More WTP Books on the Way

My publisher just informed me that stock of Eclipse Web Tools Platform: Developing Java Web Applications is getting dangerously low. (OK, so I added in the dangerously part.) This is great news as it means the book is a hit and I think speaks volumes about the popularity of WTP.

The second printing is taking place now and should make it to shelves shortly. My co-authors and I have made a number of corrections most notably fixing the two incorrect code examples identified on the WTP book errata page.

If you haven't already picked up a copy take a look at the book's web site or pick up your copy directly from Amazon.

Register for EclipseCon 2008, Get a Free Eclipse WTP Book

EclipseCon 2008, the Eclipse Foundation's annual conference, is being held March 17-20, in Santa Clara, CA.

Register early and as a bonus the first 100 people to register will receive a free copy of my book Eclipse Web Tools Platform.

Another Error Message for the Hall of Fame

I was trying to create a DVD with InterVideo WinDVD Creator V2 (which came bundled with my ThinkPad) this weekend when I was presented with an error dialog.

This immediately seemed to me like a candidate for the error message Hall of Fame. Not only does this error message contain no useful information but after failing the program seems to remove all clues as to what it had done so I can't even debug the problem myself.

I'd like to think that due to the Open Source process (with committers elected due to their proven technical expertise) that Eclipse is immune from poor error messages. Unfortunately this isn't always true. However Eclipse and other Open Source software does have a great advantage from community review (many eyes). The community is a great help in locating poor error messages.

One error message, which is partially my fault as I let it be propagated through the WSDL validator, was recently identified in a WTP newsgroup posting about the WS-I WSDL validator. The error message in question is:

"WS-I: A problem occurred while running the WS-I WSDL conformance check: org.eclipse.wst.wsi.internal.analyzer.WSIAnalyzerException. The WS-I Test Assertion Document(TAD) was not found or could not be processed. The WSDLAnalyzer was not able to validate the given WSDL file."

I think there are a number of problems with this message.

1. The message identifies an internal exception. If the exception is one that a user should understand it should probably be part of an API.
2. The message refers to the WS-I Test Assertion Document (TAD) without any explanation of what this is or why this is affecting the end user. I think a link would be very helpful here.
3. The message doesn't give the user any suggestions how to resolve the problem.

I've brought this up as I think it's a good reminder to do your best to think like your users when creating error messages. An easy way to do a quick dry run is to simply ask the person sitting next to you (either physically on online) whether they understand the message.

Oh, and in case you're interested, I've opened bug 206845 for the WS-I error message above.

Find Lawrence at Cascon 2007, Oct. 22-25

I'll be presenting and attending Cascon next week (Oct. 22-25) and thought I'd share where I'll be spending my time.

Not familiar with Cascon? Cascon is IBM's annual Centre for Advanced Studies CONference. I've been attending Cascon since 2003 (with the exception of 2005, when I was at OOPSLA) and every year it has had extremely high quality hands-on workshops and presentations covering a range of topics. (I've personally lead hands-on workshops covering XML, Web services, and RIA and Ajax.) And, it's free as in beer! (There is no registration fee.) This is a great opportunity for students to get out, meet some people in industry, and learn about some different technology. But, I digress.

Here's my schedule:

Monday
9-5 Hands-on: Introduction to Ajax Technologies
I'll be leading this hands on workshop with Jen Hawkins, Aron Wallaker, and Jeffrey Liu.

5-7 Technology Showcase: Enterprise Portfolio Management
Come take a look at my current project building tools to facilitate Enterprise Portfolio Management.

Tuesday
8:30 Best Paper Awards
I'll be awarding each of the best paper winners with a copy of my book Eclipse Web Tools Platform. (Haven't read it yet? Head on over to Amazon and pick one up. Find me at Cascon and I'll be happy to sign it for you. :) )

10:15-10:45 Paper: Runtime Monitoring of Web Service Conversations
Looks like an interesting paper about ensuring the correct functioning of Web services.

11-1 Technology Showcase: Enterprise Portfolio Management
Missed the Technology Showcase on Monday? It's open for the rest of the conference. I'll again be at the booth on Tuesday during lunch.

1-5 Hands-on: Learn about Adobe Flex
I'll be attending this workshop. I think it should nicely complement the Ajax workshop I'll be presenting on Monday.

Wednesday
10:45-11:15 Paper: An Audit Trail Service to Enhance Privacy Compliance in Federated Identity Management
This is a paper with possible use in Enterprise Portfolio Management.

1-5 Hands-on: Business Process Modeling and Simulation: An SOA Adoption using WebSphere Business Modeler
I don't know enough about BPM and think this should give me a kick start.

Although Cascon will run on Thursday, Wednesday will be my last day as I'm scheduled to speak at the Seneca College Free Software and Open Source Symposium on Thursday. More about that event in my next post.

Eclipse WTP Book Released!

I'm very pleased to announce that the first WTP book in the Eclipse Series has been released. Eclipse Web Tools Platform: Developing Java Web Applications by Naci Dai, Lawrence Mandel and Arthur Ryman is now
available from retailers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Chapters/Indigo.

See my previous post and visit the book's web site for more information including the table of contents and downloadable source code examples (licensed under the EPL).

http://www.eclipsewtp.org

What's Baking at the Eclipse Series? The New WTP Book of Course.

Can you smell the new Eclipse Web Tools Platform (WTP) book coming out of the oven? I can. After almost two years of writing, editing, reviewing, writing, editing, reviewing, ... the books are due at the publisher by the end of this week and are scheduled to hit shelves on May 25.


The lowdown:
(for those of you who don't want to read further)
What: The first WTP book in the Eclipse Series covering Java Web application development with WTP
When: On shelves May 25, 2007
Who: By Naci Dai, Lawrence Mandel, and Arthur Ryman
(Use feedback@eclipsewtp.org to get in touch with the authors)
Where: http://www.eclipsewtp.org


Eclipse Web Tools Platform: Developing Java Web Applications covers the end-to-end development of a Java Web application with WTP. This includes installation of WTP, setting up your workspace and project for individual and team development, architectural principles of Web applications, creating the presentation, data, and persistence tiers, exposing your data with Web services, and testing your application. The book introduces and explores many common Web technologies such as CSS, DTD, HTML, JavaScript, SOAP, UDDI, WSDL, WSIL, XML, XML Schema, and XSLT and Java specific technologies such as CMP, EJB, JDBC, JSP, MDB, and XDoclet. The book also covers extending WTP including creating a new server adapter, adding support for a new language, customizing the WSDL tools, and creating your own URI resolver.

The book was written for WTP 1.5, but is equally applicable for the upcoming WTP 2.0 release. Most of the visible changes to the tools discussed in the book should be easy to identify.

To support the book we've created a web site, http://www.eclipsewtp.org. The web site includes an overview of the book, the table of contents, a package containing all of the example code used in the book (all licensed under the EPL), links to purchase the book, and author bios. We've also set up an e-mail address for your feedback. Send any comments about the book or the web site to feedback@eclipsewtp.org.

If you're anxious to get your hands on the book you can pre-order it today from sites such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Chapters/Indigo.