ADF Enterprise Application Development - Made Simple (Book Review)
- by Frank Nimphius
Sten E. Vesterli wrote the "Oracle ADF Enterprise Application Development – Made Simple" book published by Packt Publishing in 2011
http://www.packtpub.com/oracle-adf-enterprise-application-development/book
A common question on OTN, but also when talking to clients or customers is about where and how to start your ADF application development. Especially when the current programming background is not in Java, but 4 GL or PLSQL, developers often look for answers to the following questions:
· How long does it take to learn Oracle ADF ?
· How long does it take to replace a Forms application with ADF ?
· How many developers do I need?
· Do I need to know Java to use ADF and if yes, how good do I need to know this?
· How do I structure my programming files, organizing them in JDeveloper work spaces, projects and libraries?
· What is best practices for naming Java packages and how to void naming conflicts in ADF in general?
· How many Application Modules do I need or should I create?
· How to test applications?
Sten Vesterli answers all of the above questions and more in his book
http://www.packtpub.com/oracle-adf-enterprise-application-development/book
, which makes it great value add to the 3 existing Oracle ADF books.
In order of complexity (which also is the order in which reading the available Oracle ADF books makes sense), in my opinion, Sten's book should come second – though it also is useful to those that are already more advanced with Oracle ADF. So if you are absolutely new to Oracle ADF, then the order of books to read to get you up on an expert level should be:
1. Grant Ronald; "Quick Start Guide to Oracle Fusion Development: Oracle JDeveloper and Oracle ADF" (McGraw Hill 2010)
2. Sten Vesterli; "Oracle ADF Enterprise Application Development – Made Simple" (Packt Publishing 2011)
3. Duncan Mills, Peter Koletzke; " Oracle JDeveloper 11g Handbook: A Guide to Fusion Web Development" (McGraw Hill 2009)
4. Frank Nimphius, Lynn Munsinger; " Oracle Fusion Developer Guide: Building Rich Internet Applications with Oracle ADF Business Components and Oracle ADF Faces" (McGraw Hill 2010)
If you are not new to Oracle ADF and Orace JDeveloper, then buy Sten Vesterli's book anyway. It is worth it and you want to have it on your book shelf. See below the table of content to get a better idea of what this book covers:
· Chapter 1: The ADF Proof of Concept
· Chapter 2: Estimating the Effort
· Chapter 3: Getting Organized
· Chapter 4: Productive Teamwork
· Chapter 5: Prepare to Build
· Chapter 6: Building the Enterprise Application
· Chapter 7: Testing your Application
· Chapter 8: Look and Feel
· Chapter 9: Customizing the Functionality
· Chapter 10: Securing your ADF Application
· Chapter 11: Package and Deliver
· Appendix: Internationalization
The book is written with a lot of good humor, which makes the read very enjoyable (from a geek's perspective, of course). My favorite quote – just in case you are interested - is from page 97, when Sten talks about getting organized:
" Stop sending e-mails to your team. Just stop it. E-mail is so last century.…"
So true, so true! This quote's runner up is the "boss key" on page 128 where Sten talks about productivity and how Oracle Team Productivity Center (TPC) can help you with this. Quotes like these stick to your brains and make sure you never forget.
Go for it!