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October 2009

Get Fancy with Portlet Factory Graphs: No Dashboard Builders Required
Thomas Køcks Nielsen

Why pay extra for the GreenPoint Web Charts builder when you have free open source options? Learn what those options are and how you can use them to create HTML/JavaScript or Adobe Flash chart portlets.

July 2009

Simplify Data Access in WebSphere Application Server Applications with EJB 3.0 and the Java Persistence API: Advanced Topics
David Cook, senior architect, Ascendant Technology, LLC

Find out how to use the Java Persistence application programming interface (API), or JPA, as your data access framework for enterprise applications — it’s fast, portable, and easy to work with. Rational Application Developer Version 7.5 provides tools that make JPA development even easier. This article shows enterprise developers and architects working with WebSphere Application Server Version 7 how to implement multiple business interfaces and how interceptors work. It also covers persisting entity relationships and testing.

May 2009

Automate Forms Management in an SOA Solution Using Lotus Forms 3.0, WebSphere Portal 6.0, and WebSphere Process Server 6.0: Create a Human Task
Denis Kulagin, architect, Ascendant Technology, LLC

Learn how to add human interactions to a form-based business process. You’ll see how to enable the business process to populate the form with data coming from a business process, reach back to the user through the portal to request additional data or updates, and assign tasks to different groups of users or individual users.

March 2009

Automate Forms Management in an SOA Solution Using Lotus Forms 3.0, WebSphere Portal 6.0, and WebSphere Process Server 6.0
Denis Kulagin, architect, Ascendant Technology, LLC

Discover tips on how to lower the delivery cost and development time of a powerful form-based SOA solution. Using three IBM products, follow the development steps for providing a seamless business process workflow that begins with a WebSphere Portal user filling out a form. Learn how to build the form with Lotus Forms, develop the portal application portlets, and create the workflow managed by WebSphere Process Server.

February 2009

» Install and Run IBM Rational Application Developer V7.5 as a Non-Administrator
Denise Eick, independent consultant

Save time and effort when dealing with the situation that comes up when you install Rational Application Developer using administrator permissions, but your company requires you to use the software as a non-administrator. Learn to install IBM Rational Application Developer V7.5 as a non-administrator using this quick tip and ready-made installation script.

November 2008

» Build a Rich Internet Application on WebSphere Portal Using WebSphere Portlet Factory, Part 2: The Shopping Cart
Abhishek Singh, senior IT specialist, Software Services for Lotus, IBM
Usman Memon, technical sales leader, Lotus Workforce Management, IBM

Learn how to rapidly prototype and build a portal-based rich Internet application (RIA) with the Web 2.0 builders provided in IBM WebSphere Portlet Factory V6.1.

» Build a Rich Internet Application on WebSphere Portal Using WebSphere Portlet Factory, Part 1: The Catalog
Abhishek Singh, senior IT specialist, Software Services for Lotus, IBM
Usman Memon, technical sales leader, Lotus Workforce Management, IBM

Learn how to rapidly prototype and build a portal-based rich Internet application (RIA) with the Web 2.0 builders provided in IBM WebSphere Portlet Factory V6.1.

» Use IBM’s Web Application Integrator to integrate Web applications into existing IBM WebSphere Portal deployments
Alden Taylor, architect, Ascendant Technology, LLC

Integrating applications such as IBM Lotus Connections into an existing IBM WebSphere Portal deployment can deliver a consistent navigation model and appearance across different applications, increasing application usability. Learn how to use a Web Application Integrator theme to accomplish this, while ensuring secure access for users and enhancing navigation. Plus, discover how to decrease application load time by asynchronously loading the Web Application Integrator header using Ajax.

» Choosing the WebSphere Application Server ND topology that’s right for your system: Achieving high stability for multiclient WebSphere applications
Jamie Pope, senior technology manager
Ying Ding, president, Greater Charlotte WebSphere Users Group

Many enterprise WebSphere systems use topologies that share Java Virtual Machine (JVM) clusters with both mission-critical core applications and client applications. Learn about three alternate topologies based on WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment (ND) that you can implement to prevent costly system instability and downtime.

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November 2008 marks the beginning of weekly posting of new articles to The Sphere online knowledgebase and cessation of the bimonthly journal format. Listed below are the articles published in the bimonthly journal from its inception in 2005 through the November/December 2008 issue. Articles posted to the site subsequent to November 2008 are grouped above by the month of posting.

