What is this book about?

Open source technology enables you to build customized enterprise portal frameworks with more flexibility and fewer limitations. This book explains the fundamentals of a powerful set of open source tools and shows you how to use them.

An outstanding team of authors provides a complete tutorial and reference guide to Java Portlet API, Lucene, James, and Slide, taking you step-by-step through constructing and deploying portal applications. You trace the anatomy of a search engine and understand the Lucene query syntax, set up Apache James configuration for a variety of servers, explore object to relational mapping concepts with Jakarta OJB, and acquire many other skills necessary to create J2EE portals uniquely suited to the needs of your organization.

Loaded with code-intensive examples of portal applications, this book offers you the know-how to free your development process from the restrictions of pre-packaged solutions.

What does this book cover?

Here's what you will learn in this book:

How to evaluate business requirements and plan the portalHow to develop an effective browser environmentHow to provide a search engine, messaging, database inquiry, and content management services in an integrated portal applicationHow to develop Web services for the portalHow to monitor, test, and administer the portalHow to create portlet applications compliant with the Java Portlet APIHow to reduce the possibility of errors while managing the portal to accommodate changeHow to plan for the next generation application portal

Who is this book for?

This book is for professional Java developers who have some experience in portal development and want to take advantage of the options offered by open source tools.

W. Clay Richardson is a software consultant specializing in distributed solutions, particularly portal solutions. He has fielded multiple open-source Web and portal solutions, serving in roles ranging from senior architect to development lead. He is a co-author ofMore Java Pitfalls, also published by Wiley& Sons. As an adjunct professor of computer science for Virginia Tech, he teaches graduate-level coursework in object-oriented development with Java. He holds degrees from Virginia Tech and the Virginia Military Institute.

Donald Avondolio is a software consultant with over seventeen years of experience developing and deploying enterprise applications. He began his career in the aerospace industry developing programs for flight simulators, and later became an independent contractor, crafting healthcare middleware and low-level device drivers for an assortment of mechanical devices. Most recently, he has built e-commerce applications for numerous high-profile companies, including The Home Depot, Federal Computer Week, the U.S. Postal Service, and General Electric. He is currently a technical architect and developer on several portal deployments. Don also serves as an adjunct professor at Virginia Tech, where he teaches progressive object-oriented design and development methodologies, with an emphasis on patterns.

Joe Vitale has been working with the latest cutting-edge Java technology intensely. His most recent focus has been on Java portals and object-relational mapping tools. One of these projects was writing a content management system that contained role-based authentication of users and the capability for users to upload, delete, and manage files, and secure resources. The whole system was designed to plug right into a portals interface and enable the portal to directly communicate with it to obtain its resources. Object-relational mapping technologies have also been a focus, using Apaches Object Relational Bridge (OJB).

Peter Len has over seven years experience performing Web-based and Java application development in a client-server environment. He has designed, coded, and implemented data and Web site components for each aspect of a three-tier architecture. Mr. Len has been developing with Java for over five years and has recently been involved with portal and Web-service development. He holds a masters degree in both international affairs and computer information systems.

Kevin T. Smith is a technical director and principal software architect at McDonald Bradley, Inc., where he develops security solutions for Web servicebased systems. He has focused his career on building enterprise solutions based on open-source tools. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science, software systems engineering, and information security. He has taught undergraduate courses in computer science, given technical presentations on Web services and Java programming at numerous technology conferences, and authored several technical books, includingEssential XUL Programming (Wiley 2001),More Java Pitfalls (Wiley 2003), andThe Semantic Web: A Guide to the Future of XML, Web Services, and Knowledge Management (Wiley 2003).

Acknowledgments.

Introduction.

Part I: Open Source Portals.

Chapter 1: The Java Portlet API (JSR 168).

Chapter 2: Searching with Lucene.

Chapter 3: Messaging with Apache James.

Chapter 4: Object to Relational Mapping with Apache OJB.

Chapter 5: Content Management with Jakartas Slide.

Chapter 6: Portal Security.

Part II: How to Build a Portal.

Chapter 7: Planning for Portal Deployment.

Chapter 8: Effective Client-Side Development Using JavaScript.

Chapter 9: Developing Applications and Workflow for Your Portal.

Chapter 10: Portlet Integration with Web Services.

Chapter 11: Performance Testing, Administering, and Monitoring Your Portal.

Chapter 12: Unifying the Enterprise Application Space Through Web Start.

Summary.

References.

Index.