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Oracle ADF 11gR2 Development Beginner's Guide

Chapter 1. Installing and Configuring JDeveloper IDE

Developing a web application using ADF is fun, and the most interesting part is to work in an integrated development environment such as JDeveloper IDE. JDeveloper IDE imparts a declarative environment and supports an end-to-end development life cycle for an enterprise application using ADF. JDeveloper has been designed to interact efficiently with most of the technologies.

JDeveloper has undergone several phases of changes/versions, and it is now the prominent, most preferred IDE for developing web applications using Oracle technologies, especially ADF. The latest version of JDeveloper available in the market is 11gR2 with the release Version 11.1.2.3.0. The advantage of the JDeveloper 11gR2 release 11.1.2.3.0 is that it supports the development of mobile applications for iOS and Android mobile devices.

In this chapter, we will learn how to:

Install JDeveloper on Windows
Work with the IDE
Get familiar with the IDE components

Time for action – downloading the installer

JDeveloper 11gR2 Studio Edition is free for development and is licensed under the OTN JDeveloper license agreement. JDeveloper 11gR2 (11.1.2.3.0) has a free runtime license for applications deployed to GlassFish using the ADF Essentials feature. Perform the following steps for downloading the installer:

On the OTN website (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/jdev/downloads/index.html), click on the Downloads tab, read the terms, and accept the license agreement.
Select the Windows Install drop-down option for Studio Edition: 11.1.2.3.0 and click on the Download File button.
Accept the prompt to save jdevstudio11123install.exe on your machine.

What just happened?

You have downloaded the installer from the OTN site to install the JDeveloper 11.1.2.3.0 Studio edition on Windows.

This installer is an executable that will run only on Windows. The installer and the installation procedure differ from platform to platform. You will have to download a Linux install for a Linux platform, and there is an option to download a generic, platform-independent installer for MAC. Refer to the following URL for more information on how to use a generic installer:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/jdev/documentation/index.html

Have a go hero – researching the optional components for JDeveloper

Ok, now it's your turn to research more on the optional components that can be downloaded for JDeveloper 11gR2. There are other components that support adding more features for JDeveloper IDE.

Ask yourself the following questions and find the answers on the Downloads page:

We have different development teams to work with. What are the options to collaborate for increased productivity?
How can you find out more about the previous versions of JDeveloper before starting with 11gR2?
Can I install my ADF application on any other JEE servers?
Where can I see the ADF framework components in action?
I want to develop my own custom theme for the ADF components. Where can I find a user-friendly editor for customizing the components?

Time for action – installing JDeveloper Studio Edition

Let's perform the following steps to install the JDeveloper 11gR2 Studio Edition:

Double-click on the jdevstudio11123install.exe file to launch the installer. The Oracle installer starts preparing for the installation, and a screen with a progress bar appears.
Once the preparation is completed, a Welcome screen is displayed. Click on the Next button to proceed with the installation process.
The next screen will ask you to choose the middleware home directory for the installation. The Middleware Home Type section will have two options to choose from. One is Use an existing Middleware Home and the other one is Create a new Middleware Home.
Note
When we select Use an existing Middleware Home, the existing middleware installation paths get enabled, and the installation of the additional component depends on the user selection.
Select Create a new Middleware Home and locate the directory where you want to install JDeveloper Studio and other additional components. The installers will display an error message if the path already exists. The directory that you specify here will be your middleware home, and a common practice is to refer to the directory as MW_HOME.
Click on the Next button to choose the installation type on the next screen.
On this screen, you will select how you want to install the product. You will see two options, namely Typical and Custom.
- The Typical installation will install JDeveloper Studio, application development framework runtime, and WebLogic Server on your system
- The Custom installation will allow you to choose the product and components to install
We will select the Typical option this time; it will install all the related components necessary to run the application.
The next screen will display the installation directories for different components. Following are the default directories:
- For JDeveloper: MW_HOME/jdeveloper
- For WebLogic Server: MW_HOME/wlserver_10.3
You can select the Discard Changes option at this point of time to revert back and choose a different directory for your middleware installation.
The next screen will allow you to create the following shortcuts for the components:
- “All Users” Start Menu folder will create shortcuts in the Start menu, and all users registered on the system can access these shortcuts
- Local user's Start Menu will restrict access to any other user except the current user
The next screen will display the installation summary of all the components that will be installed as part of the current installation. The components installed are:
- JDeveloper Studio
- Application development framework runtime
- WebLogic Server
- Java 6.0 Update 24
Note
If we had selected the Custom installation type, we would have had an option to unselect the JDK 1.6 installation on the component selection screen. Also remember that JDK has to be installed separately for users who had opted to use a generic installer.
Click on the Next button to proceed with the installation of the components displayed on the Installation Summary screen. During this process, the installation-related artifacts will be displayed along with the progress of the installation. You have an option to exit the installation at any point of time.
Once the installation is complete, you will be directed to the Installation Complete screen with a message saying Installation is Complete. You are provided with an option Run Quickstart that will display a wizard to launch installed components, configure the server, and show a way to upgrade the server domains. We can also access the online resources and documentation related to JDeveloper 11gR2 using the wizard.
Click on the Done button to display the Quickstart wizard.
To verify the components that are installed, you can check the MW_HOME/registry.xml file.

What just happened?

Congratulations! We just installed JDeveloper 11gR2 Studio Edition on Windows; this means that the initial and most important step for developing this next generation enterprise application is complete.

Starting JDeveloper is the next easy task that follows the installation.

Have a go hero – check the folder structure of JDeveloper

Now it is time for you to have a look at the installation directory of JDeveloper. Perform the following steps to check the folder structure of JDeveloper:

List down the folders that you see inside MW_HOME.
Familiarize yourself with the directory structure.
What can you infer from the folder structure?

Working with IDE configuration files

There are two files that are used to store the configuration information of JDeveloper IDE. To add memory to the IDE or JDeveloper during startup, we add the following appropriate Virtual Memory options to these files:

MW_HOME/jdeveloper/ide/bin/ide.conf
MW_HOME/jdeveloper/jdev/bin/jdev.conf
Tip
To increase the JDeveloper memory, set the following options in the appropriate files specified previously. Some of the JVM options are explained as follows:
- AddVMOption is used to optimize the memory for JDeveloper IDE
- Xms is the initial Java Heap size
- Xmx is the maximum Java Heap size
- XX:MaxPermSize is used to set the maximum Java permanent size
Please note that the following setting depends on the available memory in your system:
Add AddVMOption -Xms512M AddVMOption -Xmx1024M in ide.conf.
Add AddVMOption -Xmx512M AddVMOption -XX:MaxPermSize=1024M in jdev.conf.

To configure the boot behavior of the IDE or JDeveloper, we modify the following files:

MW_HOME/jdeveloper/ide/bin/ide.boot
MW_HOME/jdeveloper/jdev/bin/jdev.boot

The settings for the files mostly correspond to the system properties. To configure the JDK-related properties for the IDE, modify MW_HOME/jdeveloper/ide/bin/jdk.conf.

For example, you can include options such as the following option for Java2D to allow DirectDraw usage in Windows:

AddVMOption  -Dsun.java2d.noddraw=true

You can add other VM options to the .conf files as well. The override sequence is jdk.conf, then ide.conf, followed by jdev.conf.

Tip

Use JAVA_HOME/bin/jvisualvm.exe to monitor and profile Jdeveloper.exe. This tool will also help you gather VM options and system properties of the currently running JDeveloper.

Have a go hero – look for other configuration files

Now it's time for you to verify all available configuration files in the middleware directory. Perform the following steps to verify configuration files:

What are the differences that you see between these files?
Try changing some properties such as -Dsun.awt.keepWorkingSetOnMinimize=false in your jdev.conf file and see how it affects the behavior of the IDE. This option becomes more responsive when JDeveloper IDE is restored after minimizing.

