With its excellent cross-platform capabilities and rich enterprise-level APIs, today's Java 2, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) stands ready to build the next generation of multi-tiered Web applications. But orchestrating these solutions can be a daunting task. Written by the experts at Sun, Designing Enterprise Applications with the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition provides the official 'blueprint' for building scalable, server-centric applications with Java. This title is perfect for any manager or developer seeking to get a handle on the "right" way to design distributed applications with Java.

There are quite a few useful architectural diagrams used in this book, which show how to combine Enterprise Java Beans (EJBs), servlets and JavaServer Pages (JSPs) effectively. For managers or project leaders who might not code with Java everyday, these diagrams can show you how Java components work together within Web applications. The authors also explain the Sun "vision" for Java for a variety of e-commerce scenarios (including several business-to-business systems).

Separate chapters dig into the client, Web, EJB and "enterprise information systems" tiers and where to use various J2EE APIs for the best scalability and maintainability. Later sections look at deploying EJBs and options for transaction management and security for the enterprise. The authors close with a complete Web application for an online pet store created with EJBs and servlets, a useful illustration of J2EE at work. In all, this text is a valuable tour of Sun's official "vision" for enterprise-level computing with Java. It demystifies how various Java APIs can work together to create robust and scalable Web applications. Any IS manager or developer designing with J2EE will want a look at this book to learn how that take full advantage of the latest features for Java-based Web applications. --Richard Dragan, Amazon.com

Topics covered:

• Overview of Java 2, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) for enterprise application development, application scenarios (including standalone clients, Web-based and business-to-business scenarios), J2EE components for client-side and server-side tiers (including applets, Enterprise JavaBeans), platform roles for companies using Java.
• Overview of Java APIs and services: JNDI and naming services, deployment, transaction and security services, Java communication support: networking support, Remote Method Invocation (RMI), OMG CORBA support, Java Message Service (JMS) and JavaMail.
• Building Web and EJB clients, the Model-View-Controller paradigm explained, combining servlets, JSPs and EJBs on the middle-tier, using entity and session EJBs, stateful and stateless session beans, sample applications for the enterprise information system tier (applications for an e-store, human resources and distributed purchasing), packaging and deployment, transaction management (JTA, JTS and EJB transactions), Java security overview, and a case study and sample code for an e-commerce pet store.