... It seemed like a lot of folks use EJB despite the bad press. Maybe a session on doing custom tags would make sense for a future Complete Programmer Network. I like asking people what they do.

I think I am going to split the Struts Primer into three presentations (at some point in the future) as follows: Struts Primer, Mastering Struts Tiles, and Mastering Validation Framework. I also want to create a session on Mastering Custom Tags.

I want to retire Java Tools for Extreme Programming session, because I have given it about 12 times last year. Frankly, I am tired of giving the session.

Java Freedom Conference

Java Freedom Conference

I've written this example for Extending the Struts Framework for the Java Freedom Conference in Philly. I've been asked to post the source for the case study. If you want the source to the sample code, email me.

Case Study Source Code and Slides

Here is the title and abstract for the talk.

Title: Extending Struts: Bending Struts to fit your needs Abstract: Okay you think you have mastered Struts, but you wish it could just do this one special thing? This session shows you how to go beyond the Struts basics to extend the framework to fit you needs. Struts was designed to be extensible. Learn how to extend it. Advance Struts topics about extending the framework using Struts plugins, and extending the Action Servlet, Custom Actions, the RequestProcessor, and more. This is an advanced topic that assumes previous knowledge of Struts.

EJB CMP CMR Performance and WebLogic

I get asked about the performance of CMP and how to avoid frequent loads from the database (per transaction). There are a few tricks. One is you need to setup an extent of an Entity bean as Read-Only if you want really good browsing performance. Second if you need both good browsing performance and occasional access to write to to the beans then you probably want to setup cache-between-transactions in the vendor specific ejb deployment descriptor. Third, never access an entity bean directly if you don't have either of the two setup, instead try to group as many operatoins as you can by using a session facade that groups many operations on a few entity beans if possible (given you design). This is all for now. Of course, I could flush this all out a lot more.... Perhaps I will at a future date.

Broken links for EJB QL Tutorial

All the links are broke for my EJB QL tutorial. It looks like IBM changed the links.

Here are the correct links for anyone who is looking.


Part 1
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/edu/ws-dw-wscomp-i.html

Part 2
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/edu/ws-dw-wscomp2-i.html

Part 3 (CMR and intro EJB QL)
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/edu/ws-dw-wscomp3-i.html

Part 4 (Advanced EJB QL.... every keyword)
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/edu/ws-dw-wscomp4-i.html

Part 5 XDoclet and EJB
http://java-tools.eblox.com/index.php?ResinCMPCMRXDocletTutorial

Presentations for Software Freedom Conference

I finished my presentation on extending the Struts framework using Plug-ins, CustomConfig Objects, and a Custom Request Processor. I built a great case study based on some of the work I did with EJB and Struts in a previous life. I a really proud of the results of the case study. It was a fun project to work on. I eventually want to build a cache of struts extentions that make dealing with EJB in a web application easier.

I am presenting this weekend in Philly on the following topics:

Title: Principles and Practices of Effective Developers

Abstract: Regardless of methodology or technology there are certain universal practices and principles of effective developers. Covers how to use these principles and practices to make effective decisions on methodology, technology selection and dealing with management, other developers and customers.

This is my first presentation on a non-Technical topic. I've done private workshops on this, but never in this public a forum. I hope it goes well. The workshops were really well recieved.


3) Title: Extending Struts: Bending Struts to fit your needs

Abstract: Okay you think you have mastered Struts, but you wish it could just do this one special thing? This session shows you how to go beyond the Struts basics to extend the framework to fit you needs. Struts was designed to be extensible. Learn how to extend it. Advance Struts topics about extending the framework using Struts plugins, and extending the Action Servlet, Custom Actions, the RequestProcessor, and more. This is an advanced topic that assumes previous knowledge of Struts.


Title: Struts 1.1 Feature primer
Abstract: Okay so you have been using Struts for a while, and you want to try some of the new features like Tiles, ValidatorFramework, or you are new to Struts and you want to learn the basics plus some new Struts 1.1 features. This is an entry level introduction to Struts and some of the new features. This assumes some knowlege of Web applications, JSPs and custom tags.

Blogger Pro

I've just upgraded to Blogger Pro. I now have RSS capability.



My RSS feed is here:
http://rickhightower.blogspot.com/rss/rickhightower.xml

CTO Forum: Whisky tasting and Jazz

I just learned a lot about Whisky tasting. A Whisky expert in full Scottish garb, gave a little seminar on the different types of whisky. I now have a favorite whisky. Before I just stuck to gin and beer.

Pair programming

After the whisky tasting, I had a great conversation with William Shelton and Marcus Leef on pair programming and XP. Both Marcus and William were at the Whisky tasting and Jazz session. They both are students at MIT in the Sloan School of Management. Quite an interesting perspective they both had.

CTO Forum Product Reviews

CTO Forum

Lunch conversations

I am at CTO Forum. When I went to lunch today, I accidentally sat next to John Udell and Jean Paoli. I say accidentally because I had no idea what they looked like. I did recognize both of their names. I was looking for a good place to eat and ended up hearing about France's Microtel, Blogs and XML (bonus). I also had a good conversation with Jason Bloomberg and Ronald Schmelzler from zapThink about BPEL and the next steps in Web Services. I swear some of the best "sessions" at conferences are informal conversations.

Product reviews for InfoWorld

I pitched my idea for a software development column to Mark Jones, the executive news editor. I want to write about development process, skills management, software frameworks etc. I think they are going to pass for now. :(

Mark mentioned that they are looking for articles for their test center. The articles are product reviews.


I told Mark that I would love to write product reviews. I would really like to write product reviews for WebLogic 8.1 (and BEA new development env.; soon to be released), and/or IBM WebSphere 5.0 and WSAD. I have a lot of experience with WebLogic (up through 7.0), and have recently wrote a tutorial for IBM on the IBM WebSphere SDK for Web Services (WSDK). The IBM WSDK for WS is built on top of WebSphere 5.0 so I already have a head start. I have also done a fair bit of writing about JSP, JMS, Struts, XML, Custom Tags, etc (not to mentioned my tutorial on EJB 2.0 CMP CMR which shows up number one on google and is ported to several EJB containers).

Mark said that I had to put the types of products I wanted to review in my blog, and the CTO of InfoWorld (a.k.a. Chad Dickerson) would read it. Hmmm.... sounds like I need to start syndicating my blog. It is time to upgrade to blogspot pro (good I could really use the spell checker). In addition to the above two already mentioned, I would like to do product reviews for Struts 1.1, XDoclet 1.2, JUnit, Eclipse, NetBeans, Maven etc. I wonder if they will review opensource development tools and frameworks as well. Hmmm.... I guess I could ask.

