Since Pete has mentioned JBoss I'll put in a word for it too. I am very pleased with it as a choice of server platform. It contains Tomcat so rather than start with Tomcat and have to go to JBoss later when you want a full J2EE server I would do it the other way round.
An excellent book for JBoss is "JBoss at Work, a practical guide" published by O'Reilly. I got pretty much my entire working knowledge of JBoss from that one book. It is a bit fiddly to start with, but the key thing to learn about is the shape of a WAR file. Once you understand that and how deployment works in J2EE it is very easy to start to make your own applications. Another massive help is the J2EE plug-in for Eclipse called the wtp-all-in-one which can be found at eclipse.org/webtools. This will automate many of the common tasks such as packing into WAR/EAR files etc. It will sit happily alongside flex builder (you may need to up the amount of memory allocated to Eclipse) and means that you can step between your client and server code in the debugger, which is amazing and invaluable, especially when you are trying to figure out what on earth is going on. best of luck Simon --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com, "Peter Farland" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I would skip EJB for now. You don't need to know about EJB to use FDS > (note FDS was recently re-branded as LiveCycle Data Services ES 2.5 > which is the latest release available). > > The concepts behind web apps in .NET are very close to the concepts of > J2EE. There should be tons of web postings comparing J2EE to .NET. > > I'd start by getting familiar with simple J2EE deployments, that is > start with a web application archive (WAR). These are essentially zip > files that can be deployed on a J2EE server (like JBoss, or simply > Tomcat). Get a feel for how the configuration looks under the /WEB-INF > directory, how Servlets (and JSP pages) can handle HTTP GET/POST > requests to produce dynamic web apps, go over the basic parts of the > web.xml configuration file, work out how classes are found in the > classpath, such as /WEB-INF/lib for *.jar libraries and /WEB-INF/classes > for loose *.class files. Read up on web application contexts and how the > WAR "context path" delineate the root URL of the application. > > You can use Flex's RemoteObject to call a plain old Java object, or use > Producers/Consumers for real-time messaging to create publish/subscribe > applications, or use DataService to get comprehensive management of > distributed data graphs to build powerful collaborative > applications/dashboards etc. > > Pete > > > ________________________________ > > From: flexcoders@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of aaronvm707 > Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 11:39 AM > To: flexcoders@yahoogroups.com > Subject: [flexcoders] Re: Flex & Java, Where to Start? > > > > Thank you very much for all the info. I think the key word I was > looking for was EJB. Is this what I will develop in order to start > using Flex Data Services? > > Any suggestions on the server software needed to run EJB & J2EE? Again > I am moving from a Microsoft, .net, IIS environment so I am completly > new to all this. Thanks > > Aaron > > --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com <mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com> > , "simonjpalmer" <simonjpalmer@> > wrote: > > > > Sun has a very comprehensive online documentation of the Java > language. > > > > This is a good book if you are a seasoned developer and just wanting > > to pick up Java "Java In A Nutshell" by David Flanagan, O'Reilly. > > > > Another really good book is "Just Java 2" by Peter van der Linden, Sun > > Microsystems Press. I learnt Java from these (C++ background) and I > > recommend both. > > > > There aren't really variations of Java itself, so a basic grounding in > > the language is something that you can use whatever you end up doing. > > However there are lots of design and coding patterns around Java > > which give high productivity, especially when using Java to write > > server software, which is probably what you mean by Java as it relates > > to Flex. Java doesn't specifically relate to flex or vice versa, but > > there is middleware which serialises between Java and ActionScript, > > such as FDS. > > > > On the server you will need to look at EJB and J2EE and I would > > recommend Spring, although it takes a bit of getting your head around, > > and Hibernate if you are persisting your data relationally. These are > > all frameworks for coding which, with supporting packages from 3rd > > parties, give a high degree of productivity in writing scalable Java > > servers. It is truly amazing how much fee code there is available. > > > > You'll probably wind up with Eclipse as an IDE too, so it is worth > > familiarising yourself with that. Don't expect the Microsoft IDE, but > > it is pretty good all the same. > > > > I'm sure lots of people will comment, but i hope that gives you some > > first pointers of what to google. > > > > Good luck > > > > > > --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com > <mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com> , "aaronvm707" <vestamedia@> > wrote: > > > > > > Hello, > > > > > > I have begun working with Flex a couple of months ago and have been > > > learning fairly quickly. I come from a Microsoft ASP.net background, > > > but would prefer to work with Flex & Java. Can anyone suggest > > > resources and/or books to start learning Java as it relates to Flex. > > > There seams to be many variations of Java for different development > > > needs & I am not sure where to begin. Thanks > > > > > > Aaron > > > > > >