Volume 01 (2005)
Issue 01 (Premiere Issue)
»	Put your integrated WebSphere environments into production fast - techniques and scripts for flawless, repeatable deployments by Denise Eick Get a jump-start on automating the installation of your integrated WebSphere environments. Automated installations save time and money by streamlining server setup and simplifying maintenance. This article helps you leave timeconsuming, error-prone manual deployments behind, as it teaches you scripting techniques you can use for the most complex installations - even those with install guides that run hundreds of pages long. You get detailed steps for creating a stable and repeatable process, plus downloadable sample scripts to use as a starting point.
»	A common portlet service - why and how to build one by John Kidd, Kidd & Associates Improve performance, reduce coding costs, and gain a central point of maintenance by implementing a common service for the portlets deployed on your server. This practical article sets you up for success by explaining how to identify a good candidate for a portlet service, the benefits you can expect, what you can and cannot do with a service, and best practices to use. Step by step, you learn how to construct, code, and test two portlet services. The first service provides user-interface data drawn from a DBMS system; the second service accesses back-end Domino data.
»	WAS 6 Profiles in federated environments - a new perspective that makes it easier to work with them by Pete Neergaard, IBM Software Group The new Profiles feature of WebSphere Application Server V6.0 holds the promise of easier server installation, maintenance, and management. Profiles are not difficult to understand or work with in simple environments with stand-alone servers; however, they can be confusing when the environment includes multiple server instances in a federated environment. This article enables you to work with profiles in any server environment. First, you learn about the problems that profiles are designed to address, how profiles function, and the fundamentals of working with them. Then, you get a new way of thinking about profiles that makes them easier to understand, even when multiple application server instances are federated in the same node of a cell.
»	The new EJB 3.0 specification - why it's time to reevaluate Enterprise JavaBeans by Lou Sacco The new EJB 3.0 (JSR-220) specification has enhancements that help address the inadequacies of the previous release, and it might even change your mind about using EJBs. This article helps you get the emerging EJB standard into perspective so you can evaluate it for your own environment. See how EJBs have morphed into elegant Plain Old Java Objects (POJOs). Find out what happened to JNDI lookups. Learn how Java 5 annotations reduce the deployment descriptor nightmare. See how container-managed persistence puts you on the fast track to beat the "object-relational impedance mismatch" dilemma. Take a look at the evolved EJB query language. For each key aspect of the new spec, you get a balanced, objective discussion of its technical merits and how it overcomes the shortcomings of the previous release.
»	RAD 6 portal development tools - how to design, build, and deploy your portal themes and pages by Ken Rokicki, Data Planners, Inc. Take advantage of the new portal development tools in Rational Application Developer (RAD) 6 to speed development time and reduce deployment errors. Using visual development tools that enable concurrent development of portals and portlets, you can continuously test and retest your project in the context of a working environment. In this step-by-step article, you learn how to use your existing portal and portlet development skills with the new RAD 6 tools to create a portal UI and deploy the portal to a Portal Server instance.
»	Bringing SOA to the mobile edge of the WebSphere enterprise by Jeff Reser and Angus McIntyre, IBM Software Group You can provide enterprise access to a wide variety of mobile and remote systems and devices using WebSphere mobility software. Written for technical and business developers and architects, this article provides a foundation for understanding how to develop mobile applications in a service-oriented architecture (SOA) using WebSphere products. It also prepares the way for future articles on building, deploying, and managing mobile applications in an SOA.
»	Getting started with Rational Application Developer by Paul Calhoun, NetNotes Solutions Unlimited, Inc. Rational Application Developer (RAD) is more than just a Java IDE. Used to its full potential as a complete J2EE development tool, it can help you work more productively and efficiently. This is the first in a series of articles that expose the most useful features of RAD for a wide variety of development tasks. In this article, you get experience-tested information and tips on installing, configuring, and navigating RAD.
Volume 02 (2006)
Issue 01 (March and April)
»	Upgrading to WebSphere Portal 5.1.x: Lessons learned and best practices by Brad Bouldin and Maan Mehta, IBM Software Services for Lotus Save time and make planning and performing your Portal upgrade easier. This article answers your most difficult migration questions, provides an upgrade roadmap from your current version of WebSphere Portal to Version 5.1.x, and offers best practices for many specific upgrade tasks. Gain valuable insights on migrating your production data as well as upgrading your portlet code, themes, skins, and other artifacts. If your site uses the Bookmarks portlet, you can prevent headaches by using the detailed migration solution that’s included.
»	Quick and easy portlet development with RAD 6: Adapt existing applications to build custom, Struts, and JavaServer Faces portlets by Ken Rokicki, Data Planners, Inc. You don’t have to abandon all of your previous work with J2EE applications when creating portlets. The portlet development tools in IBM Rational Application Developer (RAD) 6 help you to adapt existing model logic and other software assets to your portal environment. Learn how you can apply your portlet development skills in RAD 6 as you integrate existing model components to create custom, Struts, and JavaServer Faces portlets using Web diagrams and wizards. This article shows how you can implement everything with a minimum of custom coding and in a minimal amount of time.
»	Evaluating WebSphere JavaServer Faces (JSF) development for enterprise settings: Business and technical perspectives by Robert Patt-Corner, Mitretek Systems, Inc. For managers and developers evaluating the JavaServer Faces (JSF) framework for enterprise use, this article provides the information and insight that put it into perspective. Review the business issues and challenges JSF is designed to address; examine the business case for using JSF as the strategic framework for your J2EE Web application interfaces; explore JSF from a technical perspective, focusing on its key components and processes. To complete your analysis, learn how JSF integrates with other frameworks, notably Struts and Spring, and how it is implemented in Rationals Application Developer 6 and WebSphere 6.
»	IBM WebSphere Integration Developer and WebSphere Process Server: Getting up to speed on the new programming model and development tools for WebSphere business integration solutions by Michele Chilanti, IBM Software Services Using a business integration solution that coordinates multiple information systems into a single, coherent business workflow, you can automate complex business processes, improve organizational efficiency, and enable the incremental growth and reuse of technical assets. This article introduces you to two new WebSphere products for building and deploying business integration solutions in a service-oriented architecture. Learn the fundamentals of the new Service Component Architecture of WebSphere Process Server and how to work with the new Business Object framework. Then, through extensive step-by-step examples, see how to build Java components using the visual development tools and wizards of WebSphere Integration Developer.
»	Using WebSphere Everyplace Deployment (WED) to deliver managed-client applications by David Reich, IBM With the integrated WebSphere Everyplace Deployment (WED) platform, you can build and deploy applications to a variety of end-user devices (including desktop computers, laptops, cellular phones, and other mobile devices). Find out how WED enables you to develop these applications with minimal disruption of code that may already exist or, in the case of new development, without radically altering business or application logic. Written for developers and technology decision makers, this article provides insight into WED and what it offers, so you can make the most effective use of the services it provides.
»	Save time when working in Rational Application Developer: Best practices for managing your workspaces and using Help by Paul T. Calhoun, NetNotes Solutions Unlimited, Inc. Regardless of the type of development you do in Rational Application Developer, a large part of your ability to work efficiently depends on how you manage your workspaces and keep helpful information organized and ready at hand. This article focuses on these day-to-day aspects of working with the tool and point outs the simple steps to take to ensure that you save time in all your work with Rational Developer.