Link to list of my publications
Link to my website
Link to my Achievements

Some of the biggest problems in software development have nothing to do with technology or process.
Communication.....

(just a half a thought)

I found this in my archive of blog entries that I never posted. Here it is.

Going to JavaOne 2002

My journey started with less than two hours sleep. I was working on a project late Saturday night finished midnight, and then was too wired to sleep till 2 AM. Then I was up at 4 AM getting ready to leave by 4:30 AM. The project was supposed to be small around 8 hours of work thirty hours later and just before JavaOne I was done. Of course, this is not the way to start a journey, but seems typical. I could have finished the project early on Saturday but decided to spend the time with my family during the day.

I was catching a ride with my brother in law who works at the airport… no use spending the extra money on a cab. I am much more frugal after the Internet boom ended.

The plane ride was non-eventful. I had to fly to a hub then off to SF. I feel asleep whenever I could. It was in this state of semi-consciousness that I made my trip to JavaOne. I enjoy this state. I am most creative when I am forcing myself to stay conscience long enough to catch the next plan ride.

At the hub, I decided to get some Starbucks. This was a mistake. It caused me have to go through security checkpoint again. The line was much longer than I expected. Most people would worry. I quit worrying years ago when it almost killed me—now I do my best and go with the flow. Do your best and try to relax is my motto. The line moved fast and I got the plane while it was still boarding—guzzling my vente mocha all the way.

Drinking the mocha was a big mistake that I would soon regret. On the first leg of the trip I was able to sleep. Now I was fully loaded with enough sugar and caffeine to prevent any remote chance of sleep, but I was too tired to do anything productive—too many late nights were taking their toll. I tried to force sleep. It did not work.

Once I got to SFO, it was time to make it on over to the hotel. I was a bit early. I got there and I could not check in yet. I checked my bag and it was off to memory lane.

I worked in SF during the Internet boom. I worked in the media gulch district, which consisted of old sewing factories and warehouses that were converted into office space. The media gulch district was front and center during the any-lame-idea-can-get-venture-funding days of the Internet boom.

I was only half paying attention to where the hotel shuttle was going during the trip over from SFO. Now as I made it over to Moscone, I realized that I was much further than led to believe from our travel coordinator. Granted I was walking distance from Moscone, but I was told that I was right next to it. I was right next to Union Square. Pretty far if you are supposed to carry over stuff that was sent for the booth.

Oh well, I checked my luggage to the hotel and I am off to gallivant SF. As I am walking along my old haunts, I realize I only vaguely remember a lot of what I must have walked past most every day when I worked here three years ago—is this sleep deprivation or am I stupid.. I was not gone long enough for things to change this much. I remembered things wrong. Now I am hungry and it is lunch time…I am going to find Rickenbaukers and get one of those famous steak sandwiches and look at old Harleys. But, where is Rickenbaukers….after walking around for a while my memory started to coalesce. It is as if my feet knew the way (or my stomach I am not sure which). I finally get to Rickenbaukers only to find out that it is closed on Sunday. Oh what horror….
Then I remember that I did the same thing the last time I was at JavaOne—two years before. Its funny how history repeats itself.

After not finding Rickenbaukers, I decided to eat at this SouthWest Mexican food chain restaurant. I am from the south west, and it is a big mistake to eat at chain mexican restaurants!—it only leads to disappointment.

I then register. And then go hunt for the booth. I don’t have a map so finding it was hard until I borrowed someone’s map only to find I was just about standing next to it

I get to the appointment (meeting at the booth to go over the schedule) early. Leave a note, and decide to crash on the bean bag chairs where I write this nice little story. Still too tired to be productive and too wired to sleep!

I found this in my archive of blog entries that I never posted. Here it is.

Going to JavaOne 2002

My journey started with less than two hours sleep. I was working on a project late Saturday night finished midnight, and then was too wired to sleep till 2 AM. Then I was up at 4 AM getting ready to leave by 4:30 AM. The project was supposed to be small around 8 hours of work thirty hours later and just before JavaOne I was done. Of course, this is not the way to start a journey, but seems typical. I could have finished the project early on Saturday but decided to spend the time with my family during the day.

I was catching a ride with my brother in law who works at the airport… no use spending the extra money on a cab. I am much more frugal after the Internet boom ended.

The plane ride was non-eventful. I had to fly to a hub then off to SF. I feel asleep whenever I could. It was in this state of semi-consciousness that I made my trip to JavaOne. I enjoy this state. I am most creative when I am forcing myself to stay conscience long enough to catch the next plan ride.

At the hub, I decided to get some Starbucks. This was a mistake. It caused me have to go through security checkpoint again. The line was much longer than I expected. Most people would worry. I quit worrying years ago when it almost killed me—now I do my best and go with the flow. Do your best and try to relax is my motto. The line moved fast and I got the plane while it was still boarding—guzzling my vente mocha all the way.

Drinking the mocha was a big mistake that I would soon regret. On the first leg of the trip I was able to sleep. Now I was fully loaded with enough sugar and caffeine to prevent any remote chance of sleep, but I was too tired to do anything productive—too many late nights were taking their toll. I tried to force sleep. It did not work.

Once I got to SFO, it was time to make it on over to the hotel. I was a bit early. I got there and I could not check in yet. I checked my bag and it was off to memory lane.

I worked in SF during the Internet boom. I worked in the media gulch district, which consisted of old sewing factories and warehouses that were converted into office space. The media gulch district was front and center during the any-lame-idea-can-get-venture-funding days of the Internet boom.

I was only half paying attention to where the hotel shuttle was going during the trip over from SFO. Now as I made it over to Moscone, I realized that I was much further than led to believe from our travel coordinator. Granted I was walking distance from Moscone, but I was told that I was right next to it. I was right next to Union Square. Pretty far if you are supposed to carry over stuff that was sent for the booth.

Oh well, I checked my luggage to the hotel and I am off to gallivant SF. As I am walking along my old haunts, I realize I only vaguely remember a lot of what I must have walked past most every day when I worked here three years ago—is this sleep deprivation or am I stupid.. I was not gone long enough for things to change this much. I remembered things wrong. Now I am hungry and it is lunch time…I am going to find Rickenbaukers and get one of those famous steak sandwiches and look at old Harleys. But, where is Rickenbaukers….after walking around for a while my memory started to coalesce. It is as if my feet knew the way (or my stomach I am not sure which). I finally get to Rickenbaukers only to find out that it is closed on Sunday. Oh what horror….
Then I remember that I did the same thing the last time I was at JavaOne—two years before. Its funny how history repeats itself.