Knowing the roles

When you launch the IDE without the –nonag startup option, a splash screen followed by a Select Role screen is displayed. The Select Role screen provides the options to select the role in which you want to start the IDE. This is also referred to as shaping the IDE based on the selection. You have an option to configure this in the Switch Roles menu in Tools.

Studio Developer: This role will include all the features available for the IDE. You will be allowed to create applications using different technologies. You have the option to choose the features to include in the Features menu in Tools. This is the commonly used role for ADF development.
Customization Developer: This role is more inclined towards customization for a user to edit the metadata in JDeveloper. This option is used only for ADF customization and is outside the scope of this book.
Database Developer: This role will enable all the features needed for database development using JDeveloper.
Java Developer: This role will enable features that are best suited for Java developers. ADF-related features are not included in this role.
J2EE Developer: Web development using Java EE will be made easy if the user selects this role. All the components related to Java EE development are made available for the user, except ADF technologies.

When JDeveloper IDE is started, the Tip of the Day popup will appear that will give some tips on using the IDE effectively.

Tip

To add your own tip, go to the following location:

MW_HOME\jdeveloper\jdev\doc\studio_doc\ohj\tip.jar

Create an HTML file called tip_11_0460.html (just increase the number, for example, tip_11_0470.html).

Create an image file called tip_11_0470.gif in the images folder if you want to refer to this in your HTML tip.

Have your HTML tip registered in tip_map.smp as shown in the following code snippet:

<map>
<mapID target=”tip_11_0470_html”url=”tip_11_0470.html”/> 
</map>

Have a go hero – explore the IDE

Now you are at a stage where you can explore the IDE and look for options, as follows:

What are the new features that you see in JDeveloper IDE? Is the look and feel the same as your earlier development environment?
Open the entire menu and see the options available in each menu.

Getting familiar with the IDE

JDeveloper is a perfect IDE for designing and delivering high-end web applications. To support complex designing and customization, the IDE provides various tools and menu options to compete with the requirements of the application developer. These compelling tools, which are shown in the following screenshot, are commonly used by developers in their day-to-day application development:

The Design and Source menus are toggled between the Design and Source views of the file in the Editor window. History and Diagram menus are also displayed based on the active view of the file.

The toolbar for JDeveloper IDE is displayed just below the Menu section, as shown in the following screenshot:

The highlighted tools are added as part of the External Tools option in the Tools menu. The standout features of JDeveloper are:

Drag-and-drop: You can drag-and-drop the content between windows, panels, and sections.
Docking: Almost all the panels within the IDE are “dockable”. You can customize the location of the windows anywhere. Move the panel and drag it to dock the panel or window.
Floating: Panels can be made floating if the dockable option is not preferred.
Minimize and Maximize: Panels and windows support minimize and maximize features. Right-click on the panel and select the option as appropriate.
Keyboard access: You can navigate, select, and interact with the IDE using shortcut keys.
Searching: Search for the property in the property inspector, Resource palette, structure window, code editor, and so on.
Tabbed view: All the windows that open in the center of the IDE will have the tabbed view.
Splitting: All code editors support splitting of the documents vertically and horizontally. Drag the horizontal splitter to the bottom-right corner to split the document horizontally and the top-right corner to split it vertically, as shown in the following screenshot:
Closing: The Editor window supports the Close, Close others, and Close all options.
Editing Tools: Editor tools are available in the Source and Design view for almost all the files. Some common tools used are Code highlight, Bookmarks, Reformat, Surround, Block coloring, and so on.

