Table of Contents

Part 1  Using basic Tapestry components   1

1  Introducing Tapestry   3

1.1 What are web applications? 5

1.2 What are Java servlets? 7

Understanding servlet multithreading 9

Managing server-side state 10

Using Struts with servlets 12

Understanding the limitations of servlets 12

1.3 Why do we need Tapestry? 16

What is a framework? 16

What is a component? 17

What is Tapestry? 18

Comparing Tapestry to Swing 21

1.4 Understanding Tapestry?s goals 22

Simplicity 22

Consistency 22

Efficiency 23

Feedback 23

1.5 How does Tapestry work? 25

What?s in a Tapestry application? 27

Tapestry?s Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern 29

Tapestry classes 33

1.6 Using Spindle 35

1.7 Summary 37

2  Getting started with Tapestry   38

2.1 Introducing the Hangman application 39

Determining the application flow 41

Creating page mockups 42

Defining the domain objects 44

Defining the pages 49

2.2 Developing the Home page 51

Understanding the Home page specification 52

Rendering the Home page 54

Defining the Home page class 57

Examining the Visit object 60

2.3 Implementing the Home page using standard servlets 62

2.4 Developing the Guess page 65

Displaying the remaining guesses 73

Generating the guessed word display 79

Selecting guesses 83

2.5 Developing the Win and Lose pages 89

2.6 Configuring the web.xml deployment descriptor 89

2.7 Summary 91

3  Tapestry and HTML forms   92

3.1 Understanding HTML forms 93

3.2 Creating a simple login form 96

Implementing the Login page class 99

Using specified properties 101

3.3 Understanding the Form component 103

Developing forms without Tapestry 103

Developing forms with Tapestry 105

Handling form submissions 108

3.4 Using basic form control components 109

Understanding the essentials 110

The Checkbox component 111

Radio and RadioGroup components 111

Select and Option components 113

Submit and ImageSubmit components 118

3.5 Creating a to-do list 120

Defining the data object 121

Creating the ToDo HTML template 122

Specifying properties in the page specification 125

Initializing the toDoList property 126

Handling reordering 127

Deleting completed items 128

Triggering stale links 129

3.6 Summary 132

4  Advanced form components   133

4.1 Introducing the advanced form components 134

4.2 Creating drop-down lists with PropertySelection 134

Adding priority levels to the ToDo application 136

Updating the HTML template 138

Implementing the page class 139

Implementing the model 140

Using enums instead of integers 144

4.3 Recording data in the form with Hidden 148

4.4 Looping within a form using ListEdit 151

Using the ListEditMap 153

Using ListEdit in the ToDo application 154

4.5 Handling file uploads 160

4.6 Creating pop-up date selections using DatePicker 165

4.7 Summary 168

5  Form input validation   169

5.1 Validating user input 170

Using FieldLabels in conjunction with ValidFields 173

Using validators 173

Using validation delegates 174

Using helper beans 178

5.2 Building the Register page 179

Creating the Register HTML template 181

Creating the Register page specification 189

5.3 Validating input based on regular expressions 195

5.4 Customizing label and field decorations 199

5.5 Enabling client-side validation 202

5.6 Handling form-level validations 205

5.7 Using validation without ValidField 208

5.8 Summary 211

Part 2  Creating Tapestry components   213

6  Creating reusable components   215

6.1 Creating simple template components 216

6.2 Creating the component specification 219

Specifying the component?s Java class 219

Discarding the component?s body 220

Forbidding informal parameters 221

Declaring parameters 222

Reserving names 230

6.3 Creating the Digit and Scaffold components 230

Specifying the digit parameter 232

Using the digit parameter 232

Creating the template 233

Using the Digit component 233

Using the Scaffold component 234

6.4 Creating the Letter component 234

Specifying the Letter component 235

Implementing the Letter component 236

Using the Letter component 237

6.5 Building the Spell component 238

Implementing the Spell component 239

Using the Spell component 240

6.6 Building the Border component 242

Creating the Border template 243

Creating the Border specification 244

Using the Border component 244

6.7 Creating interactive, reusable components 246

Introducing the Pet Store image map 246

Specifying the DirectArea component 247

Implementing the DirectArea component 248

Using the DirectArea component 252

6.8 Using component libraries 254

Declaring libraries 254

Referencing library components 256

6.9 Packaging components into libraries 261

Creating the library specification 262

Creating the library specification 264