»	IBM Workplace Designer: A new way to work with J2EE applications in IBM Workplace environments by Chris Reckling, IBM This article introduces you to IBM Workplace Designer, the new development environment for J2EE applications. Discover the features for creating Workplace components (including forms, views, scripts, dynamic interfaces, and so on). Learn about some of Workplace Designer’s timesaving capabilities, including a way to work with schemas without knowing XSD, and how you can easily integrate components with IBM Workplace Collaboration Services. To demonstrate some of the major capabilities of this new development environment, the article steps you through building a sample component.
Issue 02 (May and June)
»	Setting up portlet-to-portlet communication: Dynamic data exchange between Struts portlets using the cooperative portlets feature of WebSphere Portal V5.1 by Yixing Gong, IBM; Anthony Bernal, IBM; and Karin Conroy The new cooperative portlets feature of WebSphere Portal lets you set up portlet-to-portlet communication with a greater degree of flexibility than possible prior to Version 5.1. You can make two or more portlets communicate with each other regardless of whether they are on the same portal page or different portal pages. Plus, the communication can be dynamic: portlets can send each other messages that are either runtime user inputs or parameter values of a URL link. To enable you to create cooperative portlets, WebSphere Portal provides the property broker feature (introduced in Version 5.0) and the portlet wiring tool (introduced in Version 5.1). This article provides a complete, working example of creating cooperative Struts portlets with dynamic data exchange. You will see exactly what you need to do to apply the property broker and portlet wiring tool to make Struts portlets send runtime user inputs to each other. The files for the working example are available for download from The Sphere Web site.
»	Getting started developing portlets with the JSR 168 Portlet API by Susan Bryant, Unicus Associates Whether you’ve been developing portlets for a while or are just starting out, you need to get the JSR 168 Portlet API on your radar screen. WebSphere Portal will eventually support only the JSR 168 API, so the best practice is to develop portlets using this API if it can meet your requirements. In addition, JSR 168 lets you make your applications portable to a wider range of standard-compliant server vendors. To give you a boost along the JSR 168 learning curve, this article guides you through the basics of portlet development with this API. Step by step, it shows how to build a simple portlet and gradually add to its functionality. You’ll get insights on exploiting the API’s capabilities and learn how all the fundamental pieces of the demonstration portlet hook together.
»	Building a basic infrastructure for integrating JavaServer Faces (JSF) in an enterprise setting by Robert Patt-Corner, Mitretek Systems, Inc. An enterprise setting demands applications of significant scale and robustness to support many thousands of users, survive the failure of individual servers, and be maintainable by minimally sized teams. They must also be maximally reusable without creating excessive rework for developers. The JavaServer Faces (JSF) framework for building application front ends is up to the challenge. To get you started working with JSF in the context of an enterprise application development setting, this article takes you through a typical three-tier enterprise application and demonstrates key techniques for integrating a JSF-based UI with the business layers. First you’ll see how to construct the data access and business service tiers for integration with the UI; then, you’ll see how to provide access to business services from the UI by putting a basic Service Locator pattern in place between the service tier and UI tier. You can extend the basic approach to build applications that operate with very large-scale implementations.
»	Creating business logic with IBM WebSphere Integration Developer: Process flows, state machines, and modifiable rules by Michele Chilanti, IBM Software Services WebSphere Integration Developer Version 6 and WebSphere Process Server Version 6 greatly simplify business integration projects with a single, coherent, standardized approach to addressing most scenarios. Whether you are a business integration specialist, application architect, or component and business process developer, you’ll learn how you can use them to streamline your own projects. Using examples based on typical business cases, this article shows how to use the wizards and tools of WebSphere Integration Developer to implement business logic in process flows, state machines, and externalized (modifiable) business rules. You’ll see how you can easily package each construct as an SCA component that’s ready to be wired together with other components in the Assembly editor.
»	Writing Java code in Rational Application Developer: Getting started creating simple Java projects by Paul T. Calhoun, NetNotes Solutions Unlimited, Inc. Rational Application Developer provides Java developers with a powerful assist for their Java projects. To get you started writing Java code in this tool, this article shows, step by step, how to create, write, and test Java code for simple Java projects. Become an expert in your development tool as you get advice on setting preferences that affect Java code development, plus step-by-step instructions on using wizards to create Java projects and class files. You’ll also learn how to put Rational Application Developer’s code-completion capabilities to work, fix compile errors, and test the completed code.
Issue 03 (July and August)
»	Build better Web-based query interfaces with Hibernate’s Criteria API, JSF, and Spring by Lou Sacco, QUALCOMM, Inc. Discover an extremely powerful, object-oriented approach for meeting your Web query builder needs. Whether you develop applications for WebSphere Portal or Application Server, you can use the solution detailed in this article to perform sophisticated searching and translate the returned data into an attractive tabular format with navigation controls — all without having to write SQL statements or transform results sets! Easier to build and maintain than traditional query builder implementations, this solution combines JavaServer Faces (JSF) with the Spring and Hibernate open-source frameworks. A full implementation of the application is available for download from The Sphere Web site.
»	Design a JavaServer Faces UI using standard and IBM-extended JSF tags: Data display, in-place editing, and deletion in a single page by Robert Patt-Corner, Mitretek Systems, Inc. Exploit the JavaServer Faces (JSF) specification to build device-independent applications with rich-client interfaces, wellseparated design and coding concerns, and strong code maintainability. This article walks you through the implementation of a JSF front-end application using the IBM Rational Application Developer tooling. Learn techniques to construct a basic JSF Web page and then enhance it with IBM-specific JSF implementation features for in-place editing and deletion. Plus, see how all of the key components fit together in a scalable framework that can serve as the foundation for very large, enterprise-scale applications. The source code and sample database for the application are available for download from The Sphere Web site.
»	Simplify business integration development with IBM WebSphere Integration Developer: Selectors, interface maps, adapters, and relationships by Michele Chilanti, IBM Software Services Business integration specialists, application architects, and component and business process developers alike can streamline the development of their business integration projects using WebSphere Integration Developer Version 6. Through extensive step-by-step examples, discover how the tools and wizards of WebSphere Integration Developer empower you to build and implement advanced business logic for your integration solutions. This article shows how to build selectors for dynamic logic based on date and time criteria, adapters for enabling your solution to interact with other systems, and interface maps and relationships for data consistency across multiple back-end systems.
»	Tap into the power of the IBM WebSphere Integration Developer test client: Testing complex, multipart business solutions by Michele Chilanti, IBM Software Services Test complex business integration solutions without having to implement the entire solution or build a custom test program. This how-to article takes you through the steps of using the built-in test client of IBM WebSphere Integration Developer to test a solution that involves multiple operations, clients, and systems. Learn to configure an emulator that simulates a module component that is not yet implemented. Plus, find out how to speed the test client’s performance by configuring the monitors that automatically track the requests and responses flowing over the wires between your components.
»	Increase coding efficiency and accuracy with the rapid Java development features of Rational Application Developer by Paul T. Calhoun, NetNotes Solutions Unlimited, Inc. Accelerate Java source code development and ensure accuracy with the rapid application development features of IBM Rational Application Developer (RAD). In this step-by-step article, examine the key capabilities for Java that are built into RAD and learn how to use RAD wizards to create Java beans and easily generate their getter and setter methods. Explore the options on the Java editor’s context menu and find out how to exploit RAD’s handy TODO feature.
