 Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE)

The J2EE platform uses a multitiered distributed application model. Application logic is
divided into components according to function, and the various application components that
make up a J2EE application are installed on different machines depending on the tier in the
multitiered J2EE environment to which the application component belongs. Figure 1-1 shows
two multitiered J2EE applications divided into the tiers described in the following list. The J2EE
application parts shown in Figure 1-1 are presented in J2EE Components.

 Client-tier components run on the client machine.

 Web-tier components run on the J2EE server.
 Business-tier components run on the J2EE server.
 Enterprise information system (EIS)-tier software runs on the EIS server.

Although a J2EE application can consist of the three or four tiers shown in Figure 1-1,
J2EE multitiered applications are generally considered to be three-tiered applications because
they are distributed over three different locations: client machines, the J2EE server machine, and
the database or legacy machines at the back end. Three-tiered applications that run in this way
extend the standard two-tiered client and server model by placing a multithreaded application
server between the client application and back-end storage.
Figure 1-1 Multitiered Applications

J2EE COMPONENTS:-
J2EE applications are made up of components. A J2EE component is a self-contained
functional software unit that is assembled into a J2EE application with its related classes and
files and that communicates with other components. The J2EE specification defines the
following J2EE components:

 Application clients and applets are components that run on the client.
 Java Server and Java Server Pages (JSP) technology components are Web
components that run on the server.
  Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) components (enterprise beans) are business components
that run on the server.

J2EE components are written in the Java programming language and are compiled in the
same way as any program in the language. The difference between J2EE components and
"standard" Java classes is that J2EE components are assembled into a J2EE application, verified
to be well formed and in compliance with the J2EE specification, and deployed to production,
where they are run and managed by the J2EE server.

J2EE CLIENTS:-
A J2EE client can be a Web client or an application client.

WEB CLIENTS:-
A Web client consists of two parts: dynamic Web pages containing various types of
markup language (HTML, XML, and so on), which are generated by Web components running
in the Web tier, and a Web browser, which renders the pages received from the server.
A Web client is sometimes called a thin client. Thin clients usually do not do things like
query databases, execute complex business rules, or connect to legacy applications. When you
use a thin client, heavyweight operations like these are off-loaded to enterprise beans executing
on the J2EE server where they can leverage the security, speed, services, and reliability of J2EE
server-side technologies.
APPLETS:-
A Web page received from the Web tier can include an embedded applet. An applet is a
small client application written in the Java programming language that executes in the Java
virtual machine installed in the Web browser. However, client systems will likely need the Java
Plug-in and possibly a security policy file in order for the applet to successfully execute in the
Web browser.
Web components are the preferred API for creating a Web client program because no
plug-ins or security policy files are needed on the client systems. Also, Web components enable
cleaner and more modular application design because they provide a way to separate applications
programming from Web page design. Personnel involved in Web page design thus do not need to
understand Java programming language syntax to do their jobs.

APPLICATION CLIENT:-

A J2EE application client runs on a client machine and provides a way for users to
handle tasks that require a richer user interface than can be provided by a markup language. It
typically has a graphical user interface (GUI) created from Swing or Abstract Window Toolkit
(AWT) APIs, but a command-line interface is certainly possible.
Application clients directly access enterprise beans running in the business tier. However,
if application requirements warrant it, a J2EE application client can open an HTTP connection to
establish communication with a servlet running in the Web tier.

JAVABEANS COMPONENT ARCHITECTURE :-

The server and client tiers might also include components based on the JavaBeans
component architecture (JavaBeans component) to manage the data flow between an application
client or applet and components running on the J2EE server or between server components and a
database. JavaBeans components are not considered J2EE components by the J2EE specification.
JavaBeans components have instance variables and get and set methods for accessing the
data in the instance variables. JavaBeans components used in this way are typically simple in
design and implementation, but should conform to the naming and design conventions outlined
in the JavaBeans component architecture.

J2EE SERVER COMMUNICATION :-

The client communicates with the business tier running on the J2EE server either directly
or, as in the case of a client running in a browser, by going through JSP pages or servlets running
in the Web tier.J2EE application uses a thin browser-based client or thick application client. In
deciding which one to use, you should be aware of the trade-offs between keeping functionality
on the client and close to the user (thick client) and off-loading as much functionality as possible
to the server (thin client). The more functionality you off-load to the server, the easier it is to
distribute, deploy, and manage the application; however, keeping more functionality on the client
can make for a better perceived user experience.

