Java Enterprise Edition:
Integrating JSF, EJB and JPA

What is this course about?

This course covers the latest version of the Enterprise Edition of Java. Java EE 6 incorporates a number of technologies including JSF 2.0, EJB 3.1 and JPA 2.0, which make developing enterprise applications a simpler process. This course covers each of these technologies and how to integrate them into a coherent whole.

Who will benefit from this course?

This course is valuable for developers, software engineers, architects, IT managers and project leads who need to develop high performance enterprise applications with Java.

What background do I need?

This course assumes real-world programming experience at the level of Course 471, Java Programming: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction. Specifically, you should be able to:

• Understand Java classes and the inheritance model
• Be able to use the standard Java APIs
• Have some knowledge of Web technologies and HTML

What platform and software are used in the course?

The normal classroom setup uses PCs with Windows Server, Java 6, Java EE 6 and MySQL database. The skills you learn in this course also apply to UNIX and other operating systems.

Which IDE does this course use?

While this course uses the Eclipse IDE, focus is on Java EE concepts. The skills you learn are applicable to all IDEs.

Which application server is used in this course?

This course uses primarily Glassfish 3.0 as the application server. The emphasis is on Java EE 6 technology and the skills learned are transferable across other application servers, e.g. WebLogic and WebSphere and JBoss.

What are JSF, EJB and JPA?

JSF, or JavaServer Faces is a Sun standard for developing rich user interfaces to Web applications. The programming model is similar to Java Swing development, but for browser-based clients.

EJB 3, or Enterprise JavaBeans, is a lightweight approach to develop business logic using Plain Old Java Objects (POJO). It allows sophisticated services such as concurrency, transactions, security and remote access to be added in a seamless way.

JPA, or Java Persistence API, is a new persistence standard from Sun that enables POJOs to be stored and retrieved from a relational database without explicitly writing data access code. JPA can be used by standard and enterprise applications.

Does this course cover servlets and JSP (Java Server Pages)?

No. JSF deprecates JSP and recommends using Facelets. Facelets is a view technology which has significant benefits over JSP, one of which is speed.

If you are interested in more information on JSP and servlets, please see Course 570, Developing Java Web Applications: Hands-On.

I have a good working knowledge of Java EE 5, including EJB 3.0, JSF 1.2 and JPA 1.0. Will this course be valuable for me?

The key components of Java EE 5 remain in Java EE 6. The majority have simply been enhanced. The course assumes no knowledge of Java EE 5 so some of the material would be familiar. The key extra features you learn are Facelets, asynchronous EJB's, EJB Lite, and dependency injection to build on your existing skills.

How much time is devoted to each topic?

What kinds of hands-on exercises are in this course?

Approximately 40 percent of this course is devoted to hands-on exercises, allowing you to develop your skills with Java EE 5. Exercises include:

• Building rich Web-based interfaces using JSF components
• Generating responsive user interfaces with Ajax
• Creating scalable objects using Session Beans
• Storing and retrieving data objects with JPA
• Persisting complex object relationships using appropriate strategies
• Extracting persistent data using JPQL
• Building asynchronous message receivers with MDB
• Managing complex transaction and security requirements with annotations

How does this course relate to other Learning Tree courses?

Learning Tree offers a number of courses that will help you expand upon the knowledge gained in this course and further your skills in several key areas. Those courses include:

• 517, Developing Enterprise Java Applications with Spring and Hibernate®: Hands-On 
• 570, Developing Java Web Applications: Hands-On 
• 318, Building Java Enterprise Applications with Design Patterns: Hands-On 
• 577, Building XML Web Services with Java: Hands-On 
• 516, Best Practices in Java Programming: Hands-On 
• 340, Project Management for Software Development 
• 287, Complex Project Management 
• 1200, Cloud Computing Technologies: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction 
• 2771, Developing Applications for AndroidTM Devices: Hands-On