Setting the preferences

There are many configurations, as shown in the following list, related to the IDE that can be configured using the Preferences menu in Tools:

Environment: This section will allow the user to change the look and feel and theme of the page, give an option to save the file on exit, check for modified files, and so on. This section has the following options:
- Dockable windows: This customizes how the docking behaves.
- Local History: This enables local history for the files stored in the user directory.
- Log: This enables logging and specifies where to save the logfile. Also, it customizes the size, lines, and color of the log file.
External Editor: A user can set a preference to open the files in either the external editor or the application. For example, PDF files will be preferred to be opened in an Adobe application.
File Types: This will let the user decide which extensions can be opened by JDeveloper and which editors are used to open the files within JDeveloper.
Note
Setting the Default Editor option to source view will increase the performance in opening up the files within JDeveloper.
Shortcut Keys: This is used to configure the shortcut keys for different operations within the IDE.

You can have external applications or tools configured within your IDE using the External Tools menu in Tools.

Time for action – opening the sample application

Download the sample application from http://www.packtpub.com (The EmpDirectoryApplication code downloadable with this book).
Click on the Open Application option and locate the EmpDirectoryApplication.jws file.
You will now see that the application is listed in the Application Navigator window and the projects are listed for EmpDirectoryApplication.

What just happened?

We have opened an already existing ADF application to get a feel of how the IDE components work together. Some of the components explained in the following section would need an open application.

Application Navigator

The application-related artifacts are managed in a window called Application Navigator. A user can create an application and open existing applications. We will see how to create and open an application in detail in the next chapter.

All open applications are available in the drop-down menu and the user can choose between different applications.

We can select the application, and once the application is selected, we can locate the project and navigate to the related project artifacts. The navigator will display a folder structure of the project that you are currently working on.

The Application menu will list out all the options available to configure an application. The options include creating a new project, opening a project, closing the application, securing the application, application properties, and so on, as shown in the following screenshot:

Have a go hero – exploring the Application menu

You are now going to explore the Application menu by clicking on each of the options available:

Try and find what the difference is between the New Project and New options
Try to find some application files using the Menu option provided
Identify what Filter Application means to you
Browse through the Application properties option and familiarize yourself with the options available

The Projects pane will display some options for configuring the projects that are available for the current application, as shown in the following screenshot:

The options on the previous ribbon bar are explained as follows:

Project properties: This icon will display the properties that can be configured for the current project.
Refresh: This will refresh the current project for any file changes.
Working sets: This will help you to filter the current project or files from other open projects. This will be really helpful if you have multiple projects for your application and would like to work on only one project at a time. Having less projects open will load the application faster instead of when all the projects for the application are open.
Navigator display options: This will let the user display the structure of the project efficiently.

Have a go hero – exploring the projects pane

Now it's your turn to figure out the options provided for the projects pane:

Open the Project Properties pane and check the available settings for the project. We will be using some of these properties in the coming chapters.
Add some files outside JDeveloper in the Project folder, and click on the Refresh button. Do you see the file in JDeveloper?
Where have you seen the Manage Working Set option available in the Working Sets menu before?
You are provided with Navigator Display options for the projects. Try out different options and look for changes.

Application Resources

The Application Resources pane will list out all the common resources available for the application. Connections and Descriptors are the two folders available in this panel that contain the resources.

Connections: This folder displays all the connections available for the application. It can be anything that gives a context of the connection to the server or to the repository available for the applications.
Descriptors: This will list all the configuration files and descriptors available for the application. Common descriptors are adf-config.xml, connections.xml, cwallet.sso, jps-config.xml, and Weblogic-application.xml.

Have a go hero – explore Application Resources

Now you will have to locate the application resource files outside the JDeveloper IDE and then note down the folder structure that you see. Do you see all the files listed under the folder listed in Application Resources? The missing files are subsequently created when you add a database connection or when you secure your application.

Data Controls palette

The Data Controls pane palette will expose the available Data controls options from the model layer to use in the UI layer. You can refresh the data controls or filter out the data controls using the options available.

The Data controls palette shown in the following screenshot will not be available in the EmpDirectoryApplication file. This will be created automatically when you have the corresponding component created in the model project. Right now don't worry about that.

