JavaServer Faces 2.0 – The Complete Reference Book Review

This book is aimed at intermediate (and above) Java programmers who wish to use JavaServer Faces technology in their web applications. It's a comprehensive guide that shows new JSF developers how to get started as well as provides in-depth details to those with more advanced knowledge. If you're interested in JSF you'll find this an excellent resource.

The authors wrote the previous edition covering JSF 1.0 and JSF 1.2 and have now revamped the book to incorporate the significant changes in JSF 2.0. This book follows the same three part format, focusing on the JavaServer Faces Framework, Extending JavaServer Faces, and the JavaServer Faces Tools and Libraries.

Part one breaks down the JavaServer Faces framework to look at:

• the JSF request processing lifecycle
• the Facelets view declaration language
• managed beans and the JSF expression language
• the navigation model
• the UI component mode
• converting and validating data
• the JSF event model

Part two looks at extending JavaServer Faces by:

• building custom UI components
• JSF and AJAX
• building non-UI custom components
• securing JavaServer Faces applications

Part three is an extensive breakdown of configuring JSF applications and the standard JSF component library. Each section explains the different elements and tags, looking at each attribute and giving usage examples. There’s also a section at the end for developing JSF portlets.

Throughout the chapters example applications are provided to show the different JSF concepts and in some cases modified through several stages. The examples, which can be downloaded online, are not broken down in a step-by-step manner as it’s assumed that the reader has enough Java knowledge to be able to focus solely on JSF. This isn’t a book for beginner Java developers unless they are confident of filling in the gaps themselves.

However, there is no need for any previous knowledge of JSF as the topics go from the high level concepts to getting dirty with code. This approach will suit the JSF beginner just as easily as those who has used JSF before. The writing style is easy to follow and peppered with the reasons behind the Expert Group decisions. This gives the JSF concepts and examples a nice context to fit into.

Overall this book is a good introduction into JSF, providing a useful guide into the changes made for version 2.0, and a handy reference for the JSF tools and libraries.

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.