How do I get started best?

[germandev.net-seam.wje-online.de]

Hi!

I've just Java SE for few years (and I do now Generics and Annotations ;)) but I haven't used Java EE yet. I did web programming using ASP.NET and PHP before, but it seems like that it isn't comparable to Java EE web applications at all.

Now I want to incorporate myself into Java EE. I read few tutorials and technical overviews and arrived at the decision (as far as I already understand it), that JSF + Seam + RichFaces is, what I will need.

My problem is, that I haven't done anything with JSP or JSF before. I bought the books Managing Seam in Action and Beginning JBoss Seam, but that didn't help me on.

Currently I have installed the JBoss AS and the JBoss Tools for Eclipse and could get it to work. But I don't know how to go on.

Do you know good books or tutorials, that explain the usage of Seam from scratch - so that I can understand it witout being a JSF expert?

Thank you in advance!

[joblini]

Create a simple database with one or two tables, and use Seam-Gen to generate an application.  Seam-Gen will also generate ant build scripts and other files to make it easy to import the project into Eclipse.

Good books include

"Seam Framework Experience the Evolution of Java EE", Yuan , Orshalick, Heute

"Seam in Action", Allen

"Core Java Server Faces" Geary, Horstmann

"Java Server Faces Complete Reference", Schalk, Burns, Holmes

"Java Persistence with Hibernate", Bauer

[cosmo]

In my opinion, SEAM is not precisely the easiest framework to learn if you are new at JEE. Also, Richfaces is not a piece of cake either.

However, once you have a basic understanding of JSF, EJB and Hibernate things should be easier.

A barrier I found when tried to learn SEAM(still struggling) is that many books(including the good SEAM reference) are like a dictionary, where you can consult them once you have a basic idea on how to do certain thing but cannot help you if you are evaluating a framework and like to get a general view of its capabilities.

One book that help me with this problem was Practical JBoss Seam Projects by Jim Farley which basically consists in a sample application that grows up while new SEAM features are presented.

However, I'm not sure if the latest version of this book is still working with SEAM 1.2.1