After not finding Rickenbaukers, I decided to eat at this SouthWest Mexican food chain restaurant. I am from the south west, and it is a big mistake to eat at chain mexican restaurants!—it only leads to disappointment.

I then register. And then go hunt for the booth. I don’t have a map so finding it was hard until I borrowed someone’s map only to find I was just about standing next to it

I get to the appointment (meeting at the booth to go over the schedule) early. Leave a note, and decide to crash on the bean bag chairs where I write this nice little story. Still too tired to be productive and too wired to sleep!

Upgrade Your Staff

I wrote down my feeling about skill management and other stuff at the start of 2002. I found this stuff while I was sifting through a wounded laptop that I am replacing.
I thought I would share it.

Upgrade your staff

The dot boom went dot bust. According to Business week 2.0, this bust is a temporary thing due to wild speculation. They cite a study that compares the Internet speculation to the early speculation for railroads and canals in merry old England. The railroad and canals had periods of wild speculation, then a bust, then a long sustained growth cycle.

I remember the bad old days of the dot boom, when you could not get Java developers. The qualification for some places seemed to be a heart beat. A heart-beat developer could make close to six figures and get a hefty supply (about a gazillion) stock options. Finding talented developer during the glory days of the dot boom was tough to say the least.

I left a good job and went chasing the dot com dream. I was given a lot of stock options (about a gazillion—and no I am not a heart beat developer), which turned out to be worthless. I eventually wised up and moved back home, Tucson AZ. I gave up on the two-hour commute and the twelve-hour days.

The funny thing about most of these dot boom shops was that everyone seemed to be a little bit lost. Actually, it started with the management and trickled down to developers. Developer developed software on Internet time, which typically meant painting yourself into a corner. They worked crazy hours and often got nowhere.

The time ended, most shops can go beyond heart-beat developers. Perhaps it is time to upgrade your staff. I know that sounds pretty harsh. Before you judge me, consider there are some humane ways to upgrade your staff.

You could motivate your staff to transcend their current skill level. I think a combination of training, mentoring, pair programming, certification, study grouping and brown bag lunching has a way to motivate your staff to excel.. Remember, individuals will set and achieve goals, but your job as the Alpha Geek is to help motivate others to achieve goals. Your leadership can turn a ho-hum staff into a force to be reckoned with.

Ask yourself this, has every member of your team read the Design Patterns by Gamma et al. If not, why not! If your team is doing EJBs, have they read Mastering EJB by Ed Roman et al at a minimum or EJB Design Patterns and Idioms by Floyd Mariscuea for the more advance.. If your team members are not motivated to transcend their current skill level than they are bound to make costly mistakes. You must encourage this.

This is a two part series. The next part I will define the terms Alpha-Geek, brown bags lunches, mentoring, pair programming, certification, study groups etc.

I wrote down my feeling about skill management and other stuff at the start of 2002. I found this stuff while I was sifting through a wounded laptop that I am replacing.
I thought I would share it.

Upgrade your staff

The dot boom went dot bust. According to Business week 2.0, this bust is a temporary thing due to wild speculation. They cite a study that compares the Internet speculation to the early speculation for railroads and canals in merry old England. The railroad and canals had periods of wild speculation, then a bust, then a long sustained growth cycle.

I remember the bad old days of the dot boom, when you could not get Java developers. The qualification for some places seemed to be a heart beat. A heart-beat developer could make close to six figures and get a hefty supply (about a gazillion) stock options. Finding talented developer during the glory days of the dot boom was tough to say the least.

I left a good job and went chasing the dot com dream. I was given a lot of stock options (about a gazillion—and no I am not a heart beat developer), which turned out to be worthless. I eventually wised up and moved back home, Tucson AZ. I gave up on the two-hour commute and the twelve-hour days.

The funny thing about most of these dot boom shops was that everyone seemed to be a little bit lost. Actually, it started with the management and trickled down to developers. Developer developed software on Internet time, which typically meant painting yourself into a corner. They worked crazy hours and often got nowhere.

The time ended, most shops can go beyond heart-beat developers. Perhaps it is time to upgrade your staff. I know that sounds pretty harsh. Before you judge me, consider there are some humane ways to upgrade your staff.

You could motivate your staff to transcend their current skill level. I think a combination of training, mentoring, pair programming, certification, study grouping and brown bag lunching has a way to motivate your staff to excel.. Remember, individuals will set and achieve goals, but your job as the Alpha Geek is to help motivate others to achieve goals. Your leadership can turn a ho-hum staff into a force to be reckoned with.

Ask yourself this, has every member of your team read the Design Patterns by Gamma et al. If not, why not! If your team is doing EJBs, have they read Mastering EJB by Ed Roman et al at a minimum or EJB Design Patterns and Idioms by Floyd Mariscuea for the more advance.. If your team members are not motivated to transcend their current skill level than they are bound to make costly mistakes. You must encourage this.

This is a two part series. The next part I will define the terms Alpha-Geek, brown bags lunches, mentoring, pair programming, certification, study groups etc.

I wrote down my feeling about last year's JavaOne (March 2002), but I never shared them with anybody. Well my laptop is flaking out, and I am moving over a bunch of files and I read this, and thought I would share it.

JavaWon?

This year’s JavaOne (2002) was good. The technical session were, well, technical and for the most part the marketing spiels were kept to the exhibit hall. This is good. Developers will come to these. Attendance was lower than two years ago when I went, but that is expected. JavaOne is not the mosh pit that it used to be, but the mood was hopeful and upbeat.

I’ve been a fan of Java for a long time. It is a great language, which became a great platform for developing server-side code and I hear other stuff too (I’ve been known to do some Swing development on occasion). I like Java. I use Java. I am firmly in the Java camp at this time and for the past six years or so.

However, the keynotes were a little over the top. And, before I go into a long diatribe about Sun and Scott McNeally, let me say the following. Sun, IBM, et al did an excellent job of providing real choice in the market place.

I do not miss the days when in order to upgrade my first Java IDE (J++) I had to upgrade my operating system to Windows NT 4.0. The real ironic part of this IDE OS upgrade fiasco was that it was for Java and Java is suppose to be cross platform yet the IDE would not work on a later version of the same platform (boo hiss). By the way, I am a big Netbeans fan who is going to try out Eclispe. I like having the Java platform. I like having the choice of best of breed tools.

Apparently it is not enough to like Java and use it. According to Scott McNeally we must become “Java disciples”. Yes he said this in a keynote. I prefer not to mix politics at the office and tend not to be fanatical and dogmatic about technology.

I agree with Sun. Java is a platform. I have the deepest respect and admiration for Scott McNeally, but I don’t agree with him about discipleship. Java is not a religion. Scott McNeally is not a savior. And, Bill Gates is not the anti-savior. Perhaps in the Java Religion it is Jedi McNeally. I can’t decide if Bill Gates is the Borg or Darth Geek in McNeallyism.