Recently Opened Files

The Recently Opened Files pane will list all the files opened recently in the application. This pane should not be confused with the Reopen option in the File menu. If you have multiple applications in your workspace, this pane will display recent files specific to the application.

Structure window

The Structure window, as shown in the following screenshot, will display the structure of the files that the user currently has open. This window is mostly used to insert the components from data control to bind the values. You have an option within the structure window to search for tags.

Have a go hero – identify the structure of the file

Double-click on the web.xml file available in the ViewController project. Do you see any change in the Recently Opened Files window?
In the Structure window, what do you see?
Click on the Source tab of the web.xml file and check the changes in the Structure window.
Click on the tag displayed in the Structure window. What do you see in the Source view?

Database Navigator

Database Navigator, as shown in the following screenshot, will display the connection information available for all the applications in the IDE. The Database Navigator plugin is a fully functional plugin for a SQL developer. This plugin is not displayed by default, and you can open this from the Database submenu in View.

The Resource palette

The Resource palette window will allow the user to create IDE resources and assets. Click on the View menu to display this palette.

There are two types of resources that can be created from the Resource palette. They are Catalogs and Connections.

Catalogs: These are user-defined assets from different repositories used for easy access.
Connections: These are the contexts for the application or IDE added to different repositories or servers.
My Catalogs: This will list all the user-defined resources added as a catalog. For example, if you have a filesystem connection, the catalog can store the images or contents from the filesystem as a user-defined catalog.

Time for action – creating a catalog

Click on the folder icon in the Resource palette.
Select the New Catalog option from the drop-down menu.
Provide the name catalog in the Name box.
Click on OK to see the new catalog listed in the My Catalog section.
To add a resource to the catalog, you will have to right-click on the resources that are listed in the IDE connections menu. You can add resources from a filesystem connection that is mapped to any of your preferred folders.
Select the Add to Catalog option from the menu.
Select the catalog that you have created from the option.
Click on OK to add the resource to the catalog.
Now the resource will be added to the catalog.

What just happened?

We have now created a catalog for our IDE for the frequent use of resources. Resources added to the catalog are available for the IDE, and we can make use of these resources in different applications and projects.

IDE Connections will have all the connections that are added for the particular IDE. We can use the connections from this window and add them to a particular project by dragging-and-dropping them onto the project displayed in the Database Navigator plugin.

The Component palette

The Component palette will display all the available components that can be added to the UI page. This palette is categorized with different components based on the technology available for the current project. Within each technology available for the project, components are further classified based on behavior. There is an option to search for the component using the search box available at the top of the palette.

Different components are available for different files. For example, the ADF Faces components are displayed if you have the index.jspx file as your current open file from a project that supports ADF technology.

Have a go hero – components available for IDE

Now it's time for you to explore different components available for different technologies. Use the EmpDirectoryApplication file for your analysis. Perform the following to check for the components available for the IDE:

What are the components listed in the palette for web.xml?
Open trinidad-config.xml and check if it's listing the same components as in web.xml.

Run Manager

Run Manager will display all the current running processes and give an option to terminate whenever needed. This is not shown by default and can be enabled from the View menu.

The Log window

The Log window will display log messages related to the projects. There are other tabs embedded within the Log window to categorize the logs that are generated, as follows:

IntegratedWeblogicServer: This displays the log information of the integrated WebLogic server. This Log window is helpful in identifying application errors during runtime. It will display the log information while starting and stopping the server.
Messages: This tab displays the compilation logs.
Extensions: This tab will display logs related to the installed IDE extensions.
Compiler: This tab will display the warnings and errors that occurred while the project was being compiled.

Code editor

You will use the code editor section to write the code. The Java code file can be opened in the editor by double-clicking on the Application Navigator window. There are different options available within the code editor that will be helpful to run the code efficiently.