»	Eliminate project dependency and classpath management problems using IBM WebSphere Everyplace Client Toolkit by Pierre Carlson, IBM Spend more time writing application code and less time searching for the libraries needed to support your applications. This how-to article eliminates the confusion around dependency management for WebSphere Everyplace Deployment (WED), IBM’s platform for developing server-managed client software. Learn how to create a manifest file that specifies everything your WED application requires at compile time, while not specifying any unnecessary libraries that might cause performance problems or limit the configurations where your application will run. This article explains the technical underpinnings of manifest files and shows how to take advantage of the WebSphere Everyplace Client Toolkit features for simplifying application dependencies and classpath management. Using these features, you no longer need to worry about your application failing to execute when it’s deployed to the WED test environment or the installed WED platform.
Issue 04 (September and October)
»	Build two-phase commit transaction processing in IBM WebSphere Process Server with BPEL by Gang Chen and Keys Botzum, IBM Software Services for WebSphere. Exploit the power of Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) and WebSphere Process Server to build business processes that provide the key transactional qualities your enterprise systems demand. Follow this step-by-step tutorial and learn how to use IBM WebSphere Integration Developer to develop a BPEL component that utilizes a two-phase commit transaction in a business integration solution. The source files for the demonstration are available for download from The Sphere Web site.
»	Integrate PDF forms into your Web applications: A simple, cost-effective approach by Cord Jastram, Computer Sciences Corporation. Streamline and expedite data capture with PDF forms. This article illustrates how to use PDF forms as the front end of your Web applications by presenting a simple, low-cost solution based on standard technologies and open-source libraries. As you walk through the solution’s client side, you’ll discover how to construct a PDF form with custom user interface elements (like toolbars and dialogs). Learn how to protect PDF files using encryption and passwords, enable users to save their completed forms locally, and associate electronic and printed versions of a form using bar codes. The complete solution is available for download from The Sphere Web site.
»	Implement page navigation, master-detail editing, and basic validation in a JavaServer Faces UI by Robert Patt-Corner, Mitretek Systems, Inc. Learn to take advantage of the wide range of out-of-the-box capabilities of the JavaServer Faces (JSF) library as you implement a complete navigation framework and basic validation for a JSF application. Plus, find out how to construct pages where users can edit a master-detail display of items. This article demonstrates how to build a scalable enterprise JSF sample application using IBM Rational Application Developer 6.0. The complete source code and database for the application are available for download from The Sphere Web site.
»	Top techniques for integrating AJAX into your new and existing applications by Jimmy Ray Launch your mastery of Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) with this comprehensive survey of AJAX techniques and best practices for reducing or eliminating time-consuming Web page updates. Learn how AJAX interoperates with servlets, JavaServer Pages, Struts, and JavaServer Faces. Discover techniques for integrating AJAX functionality into your new and existing applications. Get started with Direct Web Remoting and lightweight AJAX. Plus, get explicated code samples that you can download from The Sphere Web site.
»	Develop Java GUIs quickly and easily using Rational Application Developer by Paul T. Calhoun, NetNotes Solutions Unlimited, Inc. Speed the development of your Java graphical user interfaces (GUIs) using the Visual Class wizard and graphical editor tools of Rational Application Developer (RAD). This article shows how to produce the majority of your graphical application code in RAD quickly and easily. Step by step, learn to develop a Java GUI that combines wizard-based creation of a visual class, drag-and-drop additions of components, and automatically generated action-listener code. You can apply the same tools and techniques to develop any Java GUI in RAD, including Java applets.
»	Maven 2.0 and Rational Application Developer: Know your project management options by John Kidd, Kidd & Associates Find out why developers working with Rational Application Developer (RAD) need to keep the Maven 2.0 project management tool on their radar screens. Maven 2.0 eases Java development through simplified build file creation and dependency management, and it’s likely to replace Ant as the build tool of choice. This article covers the evolution of the Maven project, what Maven 2.0 has to offer relative to the tools you currently use, and your project management options with RAD.
Issue 05 (November and December)
»	Build compensation processing in IBM WebSphere Process Server with BPEL by Gang Chen and Keys Botzum, IBM Software Services for WebSphere Provide advanced fault-handling for business integration applications using a Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) compensate activity in WebSphere Process Server. This tutorial shows how to use a traditional XA transaction and compensation together to handle a complex business process in which a previous database update must be compensated. Follow the detailed steps for developing the BPEL process using WebSphere Integration Developer and the sample source files, which are available for download from The Sphere Web site.
»	How to implement self-service user registration on WebSphere Portal by Rajender Sriramoju Enhance user satisfaction with a well-designed self-service application that allows users to register themselves with your portal site. Whether you’re a portal architect, administrator, or developer, in this article you’ll find out exactly what you need to do to implement a custom self-registration solution on WebSphere Portal. Learn the architecture, design, configuration, development tasks, and best practices for creating the sample solution, which uses a Struts portlet to map user-entered identity information to the user registry. The implementation steps take you deep into the configuration of the WebSphere Member Manager (WMM) files and integration of the self-registration portlet with the Portal User Management Architecture system programming interface (PUMA SPI). The sample registration portlet code and configuration files are available for download from The Sphere Web site.
»	WebSphere Portal security: Lock down your portal’s key exposure points by Ken Rokicki, Data Planners, Inc. Understand the level of security WebSphere Portal provides out of the box and the important steps to take to harden a WebSphere Portal installation. This article provides an experienced perspective on security that will stand you in good stead when you tackle your first installation. Discover the key concepts behind portal security and everything you need to do before letting nonadministrative users touch your portal, including migrating configuration and user information to a relational database, migrating user authentication information to a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) repository, extending portal security with network data encryption, implementing single sign-on (SSO), and securing pages and portlets.
»	Simplified JavaServer Faces development with Spring and Hibernate: Build more functional, easily maintained applications using less code by Robert Patt-Corner, Mitretek Systems, Inc. Find out how to take your development capabilities to a new level of productivity and ease with the Object Relational Mapping (ORM) and Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) frameworks. Using these frameworks in a JavaServer Faces (JSF) application, you can do more with less code, while improving code quality and maintainability. This article demonstrates the key techniques for integrating the ORM and AOP frameworks into a JSF application using IBM Rational Application Developer. You can download the source code for the implementation from The Sphere Web site.
»	Exploit the server-side Java development features of Rational Application Developer by Paul T. Calhoun, NetNotes Solutions Unlimited, Inc. Gain experience working with the IBM Rational Application Developer (RAD) tools and wizards for J2EE applications. This step-by-step guide to creating a servlet class within a dynamic Web project introduces the many advanced servlet-development options at your command, demonstrates how to test your servlet using the embedded test server, and shows how to perform code updates while the server is still running. With the programming tips and techniques provided along the way, you’ll be well equipped for developing your next server-side Java project in RAD.
Volume 03 (2007)
Issue 01 (January and February)