First, if you are an IT decision maker, I will not trust you if you are dogmatic about a technology. The best way for Java to win is to continue to be the best technology. IT managers and business folks want the best ROI, i.e., the biggest bang for the buck not a bunch of dogmatic Sun worshippers.

McNeally referred to JavaOne as JavaWon. This may be true. But, the key to winning is not to quit fighting and not to be overconfident. Java is winning, but the battle is not over yet. Scott, the “great monopoly” likes it when companies get over confident.

Yes. I am sure you can spout statistics. Let me spout the past. I was an OS/2 zealot. I was using OS/2 to do Windows 3.1 development at time when Windows 3.1 seemed to crash every twenty minutes (at least for Windows developers). I used OS/2 Window on Windows (WOW) to restart Windows sessions when they died. I really like OS/2. I thought Windows NT was doomed to failure, and OS/2 would rein the supreme OS. I even went to OS/2 user group meetings. Well we all know what happened. Windows NT reined supreme and my IT manager rammed Windows NT down our throats.

Think about the fate of OS/2, Netscape, Novell, WordPerfect, Paradox, Lotus 123 and a long list of former market leaders. Now think about Windows NT/2000, Explorer, MS-Word, Access, Excel and more. To win against .Net is going to take a lot more than dogmatic disciples. Novell, OS/2, WordPerfect, Paradox had dogmatic disciples—it was not enough. It is too early to say Java won. The battle has just begun.

Java is going to have to remain the best technology for getting the job done. It is going to need billions of dollars in research and development and a real commitment (money) from the partner companies. I hope the seven-year head start will give Java some advantage. Java won in the past because companies like BEA, IBM, Sun, Oracle and more got together and competed against the great monopoly.

I am not saying that these companies have not made a major investment in Java. I am just saying that now is not the time to rest on their laurels. There is an 800-pound gorilla heading their way! (Fast forward March 2003, looks like they are doing a good job!)

And, the reality is .Net is very likely going to be a factor. It will attract developers. (Fast forward Mach 2003, not as many as I thought) Microsoft is throwing everything they got into the fray. The Java and .Net battle will benefit one technology. The real winner of this battle will be web services, the lingua franca for B2B and EAI.

One of the messages of this year’s JavaOne is that web services will become part of J2EE. SOAP, ebXML, UDDI, and more will all be supported by J2EE! The upcoming great development platform war will advance the cause of web services like no single platform could do alone. Let me repeat: The real winner of the great platform war will be web services!

If it is not, I hope web services will at least allow me to bridge between my Java applications and .Net applications written by Scott McNeally’s prodigal-sons, the .Net disciples—the Sith.

Given Microsoft’s past track record, might explain Scott’s demeanor. Granted, Microsoft bashing is a time-honored tradition at JavaOne. Typically, Scott does his fair share. In the past he seemed more upbeat about it. Now he seems more serious.

I wrote down my feeling about last year's JavaOne (March 2002), but I never shared them with anybody. Well my laptop is flaking out, and I am moving over a bunch of files and I read this, and thought I would share it.

JavaWon?

This year’s JavaOne (2002) was good. The technical session were, well, technical and for the most part the marketing spiels were kept to the exhibit hall. This is good. Developers will come to these. Attendance was lower than two years ago when I went, but that is expected. JavaOne is not the mosh pit that it used to be, but the mood was hopeful and upbeat.

I’ve been a fan of Java for a long time. It is a great language, which became a great platform for developing server-side code and I hear other stuff too (I’ve been known to do some Swing development on occasion). I like Java. I use Java. I am firmly in the Java camp at this time and for the past six years or so.

However, the keynotes were a little over the top. And, before I go into a long diatribe about Sun and Scott McNeally, let me say the following. Sun, IBM, et al did an excellent job of providing real choice in the market place.

I do not miss the days when in order to upgrade my first Java IDE (J++) I had to upgrade my operating system to Windows NT 4.0. The real ironic part of this IDE OS upgrade fiasco was that it was for Java and Java is suppose to be cross platform yet the IDE would not work on a later version of the same platform (boo hiss). By the way, I am a big Netbeans fan who is going to try out Eclispe. I like having the Java platform. I like having the choice of best of breed tools.

Apparently it is not enough to like Java and use it. According to Scott McNeally we must become “Java disciples”. Yes he said this in a keynote. I prefer not to mix politics at the office and tend not to be fanatical and dogmatic about technology.

I agree with Sun. Java is a platform. I have the deepest respect and admiration for Scott McNeally, but I don’t agree with him about discipleship. Java is not a religion. Scott McNeally is not a savior. And, Bill Gates is not the anti-savior. Perhaps in the Java Religion it is Jedi McNeally. I can’t decide if Bill Gates is the Borg or Darth Geek in McNeallyism.

First, if you are an IT decision maker, I will not trust you if you are dogmatic about a technology. The best way for Java to win is to continue to be the best technology. IT managers and business folks want the best ROI, i.e., the biggest bang for the buck not a bunch of dogmatic Sun worshippers.

McNeally referred to JavaOne as JavaWon. This may be true. But, the key to winning is not to quit fighting and not to be overconfident. Java is winning, but the battle is not over yet. Scott, the “great monopoly” likes it when companies get over confident.

Yes. I am sure you can spout statistics. Let me spout the past. I was an OS/2 zealot. I was using OS/2 to do Windows 3.1 development at time when Windows 3.1 seemed to crash every twenty minutes (at least for Windows developers). I used OS/2 Window on Windows (WOW) to restart Windows sessions when they died. I really like OS/2. I thought Windows NT was doomed to failure, and OS/2 would rein the supreme OS. I even went to OS/2 user group meetings. Well we all know what happened. Windows NT reined supreme and my IT manager rammed Windows NT down our throats.

Think about the fate of OS/2, Netscape, Novell, WordPerfect, Paradox, Lotus 123 and a long list of former market leaders. Now think about Windows NT/2000, Explorer, MS-Word, Access, Excel and more. To win against .Net is going to take a lot more than dogmatic disciples. Novell, OS/2, WordPerfect, Paradox had dogmatic disciples—it was not enough. It is too early to say Java won. The battle has just begun.

Java is going to have to remain the best technology for getting the job done. It is going to need billions of dollars in research and development and a real commitment (money) from the partner companies. I hope the seven-year head start will give Java some advantage. Java won in the past because companies like BEA, IBM, Sun, Oracle and more got together and competed against the great monopoly.