Code editor views

Design: Files with extension such as .jsff or .jspx which represent a UI page will have a Design mode added to design the pages.
Source: The Source tab is added for all the files where a user can change the content using the code editor.
Bindings: This section will help the user interact with the data bindings bounded to the UI components. The page-definition file will hold the binding information, and it is shown in this view.
Preview: This will help to preview the page designed and imitate the components rendered at runtime.
History: This view is common for all files, and the local history of the file changes is tracked in this view.

Property Inspector

The Property Inspector pane will help to alter the property of the currently selected component or tag in the Design or Source mode of a page.

All the previously explained windows and panels are available in the View menu.

Have a go hero – code editor and Property Inspector

Now it's time for you to check the usage of the code editor and the Property Inspector pane as follows:

Open the adfc-config.xml file and check how many views are available. Check the Overview tab and see the options to configure the properties declaratively.
Open the Source tab and select any of the tags to see the changes in the Property Inspector window.

Pop quiz

Q1. Which role will enable all the features of the IDE?

Database developer
Java developer
Studio developer

Q2. Which IDE component is used to drag the model data and drop it on the UI page?

Application Navigator
The Data Controls palette
The Resource palette

Q3. IDE connections are created only for an application in JDeveloper.

True
False

Q4. _________ and _________ are the two folders displayed in the Application Resources panel of the IDE.

Q5. Which of the following features are supported in JDeveloper?

Drag-and-drop
Docking
Floating
Searching
All of the above

Key benefits

Implement a web-based application using the powerful ADF development framework from Oracle

Experience the fun of building a simple web application with practical examples and step-by-step instructions

Understand the power of Oracle ADF 11gR2 and develop any complex application with confidence

Description

Oracle ADF is an end-to-end framework which makes application development simple by providing infrastructure services as well as visual and declarative development right away. "Oracle ADF 11gR2 Development Beginner's Guide" guides any user with programming skills to be able to quickly learn the options and ways to develop rich Internet applications using ADF 11gR2. Containing all the skills that a new user has to use to build an application in ADF 11gR2, this book is designed in such a way so that it enhances the practical feel of developing applications in ADF 11gR2. Starting with the installation and configuration of Oracle ADF 11g RD we will then work through topics such as working with the Model Layer and Model Data followed by displaying and binding the data. Later we will look at Navigations and Flows within applications as well as their layout, look, and feel. "Oracle ADF 11g R2 Development Beginner's Guide" will conclude with us looking at the security and deployment of the applications which have been created.

What you will learn

Explore the installation procedure and the configurations needed to work with Jdeveloper

Familiarize yourself with the ADF Model Layer and work with the Business Components

Identify the components and mplement the validations for the Business Rules

Bind the model data and expose it to the user interface using the data control

Learn to display and arrange the layouts in the View Layer using ADF Faces components

Understand the navigation flows and find out how to pass information between pages

Discover the significance of the Skin Editor to style the pages using CSS styles and themes

Implement the security for your pages and learn how to deploy the application

What do you get with Print?