»	Asynchronous messaging in WebSphere Application Server 6, Part 1: An introduction for administrators and developers by Robert Patt-Corner, Mitretek Systems, Inc. Deepen your understanding of asynchronous messaging and the new asynchronous messaging implementation in WebSphere Application Server (WAS) 6. Find out what every developer and administrator should know about asynchronous messaging, which is a critical support of many software programs and systems. Learn what it is, how it works, the role of the Java Message Service (JMS) specification, and the key business indicators that call for asynchronous messaging solutions. Then, get up to speed on the service integration bus (SIBus) and default messaging engine in WAS 6.
»	Asynchronous messaging in WebSphere Application Server 6, Part 2: Step-by-step JMS configuration by Robert Patt-Corner, Mitretek Systems, Inc. Configure asynchronous messaging using the new messaging features of WebSphere Application Server (WAS) 6. Working in the WAS Administrative console as a system administrator, follow detailed instructions to configure a WAS 6 server with a service integration bus (SIBus) and all of the Java Message Service (JMS) resources needed to send and process asynchronous messages, including a connection factory, queue, and activation specification.
»	Provide powerful back-end support for a PDF-based Web UI: Reusable code classes for manipulating and storing PDF forms by Cord Jastram, Computer Sciences Corporation Display customized Portable Document Format (PDF) forms to browser users and manipulate the user-entered data in a back-end system. This article demonstrates custom code classes that enable you to load a PDF form template, add a toolbar to the PDF form, prefill fields with values, encrypt the form data, store all of the user-entered data in a barcode in the saved file, and more. Get a thorough look at the sample application’s Java code and learn how to modify the application. Plus, get step-by-step directions for integrating the sample application into your WebSphere back-end system. The complete sample application is available for download from The Sphere Web site.
»	Develop, deploy, and test non-SCA clients that consume SCA services on IBM® WebSphere® Process Server by Nay Lin, IBM Ensure that the service components running on your WebSphere Process Server can be invoked and consumed by clients that do not have the same architecture. WebSphere Process Server Version 6 uses Service Component Architecture (SCA) to support business integration. See how to develop, deploy, and test four types of non-SCA clients to invoke an SCA service. Follow step-by-step instructions for building the SCA service, the non-SCA clients, and the means for each client to invoke the service.
»	Create order from chaos with a content management system by Tony Higham, IBM Discover how a content management system (CMS) frees up IT resources and supports a consistent user experience and branding across multiple Web sites. This article explains how a CMS enables an organization to get more out of its investments in Web technology by allowing content authors and business users to create, review, edit, approve, and publish content. Learn how the elements of a CMS are integrated into an organization’s systems architecture, the benefits that content authors, IT staff, and end users can expect from a CMS, and how WebSphere Portal is a useful vehicle for enabling these benefits.
»	How to implement a Model-View-Controller design pattern using Rational Application Developer by Paul T. Calhoun, NetNotes Solutions Unlimited, Inc. Use Rational Application Developer (RAD) to easily and efficiently design all of the elements of a Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture that supports segregated development tasks, decoupled application pieces, and an agile application maintenance routine. Step by step, learn how to develop servlets in RAD that participate in an MVC architecture. See how to combine a Java bean and a servlet with Web pages to implement an MVC design pattern in a dynamic Web project. The example application and code is available for download from The Sphere Web site.
Issue 02 (March and April)
»	Design your WebSphere infrastructure for best performance and availability on VMware by Chris Delgado, Optimus Solutions, LLC Discover the many benefits of running WebSphere servers on virtualization software, including lower maintenance and administration costs and enhanced clustering, load balancing, fault tolerance, and recovery. Gain insight into the key components and configurations that yield best results when running WebSphere on VMware virtualization products. This article gives WebSphere administrators and system architects an experience-based perspective on design considerations and best practices for using VMware with WebSphere.
»	Sending asynchronous JMS messages in WebSphere Application Server V6 by Robert Patt-Corner, Mitretek Systems, Inc. Get a grounding in the fundamentals of developing Java Message Service (JMS) client applications that send asynchronous messages in WebSphere Application Server V6 — a must-have skill for anyone who develops applications that drive transactions over a network. Follow the step-by-step instructions in this article to build a Java Web application that acts as a JMS client to construct and send messages to a destination queue on a WebSphere service integration bus. The complete example application is available at The Sphere Web site.
»	Build custom portlets quickly using IBM WebSphere Portlet Factory by Thomas Køcks Nielsen, EDB Gruppen A/S, IBM Streamline the creation and deployment of custom portlets with IBM WebSphere Portlet Factory (WPF), which enables you to produce Java applications without writing a single line of code. See how WPF allows you to easily and quickly develop custom portlets by configuring parameter-driven builders that generate code for you. This article shows how to get up and running quickly with WPF by introducing some of the most useful builders and providing detailed instructions on building a sample portlet that calls a Web service. The sample Web service and portlet models are available for download from The Sphere Web site.
»	Develop powerful managed-client applications with IBM Lotus Expeditor Toolkit by Pierre Carlson and Keith Carter, IBM Find out how IBM Lotus Expeditor Toolkit 6.1 helps you use your Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) skills to quickly build, debug, and package managed-client applications and standard portlets for IBM’s universal managed-client platform, Lotus Expeditor. This article gets you started with Expeditor Toolkit so you can deliver client applications that support mobile end users, provide a familiar user interface, and improve overall application and network performance. Walk through the procedures for installing and configuring the software, get to know the five most common types of Expeditor Toolkit projects, and see step by step how to set up some useful managed-client projects.
»	Consolidate crosscutting Java code into aspects using AspectJ and AspectJ Developer Tools for Eclipse by Lou Sacco, QUALCOMM, Inc. Learn to use AspectJ 5 to address the crosscutting concerns in your Java projects while leaving your original code more readable and easier to maintain. This article demonstrates how to consolidate concerns like logging, auditing, exception handling, security checks, and standards control into components and then use AspectJ Developer Tools (AJDT) to easily integrate them into your code. It provides all of the information you need to start using AspectJ and AJDT in your own projects, including instructions on installing and using AJDT with Eclipse and four easy-to-follow examples based on reusable aspects that you can download from The Sphere Web site.
»	Create highly functional JSP pages with Rational Application Developer V6 by Paul T. Calhoun, NetNotes Solutions Unlimited, Inc. Fully exploit JavaServer Pages (JSP) functionality using IBM Rational Application Developer V6. This article shows how to create powerful JSP pages without having to write lots of code. Step by step, learn how to build an application using Expression Language for easier coding of pages. Add functionality by incorporating the JSP Standard Tag Library (JSTL) and then use JSTL tags to easily transform XML data into HTML output. The complete code for all of the example JSP pages is available for download from The Sphere Web site.
Issue 03 (May and June)
»	Content navigation and presentation portlets: How to share complex data types using the JSR 168 PortletSession object by Yixing Gong and Donald K. Sheppard, IBM Develop multiple portlets to work together as a single, dynamic application in which users can navigate and view content on an enterprise portal Web site on WebSphere Portal. Learn the design principles and implementation techniques to enable the portlets to communicate and share complex data types with each other via the Java Specification Request (JSR) 168 PortletSession object. The sample content navigation and content presentation portlets are available for download from The Sphere Web site. You can install them into a WebSphere Portal server and use them as a framework for further development to implement your own WebSphere Portal content sites.
»	Serve CSV and other markup formats to a Web browser with IBM WebSphere Portal by Jonathan Silber, MFS Investment Management Extend an existing portlet so that it serves multiple, downloadable markup formats to Web browser clients. See how to modify the portlet to generate Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Comma-Separated Value (CSV) markup formats for the Web browser, while maintaining the ability to provide customized data for portal users based on user attributes. This article provides complete steps for implementing the multimarkup solution. The sample application is available for download from The Sphere Web site. The framework supports Extensible Markup Language (XML) as well as Excel and CSV files, so it’s flexible enough to meet a variety of business requirements.
