Learning Alfresco Web Scripts: Learn a powerful way to successfully implement unique integration solutions with Alfresco

"Learning Alfresco Web Scripts" was published just a few weeks ago. I bought it, quickly read the interesting bits, then re-read it from cover to cover. Overall this book covers the core webscript skills well and is appealing to both beginners and experts. Beginners will find all the tutorials and introductory material to get started. Experts will come back to this book for the depth of the more technical topics.Any book on the subject is expected to guide the readers in the steps to set up their first webscript. "Learning Alfresco Web Scripts" does a good job at introducing the parts that make up a webscript (the descriptor, the Freemarker template, the Javascript controller, the config xml file, the i18n bundles), clearly explaining which are required and which are optional, and guiding in the webscript installation and testing.Then the book illustrates the fundamental knowledge, tools and techniques that a developer has to master to become an Alfresco developer.The technical level is good. Often the book points to and explains Alfresco's source code as a source of examples and inspiration. A nice bottom-up approach that experienced developers will appreciate.

Packt sent me a free copy of Ramesh Chauhan's Book "Learning Alfresco Web Scripts" , to read and review.I have just finished up my reading and thought of writing a quick review on the book.First thing which came to my mind while reading the book is "Thankfully someone thought of writing book on this topic". I have never found good documentation about web scripts along with covering all the aspects of web scripts at one place. I was also curious to learn more about this topic as I have been working in Alfresco for many years and have experienced importance and need of web script in all my projects. This book will be more useful to developers who are using Alfresco as a backend and wants to use web script to interact with frond end application. You will get most from the book if you don't have prior experience on writing Web Scripts.This book is very well written and flows logically from one chapter to next and it covers pretty much all you need to know as a developer. This book is completely technical and I like reading behind scenes in terms of implementation of the web scripts and how and when those should be apply in different situations .I could tell a lot of effort might have gone to put all this together. I would request reader to especially read the Notes section, it makes use of informative tips that would be real help while implementing complex web scripts.In the first chapter I found a good overview about web scripts and more importantly it explains benefits of using web scripts for developer and business users. I also appreciate the section that describes its implementation in support and developing projects.Though second chapter is titled as "It's Time for the First Web Script" and seems to be simple and easy , but the fact is author has added minute details that needs to be taken care of while implementing web scripts for e.g. importance of naming convention and so on. The concepts are well explained with examples and understanding them will be easy.I found Chapter three and tenth to be little heavy for first time web scripts developers and if you want you may skip this chapter and read it later on when you have become quiet proficient in implementing web scripts. The author has moved into more technical detail about the web script framework. Experienced developers would surely appreciate this detailed technical insight.Chapter fourth is the must to be read chapter for web script developers that explains different components of the web scripts in detail. The chapter shows details about description document, Java-backed/Java Script Controller, Internationalization, configuration Document. I am glad author picked configuration Document topic also, which is rarely discussed but is useful for setting up dynamic values. Author has given well defined explanation for mandatory and optional things about web script components.Fifth chapter is all about invoking web scripts. Knowing web scripts will be of no use unless we know how to invoke them. Two applications can integrate seamlessly using web scripts. Author has covered all the basic details about invoking web scripts from different environments, however, I think author should have picked more strong examples about integration of Alfresco with other application using Web Scripts. This is just my perspective.Next two chapters explain about the controller of web scripts. I think these two chapters should have moved before chapter Fifth. Few sections are really interesting in this chapter like "how to use controllers smartly", "Difference in DeclarativeWebScript and AbstractWebScript ", "how to make use of root objects" ,"creating your own root objects" and such sections make the book helpful in true aspect.In Case you are looking for debugging and troubleshooting tips, Chapter Eights present useful pointers about it and also explain deployment options for Web Scripts. Trouble shooting tips makes this chapter really interesting where it gives pointers on common issues come across while executing Web Scripts. Another section that draws my attention is "Running Web Scripts in the background" and "Logging Web Scripts logs separately". These topics are of great help when web scripts are running for longer time and details need to be capture in the log.If you want to setup a project then chapter nine will get you going with this as it discusses how to package project using maven and deploying through amp.To sum this up I would definitely recommend this book to anyone new to Alfresco Web Scripts. The technical level of the book is perfect for anyone who wants to understand and implement web scripts The book also help reader to understand how web scripts can be package, deployed, execute and debugged for production environment. Length of chapters is also fine in terms of reading and can be finish in one sitting. Overall must book to read if you are Alfresco developer.You can get more details about the book from https://www.packtpub.com/web-development/learning-alfresco-web-scripts

Great book for anyone who wants to learn more about Alfresco development. Teaches step - by-step how to start with web scripts and features more advanced styles of use of web scripts.It has several code snippets and detailed explanations of the same.The only failure is the lack of illustrative images on the outcome of the examples .

Ramesh Chauhan's writing style is very conversational - similar to a teacher speaking to a student. This took me some time to get used to, but eventually, I stopped noticing it and the content spoke to me.I got the most value out of the book from Chapters 3 & 6. the author created several diagrams that showed the execution flow of web script. This was very helpful for me, since I am picture person. Then in Chapter 6, Ramesh presents an example of web script that a developer might want to build. He starts with requirements, goes into how to design it, and them discusses the details about the actual coding. He also describes various test cases that one should take into account when building a web script. This is something that very few writers even think to write about.In summary, I think the author had a good goal in writing this book; however, the execution left a lot to be desired. I really liked Chapter 6 and I wished Ramesh spent more effort creating/explaining more examples.