Instant access to your digital eBook copy whilst your Print order is Shipped

Paperback book shipped to your preferred address

Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats

Access this title in our online reader with advanced features

DRM FREE - Read whenever, wherever and however you want

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Amazon verified reviews

Alexis Lopez Jun 24, 2013

Although this book covers the 11.1.2.3.0 version the concepts are the same as of the latest version (11.1.2.4.0 released on May 2013), it is a great book to get you started with Oracle ADF.I enjoyed the way the chapters are written: first, they introduces you to the concepts that are going to be explained. Then, they have this "Time for Action" section, where you are asked to follow a set of steps in order to better understand a concept. There is another section called "What just Happened" where the author explains what you just did in the "Time for Action" section. At the end of each chapter, there are key questions regarding to the content of the chapter (answers are found at the end of the book). I think this is a good way for learning.Following is described what you will find on each chapter:Chapter 1, Installing and Configuring JDeveloper IDE, shows the steps you should follow in order to start working and get familiar with JDeveloper which is the official IDE for Oracle ADF applications.Chapter 2, Getting Started with ADF, introduces you to the key concepts behind Oracle ADF applications development such as: MVC, Entity Objects, View Objects and Applications Modules. There's also a sample application which guides you to the steps needed in order to develop a simple application.Chapter 3, Understanding the Model Layer, explains deeply what the model layer of an Oracle ADF application looks like and their relationships. It explains the meaning of every option for the Entity Objects and View Objects.Chapter 4, Validating and Using the Model Data, shows the different validations that can be configured in the model layer. Explains the declarative validation mode and how to validate data using Groovy expressions.Chapter 5, Binding the Data, this chapter explains how we can bind the model and view layers of an Oracle ADF application. Key concepts are Data controls and Page Definitions.Chapter 6, Displaying the Data, talks about the development of the Web pages. It explains the concept of Page Template which is an important concept when developing Web applications with many Web pages. Then, you are presented with some of the most important ADF components for building your Web pages.Chapter 7, Working with Navigation Flows, presents the concept of a Task flow and the different types of task flows that ADF offers. It also describes the different components that conform a task flow. An important chapter, since the ADF lifecycle is described here.Chapter 8, Layout with Look and Feel, since Oracle ADF supports skinning, this chapter explains what skinning is, the concepts behind ADF Skinning and how you can create and deploy skins for your application.Chapter 9, Implementing Security, is about roles, permissions, and other security concepts related to Oracle ADF security. It also provides a step by step guide to configure and deploy security for your applications.Chapter 10, Deploying the ADF Application, presents the configurations needed in order to deploy your Oracle ADF application to an application server, which in this case is Weblogic Server. It also explains the structure of the deployment files and deployment descriptors. Shows the steps needed to deploy an Oracle ADF application to a standalone Weblogic server.Chapter 11, Advanced Features of ADF, this chapter is all about advance configurations including: tuning Entity Objects, tuning View Objects, debugging ADF applications, among others.

Amazon Verified review

San Jun 06, 2013

Being a testing professional it is always helpful to know the basics of all the technologies. This book was of great help to a beginner like me. This book is in simple language and due to the examples and try out sections it keeps the starters interested in the technology and helps them understand it better.

Alejandro Meza Aragon Jul 12, 2013

This book it's good for beginners but also good as a reference guide. I've been developing enterprise applications for more than 10 years and have experienced Java evolution using JDeveloper since its 9.0.2 version. ADF is a very powerful framework to develop rich Internet applications and the way that the author takes you into the journey of learning ADF is a very good start, it covers all the basic functionality of the framework and gives you valuable tips to learn on an easy basis all ADF Framework principles and JDeveloper UI.This book is now for reference in my company and is used for developers newly hired.

Alexander Hansal May 21, 2013

After a thorough first chapter on installing JDeveloper and taking first steps in the IDE, Vinod lays out the concepts of ADF. The book facilitates learning by encouraging the reader to take action and become a true hero by taking their own steps.Naturally, the book contains detailed instructions to create a sample ADF application. Once the sample application is up and running, Vinod takes us into a deeper dive on the ADF components such as Entity Objects, View Objects and Application Modules.In chapter 4, while discussing validation, we are exposed to the first piece of (generated) Java code and the APIs of the ADF components. This is followed by solid chapters on data binding and user interface design with ADF pages.A chapter on navigation flows is next, discussing ADF Task Flows in great depth.The "skinning" chapter is most welcome, introducing the ADF skin editor.Application security is also covered in a separate chapter, adding much value to the information provided so far.The book's closing chapters are on deploying ADF applications and advanced features.All in all, it's a solid and actionable book, with its content assured by reviewers Frank Nimphius and Sten E. Vesterli, most distinguished ADF experts in the community. If you want to ensure that your ADF knowledge is built on a solid foundation, this book is for you.