»	High availability and scalability for IBM WebSphere Adapters in enterprise integration solutions on WebSphere Process Server by Gang Chen and Suraksha Vidyarthi, IBM Use IBM WebSphere Adapters to integrate WebSphere Process Server (WPS) components with external enterprise applications while meeting requirements for high availability and scalability. This article is the first in a series that shows integration developers the options for deploying and configuring adapters in a WPS clustered environment to achieve high availability and scalability. It provides insight into how WebSphere Adapters handle high availability and scalability in an outbound adapter scenario (data flowing from WPS toward an external system).
»	Configure IBM WebSphere Technology adapters for high availability and scalability in enterprise integration solutions by Gang Chen and Suraksha Vidyarthi, IBM Discover the best options for installing and configuring IBM WebSphere Technology adapters on WebSphere Process Server (WPS) to support the high availability and scalability requirements of enterprise integration solutions. Technology adapters provide the connectivity to access data, technologies, and protocols that enhance an integration infrastructure. This article focuses on inbound adapter scenarios (data flowing from an external enterprise information system toward WPS). It explains three adapter configuration options that you can employ depending on the volume of events to be processed and the back-end processing workload. You can download the files of the example deployments from The Sphere Web site and follow along with the detailed step-by-step instructions.
»	Receive and process asynchronous JMS messages using message-driven beans in WebSphere Application Server V6 by Robert Patt-Corner, Noblis. Learn how to develop a WebSphere application that receives and processes the asynchronous messages sent by a Java Message Service (JMS) Web application client. Following step-by-step instructions and experience-based recommendations, you’ll learn how to develop, configure, deploy, and test message-driven beans (MDBs) that retrieve and process the asynchronous messages waiting on the WebSphere Application Server (WAS) service integration bus (SIBus) destination queue. Solve the intricacies of message destination linking, write code to process messages into text, and build and deploy your application using the standard WAS deployment tools. The sample MDB and the JMS Web application for accessing and sending messages to a WAS JMS server are available for download from The Sphere Web site.
»	Meet Rational Application Developer V7 by Paul T. Calhoun, NetNotes Solutions Unlimited, Inc. Find out the benefits of upgrading to Rational Application Developer (RAD) V7 and get detailed, experience-based guidance on installing and configuring the tool. Learn about the new features of RAD V7, which loads faster than its predecessor and uses fewer resources. After a step-by-step walkthrough of how to install the tool, you’ll see how to configure it by checking for updates and setting preferences. This article is uniquely helpful as it includes many tips and insights along the way that you won’t find anywhere else.
Issue 04 (July and August)
»	Contain server sprawl with Sun Solaris 10 Containers for IBM WebSphere Application Server: A step-by-step guide by Dileep Kumar, Albert Leigh, and Daniel Edwin, Sun Microsystems, Inc. Reduce operational costs while improving server utilization, security, and manageability. This article shows how to achieve server consolidation when deploying IBM WebSphere Application Server (WAS) on the Solaris 10 Operating System. Gain a fundamental understanding of Solaris Containers server partitioning and Solaris Zones for server virtualization and isolation. Then acquire hands-on experience by following the step-by-step instructions to install and configure multiple WAS profiles on a single Solaris 10 server using Solaris Containers with Zones.
»	Practical portlet development for best results with WebSphere Portlet Factory by Ken Rokicki, Data Planners, Inc. Build well-layered portlet applications based on the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern using a comprehensive tool that significantly eases and speeds development. See how you can use WebSphere Portlet Factory to build and test a portlet application that implements Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD) functionality on a relational database table while adhering to best practices both for Portlet Factory and Java development. Gain techniques for acquiring portal assets, customizing templates, applying style sheets, creating the service model, and refactoring the user interface (UI) for increased reusability of components. The complete code for the example portlet is available from The Sphere Web site.
»	IBM WebSphere Application adapters: Configuring adapters for high availability and scalability in enterprise integration solutions by Suraksha Vidyarthi and Gang Chen, IBM Configure IBM WebSphere Application adapters for high availability and scalability in clustered environments. Application adapters provide data connectivity between WebSphere Process Server (WPS) components and enterprise information system (EIS) applications such as JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, PeopleSoft Enterprise, SAP software, and Siebel Business Applications. Discover how WebSphere Application adapters and WPS components function together in the inbound scenario (data flowing from the EIS application to WPS components). Then follow detailed instructions that demonstrate how to install and configure Application adapters to support high availability and scalability. Example applications are available for download from The Sphere Web site.
»	Extend WebSphere Portal's Profile Management portlet to meet your user registration requirements by David Cook, Ascendant Technology, LLC Meet your portal’s specific requirements for user registration and profile management by learning to modify the PUMA service and Profile Management portlet in WebSphere Portal V6.0. Follow a step-by-step demonstration to gain the know-how you need to capture additional user information, such as office and mobile phone numbers, on the default WebSphere Portal Registration page. These modifications enable users to change their information on the Edit My Profile page as well.
»	IBM WebSphere Commerce V5.4 on Windows 2000: How to change the host name by Jennifer Turner, IBM Minimize the amount of downtime required to change the host name on a system that has WebSphere Commerce V5.4 and Payment Manager installed on Windows 2000. Discover which files to modify and the steps to perform so you won’t need to completely reinstall either Commerce or Payment Manager. The detailed instructions in this article show how to change the fully qualified host name of the machine running WebSphere Commerce as well as how to update the host name in the WebSphere Commerce and Payment Manager installations.
»	Work smarter, not harder, in Rational Application Developer V7 by Paul T. Calhoun, NetNotes Solutions Unlimited, Inc. Take advantage of the productivity enhancements in Rational Application Developer V7. Find out what looks different from the previous release and where to find what you need so that you can benefit right away from the many new and improved features of Version 7. Get a guided tour of the wizards and screens for creating projects, classes, servlets, and JavaServer Pages (JSP) pages, and see how new features make writing and testing your Java code faster and easier.
Issue 05 (September and October)
»	Two-factor authentication for WebSphere Portal with Tivoli Access Manager and RSA SecurID, Part 1 by Chris Delgado, JSYMMETRIC, Inc. Protect sensitive data on WebSphere Portal by implementing two-factor authentication (2FA), which requires users seeking access to provide both something they know and something they have - for example, a personal identification number (PIN) and a passcode displayed on a device. This is the first part of a two-part article that shows WebSphere administrators how to implement a highly secure front-end 2FA system for WebSphere Portal using IBM Tivoli Access Manager (TAM) and RSA SecurID. Discover how to set up the system to authenticate users and automatically log them into Portal via Single Sign-On (SSO), gain insight into the security mechanisms incorporated in the system, and find out the best practices to follow before implementing the solution.
»	Two-factor authentication for WebSphere Portal with Tivoli Access Manager and RSA SecurID, Part 2: Configuration roadmap by Chris Delgado, JSYMMETRIC, Inc. Gain expertise in enabling two-factor authentication (2FA) in a WebSphere Portal environment using IBM Tivoli Access Manager (TAM) and RSA SecurID. This article is part 2 of a two-part article that describes how to implement a 2FA solution in which the system authenticates users who supply a correct personal identification number (PIN) and SecurID passcode and then automatically logs them into Portal via Single Sign-On (SSO). Learn the critical steps and configuration options necessary to build a working lab environment in which to test the 2FA solution with WebSphere Portal. Plus, get guidance on the system-hardening tasks and best practices necessary to bring the lab environment up to production level.