I am not saying that these companies have not made a major investment in Java. I am just saying that now is not the time to rest on their laurels. There is an 800-pound gorilla heading their way! (Fast forward March 2003, looks like they are doing a good job!)

And, the reality is .Net is very likely going to be a factor. It will attract developers. (Fast forward Mach 2003, not as many as I thought) Microsoft is throwing everything they got into the fray. The Java and .Net battle will benefit one technology. The real winner of this battle will be web services, the lingua franca for B2B and EAI.

One of the messages of this year’s JavaOne is that web services will become part of J2EE. SOAP, ebXML, UDDI, and more will all be supported by J2EE! The upcoming great development platform war will advance the cause of web services like no single platform could do alone. Let me repeat: The real winner of the great platform war will be web services!

If it is not, I hope web services will at least allow me to bridge between my Java applications and .Net applications written by Scott McNeally’s prodigal-sons, the .Net disciples—the Sith.

Given Microsoft’s past track record, might explain Scott’s demeanor. Granted, Microsoft bashing is a time-honored tradition at JavaOne. Typically, Scott does his fair share. In the past he seemed more upbeat about it. Now he seems more serious.

I saw two more of the tutorials that we worked on were recently released as follows:
Introduction to creating a Web service from a Java class , and Creating a Web service from a Stateless Session Bean.

These are both part of the WS series we worked on for IBM.

I saw two more of the tutorials that we worked on were recently released as follows:
Introduction to creating a Web service from a Java class , and Creating a Web service from a Stateless Session Bean.

These are both part of the WS series we worked on for IBM.

Web services tutorial

The Web services Tutorial on IBM WebSphere SDK for Web services V5.0 (WSDK) was just released.
WSDK Tutorial

The tutorial series focuses on JSR 101, JSR 109, J2EE, Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I), UDDI, Web services security (WS-Security) specification and more.

1) Introduction to Web services and the WSDK
Jacob Weintraub; Rick Hightower; Kyle Gabhart; Peter Schmitz; David Fraser
February 2003

This tutorial is the first part of an eight part tutorial series. The tutorial series introduces you to Web services concepts and technology, demonstrates how to practically apply them using the IBM WebSphere SDK for Web services V5.0 (WSDK), and explores the current state of Web services technology.

2) Introduction to Web services and the WSDK

XML Web services fundamentals
Downloading, installing, and running IBM WebSphere SDK for Web Services (WSDK)
SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI Primer
WSDK features and tools

3) Creating a Web service from a Java class

Introduction to JAX-RPC
Exposing a Java class as a Web service
Lab: Creating a Web service from a simple Java class
WSDK and JSR109 Components
Lab: Creating a Web service from Java class with complex types

4) Creating a Web service from a Stateless Session Bean (EJB)

Introduction to JSR109 and EJB
Exposing EJB as Web services
Lab: Creating a Web service from an EJB
Using EJBs as Web service clients
Lab: Creating a Web service EJB client
Describing Web Services: WSDL

5) Describing Web services with WSDL

WSDL Architecture (including messaging and encoding styles)
Mapping between WSDL and Java programming language
Digging in Deeper with WSDL and WSDL4j
Using the WSDK's WSDL2Java tool
Lab: Describing Web services

6) Publishing your Services: UDDI

The UDDI Publish API
Publish Process: Interface definition, implementation, WSDL generation, service publishing
Setting up the WSDK UDDI registry
Publishing services to the registry
Lab: Publishing Web services

7) Discovering Web services: UDDI

Digging in deeper with UDDI and UDDI4j
The UDDI Query API
The discovery process: Lookup, interface generation, and implementation
The WSDK, service discovery, and service invocation
Lab: Discovering Web services

8) Securing Web services

HTTP, HTTPS, and SSL3
Digital encryption and XML digital signatures
WS-Security
Securing a SOAP payload
Working with IBM XML Security Suite
Lab: Secure Web services


I've been checking out my buddies blog.... Erik Hatcher Blog Gee.... Why didn't they ask me to go kyaking? I wouldn't have gone, but hey it is the thought that counts. My last extreme sport was snow boarding. Okay okay.... it was not very extreme.... I never left the bunny slope, and I still hurt.

George sent me the patent number of the patent that we authored.

6,510,550

I am still a Java fan. I think .Net competition is making Java better.

JDK 1.5 is Java's answers to cool C# language features
Java Server Faces is Java's answers to the ASP.Net cool event model
IBM WSAD (and others) is Java's answer to Visual Studio .Net
Apache Axis and IBM WSDK is Java's answer to ASP.Net web services.

It's a boy! I just found out today that my wife and I are having a baby boy!
Lucas Richard Hightower is on the way.

I am speaking for the Complete Programmer Network series in Philly on April 11-13th and St. Louis on May
30-June 1st on the following sessions:


1) Title: J2EE development with XDoclet and Ant

Abstract: Covers developing J2EE components with XDoclet. XDoclet can drastically speed J2EE development by generating component support files by embedding meta data in what looks like JavaDoc tags of the component implementation. Demonstrates developing Custom Tags, Entity Beans, Session Beans, and Struts Actions with the assistance of XDoclet combined with Ant.


2) Title: Principles and Practices of Effective Developers

Abstract: Regardless of methodology or technology there are certain universal practices and principles of effective developers. Covers how to use these principles and practices to make effective decisions on methodology, technology selection and dealing with management, other developers and customers.


3) Title: Extending Struts: Bending Struts to fit your needs

Abstract: Okay you think you have mastered Struts, but you wish it could just do this one special thing? This session shows you how to go beyond the Struts basics to extend the framework to fit you needs. Struts was designed to be extensible. Learn how to extend it. Advance Struts topics about extending the framework using Struts plugins, and extending the Action Servlet, Custom Actions, the RequestProcessor, and more. This is an advanced topic that assumes previous knowledge of Struts.

4) Title: Advanced Struts:
Abstract: These are advanced topics that assumes previous knowledge of
Struts.
Advance Struts
* Uploading files with Struts Forms
* Defining your own custom tags using Struts
* Generating Struts config with XDoclet and Ant
* Using BeanUtils, and PropertyUtils
* Using Velocity instead of JSP for views
* Using JSTL instead of Struts tags for views
* Unit testing Struts Actions with Cactus
* Unit testing Struts based Custom Tags with Cactus

I am speaking at TheServerSide.com Sypmposium in June in Boston.

Java Web Services Update: IBM WSDK
Rick HighTower

Covers features, APIs and tools delivered with IBM's new Web Services Development Kit. IBM is really showing leadership wrt to Web Services, and new WSDK is way ahead of the curve in delivering on the vision of Web Services for Java developers. The new version of IBM's WSDK is going to release this year before the show. Specifically the WSDK is including features associated with JSR 109 and JSR 101 and additional work done by IBM wrt WSI. This session will cover those features with examples and follow up material.