Serafeim Karapatis May 31, 2013

My last review about a book on ADF was almost six months ago. Looking back in time, it seems that about every six months, for the past 3 years we have a new title release on ADF, which is a crystal clear sign of its maturity and adoption. However, while there are few titles focused on advanced topics or methodologies, there is also a need for helping out those who make or attempt their baby steps on the framework, since the official documentation of Oracle (developer's guide) probably is not too friendly at the first sight. Certainly there is a need for books to explain in simple words and by examples the ADF, so "rookies" can in short time can orientate themselves on the framework. A relevant book, and very good for introduction to programming in the ADF is the " Quick Start Guide to Oracle Fusion Development: Oracle JDeveloper and Oracle ADF (Oracle Press) " of Grant Ronald.In such sense, the "Oracle ADF 11gR2 Development Beginner's Guide", authored by Vinod Krishnan, comes in the right time. It aims at technicians who make their first acquaintance with the ADF, without requiring any special knowledge beyond basic programming in Java. The pace is good, the book is rich in examples and screenshots, but there are also times that deals with technical details that may become overwhelming for a beginners title. The structure of the book is as follows: it includes eleven chapters. The topics developed in the form of: a description of the issue, performance of the execution ("time for action"), an explanation of how the solution works ("what just happened?") followed by a challenge to the reader to further explore things in the section "Have a go hero". Finally, each chapter ends with a summary in the form of questions (quiz) Let's look into it in more detail.The first chapter ("Installing and Configuring JDeveloper IDE") is devoted to the installation and operation of JDeveloper, menus, windows, editors available and the general "philosophy" of it. It's really very informative and useful for someone who comes from another IDE (eg Eclipse or Oracle Forms) so that he/she would feel early comfortable and become productive, something that naturally wants its time. The second chapter ("Getting Started with ADF") explains in basic terms the architecture of ADF and analyze, end-to-end, an example of developing a small application in ADF, with very detailed steps and screenshots. Chapter three ("Understanding the Model Layer") focuses on the ADF Business Components (entities, view objects, application modules) and has a very detailed guide on the declarative options of ADF BC. The next chapter ("Validating and Using the Model Data") gives business validations examples, using declarative features and Groovy expressions. In the second half of it, we learn how to customize the framework's behavior using Java and the handling of transactions. All in all, tt is a very important chapter, and some simplification of it, from the beginner's perspective, would help.Chapter five ("Binding the Data") is really a wonderful chapter which explains precisely and in detail the mechanism of data bindings that is among the strangest things for a newcomer to the world of ADF. The next chapter introduces us to web programming with ADF Faces using templates and gives a brief summary of the user interface components and their properties. Next, chapter seven ("Working with navigation flows") shows us the ADF Controller and its implementation in the form of the ADF task flows. There is also a brief reference to the ADF regions and lifecycle. Moving into chapter eight ("Layout with Look and Feel") there is a breakdown of how the web user interface can be customized using ADF skins. Immediately after comes the "Implementing Security" where one will find simple examples of integrating security into ADF applications. After that, the "Deploying the ADF application" chapter is very useful because it describes the structure of the ADF distributables, how-to exploit the ADF libraries, the MDS and the configuration of the embedded Weblogic Server. The last chapter ("Advanced features of ADF") discusses some of the more advanced topics such as optimizations for ADF BC, contextual events, MDS customization, JDeveloper extensions, etc that are rarely found together in one book.My general opinion is that pretty positive about this title. The Oracle ADF 11gR2 Development Beginner's Guide is a useful book to someone who wants to learn quickly and in a simple way the basics of ADF. The detailed examples of each chapter are accompanied by the online code appendix which also helps to try the solutions directly in JDeveloper. On the other hand, some additions would have made it an ever better title: coverage of some fundamental cases such as creating search forms and criteria, joined view objects, basic programming in JSF and access bindings layer etc or analogies with other Java / .NET or Oracle Forms frameworks...

Oracle ADF 11gR2 Development Beginner's Guide: Oracle ADF is one of the easiest ways to develop rich internet applications. All you need is a little Java to get the most from this book as it takes you step-by-step from installation, to development, to implementation.

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