»	The JMX connection: Set up a JMX management tool to monitor applications in WebSphere Application Server V6.1 by Robert Patt-Corner, Noblis Provide automatic alerts to software developers and administrators whenever a WebSphere server or application indicates a possible problem. This article is first in a series that shows how to build, configure, and test a monitor application that receives and filters events from servers and applications and sends automatic event notifications. It provides step-by-step instructions and experience-based recommendations for building a sample program to demonstrate the basics of using the Java Management Extensions (JMX) implementation in WebSphere Application Server (WAS). Use the sample program to connect to, and report the status of, an application running in a secured WAS V6.1 development environment.
»	WebSphere Application Server V6.1 troubleshooting, Part 1: Learn key diagnostic tools to solve common problems by Ilan Gendelman, Interwoven, Inc. Reduce the time you spend troubleshooting by becoming familiar with the problem determination tools at your disposal in WebSphere Application Server V6.1. This is the first part of a two-part article that equips both beginner and more advanced WebSphere administrators with the tools and knowledge they need to identify and solve the causes of server problems. Explore the IBM Support Assistant (ISA) and the IBM Guided Activity Assistant (IGAA) and see how to get the most advantage from these tools. For novice administrators, the article provides a jumpstart by demonstrating how to use the IGAA to troubleshoot a typical “server won’t start” problem.
»	WebSphere Application Server V6.1 troubleshooting, Part 2: How to diagnose connection leaks and resolve hung threads by Ilan Gendelman, Interwoven, Inc. Solve two common problems that can have serious consequences in your WebSphere Application Server environment: Connection leaks and hung threads. Connection leaks lead to poor application performance, and hung threads consume system resources and result in unresponsive applications. This article guides you through the steps for troubleshooting and resolving both problems using the built-in features of WebSphere Application Server V6.1. It is part 2 of a two-part article that provides the tools and knowledge WebSphere administrators need to identify and solve the causes of server problems.
»	Learn to use the front-end development tools of Rational Application Developer by Paul T. Calhoun, NetNotes Solutions Unlimited, Inc. Experience the convenience of working in a single environment to develop your solutions. Learn how to use IBM Rational Application Developer (RAD) to create your front-end code as well as your server-side code. This article demonstrates how to use the front-end development tools of RAD to create and edit Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and JavaScript files. You’ll see step by step how to create and design an HTML page with a simple table, customize the HTML page with a style rule, and create a JavaScript alert message. This article is for developers who work with RAD V6 or V7.
Issue 06 (November and December)
»	Profile a WebSphere Portlet Factory application, Part 1: Configuring the default LDAP group selection handler by David Bowley, e-Centric Innovations Build context-sensitive, role-based functionality into your applications using the profiling features of IBM WebSphere Portlet Factory. Gain insight into the fundamental techniques of profiling in Portlet Factory as you learn to build and test a profiled application that changes its behavior depending on a user’s LDAP group membership. Step-by-step instructions show how to develop the portlet, set up the user profiles, and configure the default LDAP group selection handler to associate each user with the correct profile. The sample portlet model and profile set are available for download from The Sphere Web site.
»	Profile a WebSphere Portlet Factory application, Part 2: Writing a custom LDAP group selection handler by David Bowley, e-Centric Innovations Meet the unique profiling requirements of your applications by learning to customize the default selection handlers included with IBM WebSphere Portlet Factory. Building on the portlet application from part 1, follow the steps in this article to modify the default LDAP group selection handler class so that users must meet an additional requirement in order to be associated with a particular profile. The sample portlet model, profile set, and complete Java source code for the custom class are available for download from The Sphere Web site.
»	Deploy to WebSphere Portal safely and easily with XMLAccess, ReleaseBuilder, and Ant scripts by Damian Langsweirdt and Mandar Gadre, Ascendant Technology Save time and minimize errors when deploying an IBM WebSphere Portal configuration from one server to another by using the deployment tools of Portal V5.1 and V6.0. Get expert guidance on importing and exporting portal configurations using XMLAccess, performing efficient configuration updates with ReleaseBuilder, and combining Ant scripts with XMLAccess to provide fully automated, reusable deployments. Clear, easy-to-follow examples lead you through the steps for exporting and importing both full and partial configurations. Experience-based recommendations and best practices help you to avoid pitfalls and ensure successful deployments.
»	Develop a JMX management tool to monitor applications in WebSphere Application Server V6.1 by Robert Patt-Corner, ProQual-I.T. Monitor and report on applications and services in your WebSphere environment using the Java Management Extensions (JMX) implementation in IBM WebSphere Application Server (WAS). Learn how to develop a monitor with the all of the capabilities required for reporting events (such as application or server errors, stops, and starts) to WebSphere developers and administrators. Configure the program by means of a properties file to register for notification events from the WAS container’s serious event stream, filter the notifications, and log the events that pass the filters to an event log. The example application is available for download from The Sphere Web site.
»	Key processes for achieving high stability in WebSphere environments — an IT management perspective by Ying Ding, President, WebSphere User Group of Greater Charlotte Provide a highly stable WebSphere environment for your company’s internal and external users no matter how large or complex your system is. This article recommends the proven practices that WebSphere system managers, senior engineers, and consultants can adopt to prevent costly IT infrastructure outages. Gain insight into principles of achieving system stability in your most critical WebSphere engineering processes, including topology design, production build validation, application stress testing, system configuration management, and quality assurance.
»	Exploit the XML processing capabilities and tools of Rational Application Developer by Paul T. Calhoun, NetNotes Solutions Unlimited, Inc. Discover the convenience of working with Extensible Markup Language (XML) in the same workspace where you develop your software solutions. Step by step, see how to take advantage of the full capabilities for creating and managing XML that Rational Application Developer (RAD) provides. Use RAD’s editors to create XML documents and schemas, associate schemas with documents for validation, and create and apply style sheets to XML data.
Volume 04 (2008)
Issue 01 (January and February)
»	The A to Z of IBM WebSphere XD V6.1: Virtualized server resources for continuous application availability by Nitin Gaur, IBM Gain a comprehensive understanding of WebSphere Extended Deployment (XD) V6.1 so you can evaluate it as your platform for shared, continuously available application services. In this article, administrators, network architects, and IT managers learn what functions WebSphere XD performs, the business value it provides, and the major planning considerations and deployment challenges it presents. Discover how WebSphere XD efficiently manages and provides a unified administrative view of a mix of middleware server products, such as WebSphere Application Server and JBoss. See how WebSphere XD virtualizes middleware server processes and dynamically allocates resources based on server health goals and service policies. Plus, get details on prerequisites, lifecycle support levels, packaging, and installation.
»	Satisfy your need for speed: Develop jMaki Charting portlets using the WAS V6.1 portlet container by David Cook, Ascendant Technology, LLC Speed up the development and unit-testing of portlets by using the WebSphere Application Server V6.1 portlet container. Follow clear step-by-step instructions to develop a simple Web 2.0 portlet application that uses the jMaki Charting application programming interface (API) to display data to users. Then test the application using the portlet container as your target runtime. Learn which portlet features and specifications the portlet container supports and how to decide when the portlet container is appropriate for your projects. The complete example application is available for download from The Sphere Web site, along with code stubs you can build on for your own solutions.