Figure 1-2 Server Communications

WEB COMPONENT
J2EE Web components can be either servlets or JSP pages. Servlets are Java
programming language classes that dynamically process requests and construct responses. JSP
pages are text-based documents that execute as servlets but allow a more natural approach to
creating static content.Static HTML pages and applets are bundled with Web components during
application assembly, but are not considered Web components by the J2EE specification. Server-
side utility classes can also be bundled with Web components and, like HTML pages, are not
considered Web components.Like the client tier and as shown in Figure 1-3, the Web tier might
include a JavaBeans component to manage the user input and send that input to enterprise beans
running in the business tier for processing.
Figure 1-3 Web Tier and J2EE Application

BUSINESS COMPONENT:-
Business code, which is logic that solves or meets the needs of a particular business
domain such as banking, retail, or finance, is handled by enterprise beans running in the business
tier. An enterprise bean also retrieves data from storage, processes it (if necessary), and sends it
back to the client program.

1. Figure 1-4 Business and EIS Tiers

 There are three kinds of enterprise beans: session beans, entity beans, and message-driven
beans. A session bean represents a transient conversation with a client. When the
client finishes executing, the session bean and its data are gone. In contrast, an entity bean
represents persistent data stored in one row of a database table. If the client terminates or if the
server shuts down, the underlying services ensure that the entity bean data is saved.
A message-driven bean combines features of a session bean and a Java Message Service
(JMS) message listener, allowing a business component to receive JMS messages
asynchronously. This tutorial describes entity beans and session beans.

ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEM TIER:-

The enterprise information system tier handles enterprise information system software and
includes enterprise infrastructure systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), mainframe
transaction processing, database systems, and other legacy information systems. J2EE
application components might need access to enterprise information systems for database
connectivity
JAVA SERVER PAGE (JSP):-
Java Server Pages technology is the Java platform technology for building applications
containing dynamic Web content such as HTML, DHTML and XML. The Java Server Pages
technology enables the authoring of Web pages that create dynamic content easily but with
maximum power and flexibility.
The Java Server Pages technology offers a number of advantages:
 Write Once, Run Anywhere properties:
The Java Server Pages technology is platform independent, both in its dynamic Web pages,
its Web servers, and its underlying server components. You can author JSP pages on any
platform, run them on any Web server or Web enabled application server, and access them
from any Web browser. You can also build the server components on any platform and run
them on any server.
 High quality tool support
The Write Once, Run Anywhere properties of JSP allows the user to choose best-of-
breed tools. Additionally, an explicit goal of the Java Server Pages design is to
enable the creation of high quality portable tools.

 Reuse of components and tag libraries

The Java Server Pages technology emphasizes the use of reusable components such
as: JavaBeans components, Enterprise JavaBeans components and tag libraries.
These components can be used in interactive tools for component development and
page composition. This saves considerable development time while giving the cross-
platform power and flexibility of the Java programming language and other scripting
languages.
 Separation of dynamic and static content
The Java Server Pages technology enables the separation of static content from
dynamic content that is inserted into the static template. This greatly simplifies the
creation of content. This separation is supported by beans specifically designed for
the interaction with server-side objects.
JSP ARCHITECTURE:-
JSPs are built on top of SUN’s servlet technology. JSPs are essential an HTML page with
special JSP tags embedded. These JSP tags can contain Java code. The JSP file extension is .jsp
rather than .htm or .html. The JSP engine parses the .jsp and creates a Java servlet source file. It
then compiles the source file into a class file; this is done the first time and this why the JSP is
probably slower the first time it is accessed. Any time after this the special compiled servlet is
executed and is therefore returns faster.
JAVA SCRIPT:-
JavaScript is a programming language that allows scripting of events, objects, and actions to
create Internet applications. A website development environment that will allow the
creation of Interactive Web Pages. The coding techniques capable of accepting a client's requests
and processing these requests.

The web site development environment should also provide the facility for 'validating' user input.
With JavaScript, forms are a consideration in nearly every page you design. Capturing user
requests is traditionally done via a 'form'. So the web site needs to have facilities to create forms.
Text fields and textareas can dynamically change in response to user responses.

TOMCAT 6.0:-
Tomcat is a servlet container and Java Server Pages implementation it may be used stand
alone ,or in conjunction with several popular web servers .

 Apache Tomcat version 6

Tomcat is a security update release.This release closes a whole that potentially allowed
access to resourse protected by a <security constraint > in web.xml.

Installing and Running Tomcat 6.0

Tomcat requires a Java Runtime Environment (JRE).Conformant to JRE 1.1 or later

including any Java2 platform system.If one wishes to develop applications you will need a
java compiler , such as the one included in a java development kit 1.1 or later environment
including JDKs conformant with Java2.