J2EE development with XDoclet and Ant
Rick HighTower

Covers developing J2EE components with XDoclet. XDoclet can drastically speed J2EE development by generating component support files by embedding meta data in what looks like JavaDoc tags of the component implementation. Demonstrates developing Custom Tags, Entity Beans, Session Beans, and Struts Actions with the assistance of XDoclet combined with Ant.

They listed me as follows:

Rick Hightower. Author, Java Tools to Extreme Programming, Mastering Tomcat co-aurhor.
Presenting: Java Web Services Update: IBM WSDK and J2EE development with XDoclet and Ant

Opps... I am not the co author of Mastering Tomcat. I did author about 1/5 of the book Mastering Tomcat (2 large chapters). One of the presentations is based on the XDoclet material I created for the book. The other presentation is based on the IBM WSDK tutorials I contributed for.

I've been talking about this mysterious project for a while. I never gave it a name because it was top secret or so I thought. "LPc Tech Team Selected to author IBM developerWorks Web Services Tutorial Series" was on our website for the last month. I did not realize that it was public on our website since 1.17.03. The project that I was burning the midnight oil was the tutorials for the WSDK 5.0. I worked on the tutorial with Kyle Gabhart, David Fraser, Jacob Weintrub, Rawn Shah (editor of IBM developerWorks), Simon Nash (CTO of IBM Technology), Peter ? and quite a few others. It was a blast of a project to work on. And it was fun working with the newest and latest Web services tools from IBM. Download the WSDK 5 now!. They have really simplified Web service development a lot.


BTW WSDK stands for IBM WebSphere SDK for Web Services (WSDK) Version 5.0.

"WSDK 5.0 is designed to address the needs of experienced Java programmers who want to quickly learn how Web services can be created using existing Java components and achieve seamless integration with disparate systems. The WSDK combines the industry-leading expertise of IBM in Web services with the power and functionality of the IBM WebSphere Application Server 5.0 to offer a low-risk, affordable entry to Web services. Future versions will implement new Web services features in support of profiles and scenarios defined by the Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I.org)."

"Supporting the latest specifications for Web services including WS-Security, SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI, WSDK 5.0 can help you build and test Web services that can be optionally integrated with other legacy services using IBM WebSphere Studio V5.0, and deployed on industry-leading IBM WebSphere Application Server V5.0."

I met with Andy Barton and Nicholas Lesiecki for lunch. We ate at Gavi's. Andy and Nick are from eBlox (ebloX) and they have really tuned the eXtreme Programming for doing contract work and outsourcing of projects. Nick has a book coming out on aspectJ. I can't wait to get a copy.

I am trying to get them to do some project together. I hope they can work with us. They are a real asset to any team.

Too Extreme?

What is in a name? Too Extreme

I like everything about eXtreme Programming except the name. Why?

Here is how extreme is defined at dictionary.com:


extreme
adj.

1. Most remote in any direction; outermost or farthest: the extreme edge of the field.


2. Being in or attaining the greatest or highest degree; very intense: extreme pleasure; extreme pain.


3. Extending far beyond the norm: an extreme conservative. See Synonyms at excessive.


4. Of the greatest severity; drastic: took extreme measures to conserve fuel.


5. Sports.
   Very dangerous or difficult: extreme rafting.
   Participating or tending to participate in a very dangerous or difficult sport: an extreme skier.


6. Archaic. Final; last.

Went Kent Beck coined the term eXtreme Programming I think he meant the second definition as in very intense. However when most people think of extreme (thanks in a large part to Mountain Dew commercials) they think of third (beyond the norm) and the fifth (very dangerous or difficult).

The name eXtreme Programming is probably one of the reasons it is so well known (the name is powerful),
yet at times the biggest problem with adoption is sometimes the very name that made the movement popular.
eXtreme Programming is about quality not reckless danger and unwarranted risk. eXtreme Programming
is about an intense customer-centric, safe, and risk averse development.

I see shops that are in real pain. Yet management wont give eXtreme Programming a second thought
because in their mind it is associated with reckless, risky, sloppy development.
Nothing could be further from the truth, but how do you convince people of this

I did so well on the stuff I was suppose to do that they gave me a lot more stuff to do. Everything they gave me to do was already due (late). Jacob and I have been burning the midnight oil getting this project out the door. I worked all last night till 5 AM on the project, then this 9:30 AM Jacob had more stuff for me to do. I just finished (3:00 PM). I think I'll say hello to the wife and kids. Then work on the pile of paperwork (expense reports) that have been festering. LOL :o)

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh..... Two days late, but finally done. Not too shabby.... What is the difference between Friday COB and Sunday PM? Usually none, but there were folks waiting for it on the weekend. This project being part of a larger project. I was close.

When I thought the project needed just one more hour.... it took 9! Three hours of that on an International call. (A bit of long distance pair programming... more like pair debugging). Ahhh.... the joys of development.

Tired? Yes

Happy? Yes

Satisfied? Yes

Burnt out? Nothing a nice dinner with friends would not solve

Definition of a software developer with schedule problems....

Level 1 Schedule starts to slip.... what the hell I'll give up exercise (this is the easiest for me to give up).
Level 2 Schedule starts to slip... I'll give up some sleep... 8 hours a day is a waste of time anyway.
Level 3 Schedule starts to slip... I'll give up taking a full hour lunch... Cheetos and Root Beer is enough.
Level 4 Schedule starts to slip... I'll give up personal grooming... Who has got time for friends anyway.

Everyone knows when you unhealthy, sleep deprived, malnurished that you can develop so much faster. Ugh!

Is it too late to become a fire fighter?

David Fraser is one of the smartest developers I have ever worked with.
He can figure stuff out. He tries, tries and tries until he gets it.
He has not met an app server he could not configure. They all bend to his will.

Good Enough

Good Enough vs. Best Technical Solution

I hate purity for the sake of purity. I dogmatically dislike development dogma. Life is full of compromises. OO developments seeks to model real world concepts in life. Development must be full of compromises. How do you convey to fellow developers the need to provide business value as the primary concern? This means that often we have to sacrifice best to good enough. Or rather what is best for the customer instead of what is best for us or the purity of the project. We can always improve a system if it basically meets the customer needs. You can not improve a system if you tried to make it perfect and then the project was cancelled due to lateness. This is not to encourage sloth and sloppiness but to balance good with good enough. The best technical solutions has to be tempered with the technical solutions that is good enough but provides more of the features the customer wants. Timely delivery must be a key factor that is balanced with all of the other factors while never skimping on quality.

