|
|
|
|
News - Articles/Tutorials/Code/Reviews - JSP/Servlet Hosting Companies - Links |
|
HTTP://WWW.JSPInsider.com/ .
___________________________ Sponsors ________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Amberjack Software LLC.
_____________________________________________________________________
***** IN THIS ISSUE **************************************************
News
1:Release of Tomcat 3.2
2:Opera to Fan the Browser War Flames
3:Reporter's Fake Job Irks Real Dot-Com
Rambles
1:Features and Notes for the Tomcat 3.2 Upgrade
2:Disabling the Back Button
Links
1:OmahaSteaks.com: Using Java and Linux
2:Dive into Connection Pooling with J2EE
3:Astounding Web Sites
4:Hans's Top Ten JSP Tips
5:Java Web Start
6:A Discussion on Java Web Start
7:Open Source Forum Programs: eForum and Jive 2
8:Developing XML Solutions with JavaServer Pages Technology
Like this newsletter? Tell a friend about the JSP Buzz!
================================================================
THE LATEST NEWS
================================================================
1) Release of Tomcat 3.2 (Final) (11.29.2000)
The final version of Tomcat 3.2 has been released. This version
of Tomcat supports the Java Servlet 2.2 and JavaServer Pages 1.1
specifications.
2) Opera to Fan the Browser War Flames (12.01.2000)
Tomorrow it is expected that Opera 5 will be released as a free browser.
Stay tuned. Things are getting very interesting!
3) Reporter's Fake Job Irks Real Dot-Com (12/01/2000)
This is a story about an imposter who started his own job at a Dot-Com
and then wrote up an article describing his three weeks at the job. I
don't know what I like more about this story --- the fact that you can
just skip the interview and start working for a company, or the
pleasant reminder that the weakest part of all security is the
human element.
================================================================
Rambles by Casey Kochmer
================================================================
********* Features and Notes of the Tomcat 3.2 Upgrade ***********
Preparing to upgrade to Tomcat 3.2? I recently did. Here's the benefit
of my experience. To begin with, in addition to downloading the Tomcat
zip file, you will most likely also want to download the mod_jk.dll file.
Upgrading from Tomcat 3.1 to 3.2 is a simple procedure. In my case, I
used the following steps:
1) Made a backup of Tomcat 3.1.
2) Installed Tomcat 3.2 over my old Tomcat 3.1.
3) Moved my project web site directories from my backup copy into
the new webapps directory.
4) Updated the new server.xml configuration file to add my web sites
in their own Context section.
5) Double checked that my Apache web server was appending the correct
Tomcat configuration additions (which it was, so I didn't need to
do anything).
It was a 10 minute install and everything worked perfectly. After
testing everything with the old mod_Jserv dll I decided to upgrade
to the new mod_jk.dll file using these additional steps:
6) Downloaded the mod_jk.dll file which can be found in a subdirectory
at the location of the Tomcat install.
7) Loaded the Tomcat documentation and followed the directions found
in the "Working with mod_jk" section.
8) Removed my Tomcat configuration additions from step 5.
9) Added in the new mod_jk.conf-auto configuration to my Apache
configuration.
Again everything worked flawlessly. So I recommend switching to using the
new mod_jk.dll file.
Reasons to upgrade to Tomcat 3.2 include:
-Overall improved performance. (As far as speed is concerned,
I am not seeing any speed differences on a few test pages or
my normal web site pages.)
-Supports -webapp parameter to precompile a whole web-application.
-ALL URL's are case sensitive now, even in NT! This is a very
welcome change. Porting from NT to Unix was a major hassle due
to case sensitivity issues. With Tomcat forcing case sensitivity
everywhere, migration between platforms will be smoother. If you
are a NT User and are having problems with Tomcat 3.2, this is
the most likely reason for your problems.
-Better documentation with more information to solve Tomcat
installation problems. The documentation has been greatly improved
over the previous documentation set. As a result, installing this
version of Tomcat is much easier.
