Expert Spring MVC and Spring Web Flow book has been released

[Colin Yates]

All,

Just a quick note to mention that the long awaited Spring and Spring Web Flow book as part of the "Spring from Source" is now available for purchasing.

http://www.apress.com/book/bookDisplay.html?bID=10048

As well as providing excellent coverage of Spring MVC it also provides excellent coverage of Spring Web Flow including best practices, design considerations and code walkthroughs.

I highly recommend this book to everybody who wants to know a bit more about Spring MVC + Spring Web Flow as well as anybody who wants to understand how to use SWF in real life projects.

Congratulations to (in alphabetical order) Seth Ladd, Darren Davison, Steve Devijver and Colin Yates for bringing together their extensive real world commericial experience and producing this excellent resource. A huge thanks to Rob Harrop and Keith Donald, and all the other technical editors for their patience and persistence.

Note: When SWF 1.0 becomes final, any errata can be found at blogs.warwick.ac.uk/colinyates.

[kris_lander]

So is the book based around PR5 rather than RC1?

[Colin Yates]

No, the book is absolutely based around RC1.

There are some modifications since the book has been published, but nothing significant, i.e. class renames as oppose to new concepts.

[curtney]

I have not read the book, but I find it hard to believe that it can offer anything significant about SWF, since the API was in flux just under four weeks ago. The last time I checked the reference manual was not even completed. Has there been a lot of "real life" projects done (meaning completed) with SWF?

[Colin Yates]

I have not read the book, but I find it hard to believe that it can offer anything significant about SWF, since the API was in flux just under four weeks ago.

There is a lot more to a product, and it's considerations than the API The difference between PR5 and SWF1.0 is large in terms of API modifications, but in terms of new concepts?

Has there been a lot of "real life" projects done (meaning completed) with SWF?

Sure; I have worked on 3 such projects that are in production and are using SWF from PR5 to SWF1.0

Maybe you should read the book before trying to discredit it and the author (me for the SWF chapters).

[curtney]

Maybe you should read the book before trying to discredit it and the author (me for the SWF chapters).

Yatesco,

I am not trying to discredit you or your work. Believe that!. Not my style. Any person that takes the time to write a book (or chapters) deserve credit. Looking back at my post, I can see how I can better phrase my comment. However, take it as it is, just a comment. Frankly, I don't like to be accused of discrediting anyone (including his or her works) when I have not done so.

Now, having said that.

I agree, in terms of concepts perhaps not much has changed. Concepts are great, but when you are just learning something you rely heavly on the API (How things are done). In the past, I have read books (or chapters) that said one thing, just to realize that it is no longer done that way (a month after release ), again, finding myself searching the forums (then I question the point of the book). I know, that is what erratas are for, right.

And to anyone reading this, like anything else, decide for your self.

I look forward to reading your chapters,

[Keith Donald]

I worked heavily with Colin to ensure the SWF chapters reflect Spring Web Flow 1.0 as accurately as possible. Writing was ongoing up until the end of January, by which all major SWF subsystems had been fully developed (the last of which, the FlowExecutionRepository infrastructure); Colin was kept extremely aware of all development work; incorporating every bit of work up until 1/30. Likewise, I reviewed each line of text for accuracy, and contributed technical content as well.

It is is fair to say the user affecting changes since 1/30 have been cosmetic naming improvements (for example, FlowExecutionManager was renamed to FlowExecutor). Those that do affect the book will be clearly noted in the errata.

There are some new features that are not covered (for example, conversational redirects); however all core features are discussed. In the two chapters the reader will first receive an intro to SWF via a flow development walkthrough, then read more advanced text discussing the most challenging problems Spring Web Flow solves (and how it solves them, for example conversation continuation management to allow browser navigational button use but prevent duplicate submits where needed).

Congrats to Colin, Seth, Steven, and Darren! I just received my copy of the book and it feels in-depth and professional; I know a lot of folks (including me) have been waiting to see a focused book on Spring's web stack for a long time.

Keith

[dhewitt]

Yatesco,
I agree, in terms of concepts perhaps not much has changed. Concepts are great, but when you are just learning something you rely heavly on the API (How things are done). In the past, I have read books (or chapters) that said one thing, just to realize that it is no longer done that way (a month after release ), again, finding myself searching the forums (then I question the point of the book).

While I get the point about APIs in flux (and share your pain there) I would disagree with you on this book. Spring MVC has had a pretty solid API since day one, and what it has always lacked in my opinion was usage guidelines, decent patterns and high-level concepts. An API is only as good as the use you put it to and Spring MVC is just powerful and flexible enough to trip you up massively. It is also comparatively low-level, and as such there are so many ways of achieving the same goal that you can find yourself flailing around wondering if what your doing is the "right" way. To really be productive you must spend quite a bit of effort tailoring the bare-bones controllers that are there. MVC has for a long time been crying out for someone to say "this is how you should use the API to solve these kinds of problems" in enough detail and with enough constraints that it is actually useful, and hopefully this book will have those guidelines in it.

From the point of view of WebFlow, the concepts are again the important thing. The fact is, WebFlow provides a framework of best practices (you should componentise your logic in this fashion, you should split your flows into subflows for reuse, externalise your flow in an XML file etc.) rather than an API you have to embrace and extend. You do not need to know the API in huge amounts of detail in order to use it! This is in stark contrast to Spring MVC, where you have to hold the entire inheritance hierarchy in your head in order to use it effectively. So I think in the case of webflow, high-level guidance is far more important than understanding the guts of the implementation - and again this is good material for a book.

For the record, I put a complex application (that would have been a nightmare to acheive in any other framework) into production a year ago based in pre-PR1 code with no fuss whatsoever. While the API is substantially different now (and I wouldn't want to even begin migrating that old code) the general approach to componentising the application flow is just as relevant to 1.0RC1 as it was then.

[ersiner]

Hi,

I've purchased the book a few days ago and I'm enjoying it now. It has some typos but not very serious errors yet.

When will the supplementary material for the book be available? I wish you'll provide source codes?

Thanks.

[Colin Yates]

Hi,

I've purchased the book a few days ago and I'm enjoying it now. It has some typos but not very serious errors yet.

When will the supplementary material for the book be available? I wish you'll provide source codes?

Thanks.

When SWF1.0 is released I will provide a complete list of changes on my web site (blogs.warwick.ac.uk/colinyates) and also make all the runnable code available there I will of course post a notification here.

Have you read the chapters on SWF yet?