Not so Extreme

What if Extreme Programming was not extreme?

Effective Development Principles and Practices for all Methodologies

What if you could take the key principles and ideas from Extreme Programming and package them so that they could be more applicable to any type of process. As a consultant, I cannot always pick the process that the team has chosen. And, quite often there is a lot of resistance to the idea of Extreme Programming but not the ideas of Extreme Programming (read that again). Often times companies have already picked their process and best practices. Can you impact what is in place without causing massive political disruption? Extreme Programming causes much more resistance then it should. Can you seperate the idea of Extreme Programming from the ideas of Extreme Programming? Can you soften the tone of Extreme Programming so that it is not so "in your face different" than the accepted school of thought?

I think you can. According to dictionary.com a principle is "a basic truth, law, or assumption". Since Extreme Programming is based on principles for effective development, then these basic truths must apply to other methodologies and processes. Let's start by renaming this to Principles and Practices of Effective Developers. Then let's soften it to make it more palatable to people who would otherwise have a natural aversion to Extreme Programming. Since this paper is based on XP principles and for that matter agile programming assume all ideas are really variations of ideas presented by Kent Beck, Scott Ambler, Martin Fowler and the rest.

To begin, let's make the following assumption: The Ultimate goal in any software project is to deliver working software in a timely manner. The software should meet the customer’s needs and expectations (at least their needs).

There are many other ancillary goals to achieve this ultimate goal. In addition to many goals, there are many ways to meet those goals. To meet these goals you need to make some key decisions as follows:

• 
  "Reckless" coding vs. very disciplined
  
• 
  No design vs. Paralysis Analysis
  
  • When is it Paralysis Analysis?
    
  • Should all projects be treated equal?
    
  • Pace Maker Embedded Software vs. Online Catalog
    
  
  
  
• Use a Lightweight methodology or heavier weight?
  
  • Ad Hoc vs. RUP or SCRUM or FDD or XP
    
  • How do you identify what is heavy weight?
    
  
  
• Code-centric process vs. Document Centric
  
• How much design and documentation is enough?
  

For example: To what level you will design the project up front. The level of detail you put into the design has a relationship to how much feedback you can get back from your customer, and how catastrophic failure would be. For example, if you are writing embedded software for a pace maker, you cannot expect a trial and error approach. The specification, design and testing will all have to be very rigid. On the other hand, an online catalog is a lot less rigid. Often customers don’t know what they want until they can work with a working version, and you expect several iterations of changes (your process should reflect this).

Notice that the most of the choices above are degrees on a continuim. This is nice since they can be adjusted according the project, management style, corporate culture, etc. How do we adjust these? Are there principles to tell us?

The decisions above are not taken lightly. They are different depending on makeup of your team, corporate culture, and type of project you are working on. It is easy to advoacte a rigid process or methodology, but this will not work. Every methodology has its strengths and weaknesses, and no methodology (unchanged) fits every combination of project, corporate culture and team.

Purists and Evangelist be damned, there is no one size process and methodology that fits every organization, corporate culture and project. However, there are principles, values and practices applicable to all projects and are key to making decisions listed above. At times (as a consultant or even an employee), you do not always have the power to change the companies software process.

Now we agree on the goals. What are the things we value the most to reach those goals. Here are the 5 main values lifted mostly from Kent Beck with one stolen from Scott Ambler:

5 values of an Effective Developer

• Communication
  
  
  
  • Customer Centric, Stories (Use Cases, Feature Descriptions)
    
  • Shared Knowledge (Pair Programming), Task Estimation
    
  • Iteration Planning, Design sessions
    
  
  
• Simplicity
  
  
  
  • Choose simplest thing that will work
    
  • Choose the simplest design, technology, algorithm, technique
    
  
  
• Feedback
  
  
  
  • Small iterations, frequent deliveries
    
  • Pair programming/constant code review
    
  • Continuous integration, automated unit tests
    
  
  
• Courage
  
  
  
  • Courage to refactor, estimate, throw away bad code
    
  • Automated testing breeds courage to change code
    
  
  
• Humility
  
  
  
  • Trust, Constructive confrontation, Don’t underestimate peers
    
  • Value others skills: manager, project manager, customer, marketing
    
  • Arrogance: “Pointy hair boss”, “Dumb customers”, “Unrealistic Project manager”.
    
  • Senior vs. Junior; Cowboys okay (white hats only); Respect Individuality and Strengths of team members
    
  
  

Communication

:
It should be no surprise that communication should be valued. Any team larger than one needs effective communication. (Even a team that has one developer is larger than one: the customer makes two.) Let's cover some common forms of communication for an effective developer. Stories (Use Cases, Feature Descriptions, User Stories etc.): Have the customer help with the Stories. User Story become major milestones for completion; they communicate to the team the progress of the project. Customer Centric: Let the customer drive through user stories, iteration planning, feature requirements, etc. Prioritize user stories by doing the ones that provide the most business value first (customer picks). Shared Knowledge (Pair Programming, Knowledge Management): Working together is faster than working alone. Code is not reusable unless others know how to reuse it. Task Estimation: Estimate based on past performance. Be honest and task estimation gets easier as the project progresses. Iteration Planning: Refine Stories and estimate tasks for this iteration: work with the customer to do this. Stories are excellent goals for an iteration. If the story is too big, split into two or more stories. Or if the story can not be split split the story parts into two iterations. Design sessions: Design can be done during implementation if it helps you understand problem domain or during Iteration Planning if it helps plan the iteration. Design helps the team communicate ideas quickly. Design until you can proceed with code. Feedback: Feedback is very important. It is hard to judge where a project is and how much progress you are making without feedback. No feedback is like not having a compass. Small iterations, frequent deliveries: This shows that certain features of the system work, complete with unit tests that pass. Also the sooner the user (or marketing) can provide feedback, the more likely the project will stay on track.

Let it go; Don't be dogmatic

I don't see castrophic differences between Use Case Scenarios as compared to User Stories. Use Case Scenarios are much more detailed and are a bit more organized but the goal is very similar to User Stories. Both are used to break the project into milestones and are used to divide a project up into iterations (one for the Unified Process the other for Extreme Programming). From now on, I will refer to this concept as a User Story. Don't be dogmatic about Extreme Programming, RUP or any methodology. You have a better chance of improving your process gradually then you do by taking a dogmatic stance. For Example saying: "Use Cases suck. It is too complex. Let's just do User Stories" will not do much good in a RUP shop. Nothing can stop progress faster than making such a statement. Prefer gradualism. Most of principles of an Effective Developer can be flown under the radar with full support from management. Focus on gradual improvement not arguing or taking dogmatic stances. I agree that it is not as fun, but it is sure more productive.