-Support for mod_jk, which replaces the older mod_jserv. Mod_jk
is a new Tomcat-Apache plug-in that handles the communication
between Tomcat and Apache. One advantage with mod_jk is that
Tomcat now supports HTTPS.
So, all in all, Tomcat 3.2 earns a big thumbs up from me!
****************** Disabling the Back Button *******************
A common problem most web application developers will encounter is
the one a browser's "back" button introduces to certain processes. The
ability of a user to jump back in the middle of a critical logical
process can be both disruptive and dangerous if not handled correctly.
Now the simple and quick answer is you can't fully disable the back
button of the browser.
A web application should be designed so the back button isn't an issue
within the logical processing. This means redefining the scope of the
logical process. For example, it could require moving from multiple
pages to a single DHTML page; flipping internally between forms within
a single page; or tracking the logical steps more closely and rejecting a
request which is out of sequence. From a usability perspective, it would be
a mistake to remove the back button. If removed, the user would lose a
standard navigation element which they are expecting to exist. This means
removal of the back button could introduce a high degree of confusion
for your web application user.
So instead of removing the back button or using one of the tricks to
limit the power of the back button, redefine the logical process to fit
the internet browser model.
Reference Materials:
[Article] Disabling the Back Button. (Akhilesh Reddy 11/15/2000)
Note: This article is written for ASP but everything in it may be
applied to JSP with little or no conversion effort.
================================================================
Links of Interest
================================================================
[Case Study] OmahaSteaks.com: Using Java and Linux (Sun 12/2000)
This is a case study of a company building a servlet based system.
While I would have preferred more information, I still found the
article interesting from the point of view of what was required to
load balance the site. Also, the use of XHTML in the middle tier
caught my eye.
[Article] Dive into Connection Pooling with J2EE (Siva Visveswaran 10.1.2000)
Connection pooling is a method for sharing server resources among
requesting clients. Siva examines connection pooling for both database
resources and non-database resources. Java 2 Enterprise Edition has
several mechanisms for handling resource pooling. This article has a
brief review of pooling using JDBC 2.0, JMS 1.02 and JNDI 1.2 Standard
Extension APIs.
[Site] Astounding Web Sites
This online community was created to honor the best design, writing
and programming on the web. This site uses peer review as a process
for finding and promoting excellence on the web. While not many web
applications are featured here, it's still fun to see the various
sites and get a feel for what people like on the web. It is also a
good illustration of the wide divide that still stands between
web applications and the more trendy, flash style of sites.
[Article] Hans's Top Ten JSP Tips (Hans Bergsten 11.20.2000)
In this article, Hans answers the most frequently asked questions in
JSP. It is nicely written and a good source of information for the new
JSP programmer.
[Product] Java Web Start (Sun)
With Java Web Start, Java applications may be launched simply by clicking
on a web page link. If the application is not already on your computer,
Web Start will automatically download all necessary files. It then caches
the files on your computer so the application is always ready to be
relaunched anytime. The main design goal of Java Web Start was to provide
ease-of-use to the end user and secure web deployment.
[Discussion] A Discussion on Java Web Start (Sun 11.28.2000)
The transcript of a live discussion about Java Web Start.
[Open Source] Open Source Forum Programs: eForum and Jive 2
I couldn't decide on a single open source program to list this month.
Instead, here are two solid open source Servlet-based forum programs.
[Article] Developing XML Solutions with JavaServer Pages Technology (Sun)
Using JSP and XML together is a perfect match of technologies. JSP
can quickly and efficiently generate documents that contain XML markup.
Also, JSP can access all the Java tools which have been built to parse
and transform XML messages and documents. This article examines these
and other uses of JSP and XML.
================================================================
SUBSCRIPTION
================================================================
You may unsubscribe from or subscribe to this newsletter by going to:
http://www.jspinsider.com/jspbuzz/index.html
Browse all of the JSP Insider source-code.
Questions or comments? Contact support@jspinsider.com.
Copyright © 2002 Amberjack Software LLC.