software design

The author is knowledgeable but does not present the material in a clear, coherent manner, especially for those new to Struts development (which you probably are if you're reading this book). I never really "got" Struts after reading this book cover-to-cover. That is to say, there's no way I could create even a simple working Struts application from scratch. Here's my two main complaints:

1. The book is organized very poorly. For example, although throughout the book we've been seing ActionForms used in code, it's not until page 175 that we get "What Are ActionForms?" The IStorefrontService interface is finally described on page 158, even though it's been seen multiple times previously without any explanation as to what it is. On page 230, the author writes "I've mentioned the UserContainer and ApplicationContainer classes in previous chapters without defining exactly what they are." So the pattern is that things are just foisted upon the reader inside code listings with no explanation and no reference. Sometimes they are finally described hundreds of pages later, sometimes not. In-between are many pages of useful information, but that would have better been left for future chapters. We learn lots about how to extend Struts before we even know how the basics of it work. That makes no sense if you are looking for a tutorial. Needless to say, it's pretty confusing to look at stuff that isn't explained. Terrible.

2. There is no step-by-step creation of a working application here. I made the mistake of thinking there was by skimming the book, but the code is largely given in unconnected fragments, often without a reference to even what file it is supposed to go in (some code relates to no actual project at all). There are two applications presented (a bank account manager, and a shopping cart tool), but again it's almost impossible to create and configure what's in the book into working applications. Sure, you can download completed applications from a web site and try to decipher them on your own, but the fact that only bits and pieces of the code are in the book, with little or no methodology, is lazy.

To be fair, there are some pretty good chapters on ancillary topics, such as Business Objects and Object Persistence, Struts Tag Libraries, Tiles, and Logging. This information will be useful, but not before you can build a working Struts app to apply it to. I think it's a shame because with a little more thought from the user's perspective towards organization/editing, this could have been a really good book. If you already kind of know Struts, I would pick it up to augment your knowledge (perhaps in that instance I'd give it four stars), but I cannot recommend it for the Struts beginner. Sadly, I have not found a single Struts book or online tutorial yet that succinctly and sufficiently explains it to someone with no previous experience. I'm almost tempted to try the Tapestry framework instead...even though the documentation is horrible, the product looks easier to use.

Overall Rating: Well done! This book will be a valuable teaching and reference tool.
Teaching Value: Excellent! An essential book on this topic.
Reference Value: A complete reference. I would not need any additional reference on this topic.

This book presents an explanation of Struts that is both easy to comprehend and one that follows the design process from beginning to end. It's a complete guide to the Struts project, taking developers through concepts, design and implementation and explains the Model 2 design pattern in depth.

Installation and setup are thoroughly documented, and every configuration option is clearly explained. JSP programming within the context of Struts is explored, with tons of practical examples that use both the standard JSP tag libraries and Struts additions. You'll also become adept at programming multitiered applications, interacting with EJBs from struts applications, and handling complex validation and logging through the Struts provided packages and tools. Also covers how to create your own rules and to use it outside of Struts.

Whether you've been struggling with Struts, or you want to get started in Model 2 programming, or you're an advanced Struts programmer wanting to fully exploit this powerful framework, overall I'd say this is an excellent resource.

[A review of the Second Edition]

The first version of Struts was enthusiastically received by the Java community. Its easy factorisation of GUI coding and back end business logic, in a fashion that built upon existing Model-View-Controller approaches, proved compelling. So too, of course, was its free, open source nature.

As experience was gained, Struts was upgraded to version 1.1, which this book fully discusses, in the typical competent O'Reilly tradition that readers will be familiar with. If you are still using Struts 1.0, and have no inclination to migrate, then you probably don't need this book. But Cavaness suggests that you should give 1.1 a consideration, and this book is persuasive argument.

Some chapters are useful, but mundane, like those on internationalisation, exception handling and logging. Definitely important capabilities. So much so that you can reasonably expect any major application to have these. The only question is, how exactly does it enable them? Struts handles these quite capably.

I have not read the first edition of this book. But this edition indeed seems very comprehensive and useful.