7 Principles of an Effective Developer

1. Software is the primary Goal
   
   
   
   • Enabling secondary effort is secondary goal; Use before Reuse
     
   • Business value before elegance
     
   
   
2. Provide Rapid Feedback
   
   
   
   • fast feedback = ability to respond;
     
   • allow customers to steer process (if no customers then customer representative, I.e., marketing)
     
   
   
3. Assume Simplicity
   
   
   
   • every problem is simple until proven otherwise
     
   • != skipping design step; design should focus on current iteration only!
     
   • counter-intuitive to common thought on software design, reuse
     
   • Do not abuse technology, frameworks or design patterns
     
   
   
   
4. Make Incremental Changes
   
   
   
   • Do a little at a time; biggest bang for the buck:
     
   • Website: refactor most hit pages first
     
   
   
5. Embrace Change
   
   
   
   • Customer changes mind; Customers steer
     
   
   
6. Do Quality Work
   
   
   
   • Developers Prefer Quality work; Customer steers
     
   
   
7. Travel Light
   
   
   
   • Eliminate every process that does not aid in your primary goal
     
   • Minimalist
     
   
   
   

A working system that provides business value is the ultimate goal. The ability to provide more features, extend, and reuse is an important secondary goal: never cloud your primary goal! Don’t add code features until you need them. Don’t apply design patterns until you have to. In fact, the early application of Design Patterns is epedemic in many big design up front shops. This can slow development down to a crawl. (P.S. I believe in the utility of Design Patterns; just not how they get abused.)

Assume simplicity. Do not clutter the architecture with unneeded features. Try the simplest way first. Objects can be replaced. Concentrate on interfaces and collaboration not perfection or purity. The customer does not care if you used the latest buzzword technology or not. Their emphasis is on business value.

Make incremental changes. Avoid sweeping changes in architecture. If changes are needed, focus on providing the most business value. Test the water before diving in.

Complex systems are difficult to specify. Customers don’t know what they really want until they see what they don’t want. Embrace this. Don’t fight it. Let them drive what features are the most important and what gets done first. Projects that are 50% done but are useful to customers are better than projects that are “100% done” but nothing like the customer needs or wants.

Customers hate shoddy work. Developers hate delivering shoddy work. It feels good to deliver a solid system. Nothing breaks morale faster than delivering garbage.

Travel light by eliminating every process and task that does not aid the ultimate goal. Review your process often and improve on it. Evolve it.

12 Practices of an Effective Developer

1. Planning game: Do iterative development. Finish a story per iteration. If the story is too long, split it up. Try to keep the iterations short. Base task estimation on past experience of similar tasks. Calculate each developers task factor in ideal days. Add a factor for each developers estimation bias. Train developers to get closer and closer to ideal days. Developers should never excluded from planning (otherwise no buy in and no valuable input).
   
   
2. Small Release: The smaller the release; the sooner you get the feedback. Feedback is through customer using what you have completed.
   
   
3. Simple Designs : As simple as the project will allow. Add complexity only when needed through refactoring. Don’t try to guess reusable areas too early. Design until you understand the domain enough to build an iteration. Refine your design each iteration.
   
   
4. Automated Testing : A feature does not exist unless there is a test that proves it works. Try to catch most bugs before they hit QA. Then QA will allow less bugs to filter through to the customer. Every bug found gets a test case that can force it; then it is fixed.
   
   
5. Continuous Integration: Build, deploy and test in the integration environment often. The build does not work until all of the automated testing passes.
   
   
6. Refactoring : When you embrace change, you realize that it is harder to predict what the final set of features will be added or needed (Conversely, what you deliver will be what the customer needs). Thus many architecture decisions can and should be delayed. This delay allows you to write a working system sooner; and allows you to gain additional insight into the problem domain. Since the tests are setup before the code is written, refactoring is facilitated. Refactoring is usually triggered when adding a new feature to the system breaks the systems coherent design, I.e., when the code starts to stink.
   
   
7. Shared Knowledge : It is hard to reuse a piece of code you do not know exists. Sometimes the least effective way to share knowledge is through meetings and documentation. It is often easier to understand how a piece of code works by looking at a unit test case, reading an ad hoc description in WIKI, or pair programming than by looking at API docs. Pair programming is when two developers work on a task together after each task you switch partners. At first glance to many managers, this seems ineffective. However, it saves in duplication of efforts: reinventing the wheel. Less code to invent equates to less code to maintain and a simplified code base. The typical experience with many projects is vast acceleration of efforts and the production of a quality code base. You cannot reuse code if you do not know it exists. You cannot reuse code if you don’t know how to use it. The spread of project knowledge (domain and technology) by pair programming is viral and it is exponetially more effective than meetings. This is the main point folks miss about pair programming. The viral spread of knowledge. The other points about pair programming are secondary in my opinion.
   
   
8. Team Ownership: Team ownership is the teams collective ownership of the project. This allows project flexibility as any developer can be assigned to any piece of the system. This often requires that each developer be versant in many aspect of development, which generally improves morale but puts a heavy burden on the skill sets needed and training. This can be alleviated through shared knowledge: particularly through pair programming. Management should also be willing to train employees. (2 weeks of training per quarter; budgets allowing)
   
   
9. 40-hour week: How effective are you if you work 80 hours in one week? How effective are you if you do this several weeks in a row? What happens with the quality of the project? Occasional sprints are okay. But software development is a marathon race. Go home. Come back refreshed.
   
   
10. On-site customer representative: The customer representative, which can be the customer or marketing or someone else who advocates the customer interests effectively, needs to be active in the project. This is especially the case during the planning game.
    
    
11. Common Vision: You need to cultivate a common vision of the project with your customer. What does the project need to do? What is the vernacular of the domain? Are you using the customer-speak when you design and code the system?
    
    
12. Coding Standard: Variety is the spice of life; except for software development. Agree on a coding standard and enforce it. Be flexible; don’t get into the bracket wars (see humility value). This transcends naming conventions and digs into other metrics, e.g., average lines of code, how to handle exceptions, and the like.
    
    

    
    
    I am not done yet. But this is a good start an outline of where I want to go.
    
    Random Thought: If you think pair programming 100% of the time is a waste of resources. How about pair programming 25% or 10%?
    TODO: Discuss XP's design per iteration vs. UP's elaborate design per iteration?

I find that consultants at times have a hard time mentoring. The goals are a lot different. The mentors goal is to make himself obsolete, i.e., the company he is working for eventually does not need him. The contractors goal is to get more contracts. Contractors have this nasty way of multiplying. This is not to say that contractors are bad. They are not.