Creating the FormError component 264

Using the FormError component 267

6.10 Summary 268

7  Tapestry under the hood   269

7.1 Processing requests 270

7.2 Understanding the application servlet 271

Servlet request processing 271

Understanding server-side state 272

Managing server-side state in a cluster 274

7.3 Understanding the Tapestry engine 277

7.4 Understanding engine services 279

What?s the problem with application URLs? 279

How does Tapestry handle application operations? 280

Using the home service 281

Rendering pages with the page service 283

Linking to listener methods with the direct service 284

Creating bookmarkable links using the external service 290

7.5 Page rendering in detail 291

Using markup writers 292

Going beyond HTML 295

Understanding the page-rendering sequence 297

Using page-rendering events 297

7.6 Loading and pooling pages 299

Retrieving pages from the pool 300

Creating new page instances 302

Returning pages to the pool 304

7.7 Using persistent page properties 306

7.8 Using specified properties 308

7.9 Localizing Tapestry applications 309

Using Java localization 310

Using Tapestry?s localization features 311

7.10 Summary 321

8  Advanced techniques   322

8.1 Creating new engine services 323

Defining a banner ad system 324

Defining the data model 326

Accessing the data model as an application extension 328

Implementing the BannerAd component 329

Implementing the banner service 332

Creating the library specification 336

Building a banner ad application 337

8.2 Client-side scripting 339

Defining the CreditCardField component 341

Working with the Body component 344

Creating the Tapestry script specification 345

Creating the CreditCardField specification 355

Creating the CreditCardField component 356

Using the component 368

8.3Integrating with JavaServer Pages 369

Redirecting to a JSP 369

Linking JSPs to Tapestry pages 371

Submitting JSP forms into Tapestry 375

8.4 Summary 379

Part 3  Building complete Tapestry applications   381

9  Putting it all together   383

9.1 Introducing the Virtual Library 384

9.2 Performing searches 385

Changing the table sort order 387

Paging through the results 387

9.3 Logging in and registering 388

9.4 Borrowing books 389

9.5 Getting details about books and persons 390

Viewing book details 390

Viewing a person 392

9.6 Managing your books 393

Editing a book 394

Deleting a book 395

Returning books 395

Adding a new book 396

Editing your profile 396

Giving away books 396

9.7 Administering the Virtual Library 399

Editing users 399

Editing publishers 400

Transferring books 400

9.8 Summary 402

10  Implementing a Tapestry application   403

10.1 Looking at the application layers 404

10.2 Organizing EJB access 406

Handling authentication 407

Accessing Enterprise JavaBeans 407

Tracking user identity with the Visit object 407

Understanding page inheritance 410

10.3 Implementing the Search page 413

Identifying application-specific components 415

Referencing the engine 416

Specifying the page class and properties 417

Performing searches 418

10.4 Implementing the BookMatches page 419

Handling paging and column sorting 420

Using the Browser component 425

Executing queries and re-queries 426

10.5 Implementing the Browser component 430

Specifying Browser?s parameters 430

Getting results from the BookQuery bean 432

Rendering the Browser component 433

10.6 Implementing the ColumnSorter component 434

Creating the ColumnSorter HTML template 434

Specifying ColumnSorter parameters 435

Responding to the user 437

10.7 Implementing the Border component 438

Handling user login 442

Linking to MyLibrary 443

10.8 Authenticating the user 445

Remembering the user 446

Clearing the password field 447

Invoking the login operation 449

10.9 Creating bookmarkable links 449

Creating the BookLink component 450

Displaying the Book on the ViewBook page 451

Creating the PersonLink component 453

Displaying the Person 455

10.10 Editing a Book 457

Tracking the Book ID 459

Generating dynamic JavaScript 460

10.11 Giving books away 463

10.12 Editing the publishers 464

Constructing the EditPublishers template 464

Declaring properties for the EditPublishers page 465

Creating the ListEditMap 467

Updating the publishers 469

10.13 Editing the list of users 470

Creating the ListEditMap subclass 471

Handling the form submission 472

10.14 Creating the web deployment descriptor 474

Deploying web applications as root 476

Deploying an enterprise application as root 476

10.15 Wrapping it all up 477

A  Getting involved with Tapestry   479

B  Building the examples with Ant   485

C  Tapestry component reference   493

D  Tapestry specifications   516

index 537