»	Two ways to tune your OS for best WebSphere performance: CPU usage and TCP sockets by Geir Sjurseth, Ascendant Technology, LLC Solve server performance problems and tune your operating system (OS) to best support WebSphere Application Server. Discover how to get to the root cause of a performance issue quickly. Know when a performance problem is truly due to a lack of CPU power and when the cause lies elsewhere. Learn to interpret netstat output to understand the traffic on your network and get recommendations for tuning TCP sockets to fix high-load problems.
»	Add full-text indexing to your Web applications with Hibernate Search by Lou Sacco, Qualcomm, Inc. Give your Web application users a search facility that’s so quick and convenient, they’ll think they’re using an Internet search engine. Find out how to integrate Hibernate Search in a Java EE Web application to provide full-text searching of indexed fields via a single space-saving search input box. Plus, explore techniques that make it easier to add Hibernate Search to your applications. Download the complete version of the sample application enabled with Hibernate Search from The Sphere Web site.
»	Strengthen four key IT relationships for WebSphere system stability by Ying Ding, President, WebSphere User Group of Greater Charlotte, North Carolina Reinforce WebSphere system stability through effective collaboration and communication among technical teams. This article is second in a series that provides WebSphere system managers, senior engineers, and consultants with insight into system stability as an IT management issue. Adopt these experience-tested methods for strengthening the work relationships between your WebSphere team and other key IT teams, such as production support, testing, and enterprise architecture. Heighten your awareness of potential problems when interacting with other teams and learn approaches for successfully managing sensitive situations.
»	Test Web services quickly and easily in Rational Application Developer by Paul T. Calhoun, NetNotes Solutions Unlimited, Inc. Test Web services without having to write any code by using the Web Services Explorer tool of Rational Application Developer (RAD). For developers who work with RAD V6 and V7, this article provides easy-to-follow instructions for testing both public and private Web services. It also supplies a handy reference on Web service fundamentals, including the technologies and specifications that make up Web services and resources for testing services.
Issue 02 (March and April)
»	jMaki widgets and WebSphere Portal: More functionality with less coding by David Cook, Ascendant Technology, LLC Easily add charts, trees, tables, and other data components to your WebSphere Portal applications without writing a lot of JavaScript code. Follow this article’s step-by-step instructions to develop a sample charting application and acquire the full set of techniques for working with data components in the jMaki framework — populating a widget with data from an external service, updating the widget automatically, and using the jMaki publish/subscribe mechanism to communicate with other widgets on the same page. The complete sample application is available for download from The Sphere Web site, along with code stubs you can build on for your own solutions.
»	The IBM WebSphere XD On Demand Router — What you need to know for a successful deployment by Nitin Gaur, IBM Find out what WebSphere administrators, IT specialists, and IT architects need to know about On Demand Router (ODR), the engine that drives WebSphere XD’s policy-based provisioning of middleware server resources and services. Discover the key security, performance, topology, and scalability considerations for ODR. Understand ODR’s role in HTTP session rebalancing, multi-cluster routing, the new Storm Drain health management feature, and automatic generation and management of WebSphere plug-in files.
»	Monitor applications on multiple servers and escalate notifications: A JMX tool for developers and administrators by Robert Patt-Corner, ProQual-I.T. Keep your WebSphere system operating correctly with this event-monitoring application. This article is third and last in a series on using Java Management Extensions (JMX) to manage and monitor WebSphere applications and services. Discover the development techniques that enable the tool to provide fully configurable monitoring of WebSphere Application Server (WAS) V6.1 installations, including all members of WAS clusters. Learn how to enable event filtering, escalation of event notifications, and self-health-checking, as well as how to deploy and operate the monitoring tool. The sample monitoring application is available for download from The Sphere Web site.
»	Get started tuning your JVM for WebSphere: A guide for developers and administrators by Geir Sjurseth, Ascendant Technology, LLC Optimize the performance of your WebSphere applications by tuning your Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Size the JVM heap appropriately for your environment and set maintenance options. Find out when and, more importantly, why to make changes to the JVM, and the real effect of each change. In this foundation-building article, administrators and developers learn the differences between the JVMs that install with WAS, how the JVM operates and performs maintenance, and how to enable debug output for the best possible insight into what’s happening in the JVM.
»	Build a world-class WebSphere engineering team to promote system stability by Ying Ding, President, WebSphere User Group of Greater Charlotte Build and maintain highly capable and effective WebSphere engineering teams as part of your strategy for promoting WebSphere system stability. This article is third and last in a series that provides WebSphere system managers, senior engineers, and consultants with insight into system stability as an IT management issue. Get recommendations for maintaining team stability amid constant and inevitable change, organizing a dedicated support team for maximum effectiveness, and improving the quality of technical training. Plus, discover the common pitfalls to avoid when organizing a geographically diverse, global WebSphere workforce.
»	Automatically generate a Web service consumer using Rational Application Developer by Paul T. Calhoun, NetNotes Solutions Unlimited, Inc. Learn to create a Web service consumer easily and automatically using a built-in Rational Application Developer (RAD) wizard that generates all of the proxy code and example Web code for you. Then, see how to create your own implementation of the consumer for use in a Java Enterprise Edition (JEE) project by using the generated proxy source code as the basis for your own servlet code. This article provides step-by-step instructions and tips for developers working in versions 6 and 7.
Issue 03 (May and June)
»	Consume REST-based services in portals using IBM WebSphere Portlet Factory by Ying Du, IBM Rapidly create portlets that consume REST-based Web services such as Yahoo! Weather and CNN News. Find out how the new REST Service Call builder in IBM WebSphere Portlet Factory V6.0.2 enables you to easily develop a portlet that consumes a REST service feed in the popular RSS format. Follow step-by-step instructions to create a sample portlet that retrieves data for multiple user-selected cities from the Yahoo! Weather service and combines the results for display on a single page. The complete sample application is available for download from The Sphere Web site.
»	Propagate user identity in a WebSphere-based SOA application by Rajiv Ramachandran, Prolifics Ensure that only authenticated and authorized users have access to the components of your service-oriented architecture (SOA) application. This article shows SOA architects and developers how to get J2EE security, Web Services Security (WS-Security), and Service Component Architecture (SCA) security working together to guarantee identity propagation in an SOA solution where sensitive data must be restricted to authenticated and authorized users. Working with sample components that you can download from The Sphere Web site, you’ll see how to achieve identity propagation by securing the key elements of a sample WebSphere-based SOA solution, including the UI, mediation components, orchestrating process, and services.
»	WebSphere Application Server V6.1 troubleshooting, Part 3: Get started using dedicated WebSphere log files by Ilan Gendelman, Interwoven, Inc Acquire one of the most necessary skills for any WebSphere administrator — the ability to determine the root cause of a server or application problem using log files. This article shows new administrators the logs to investigate and what to look for when troubleshooting problems on WebSphere Application Server V6.1. Find out how to configure logs, plus, get tips on the handiest ways to view the files and find what you need in them. Cement your understanding through a guided troubleshooting example that uses a sample application you can download from The Sphere Web site.
»	Build interportlet communication using IBM WebSphere Portlet Factory by Abhishek Singh and Usman Memon, IBM Seamlessly integrate multiple back-end applications for your portal users by using WebSphere Portlet Factory to set up interportlet communication. Portlet Factory provides tools and features that streamline the development of interportlet communication. Gain experience using the tools and best practices derived from real-world portal deployments as you build a sample solution that demonstrates the available approaches for implementing interportlet communication. Discover the pros and cons of each approach for specific business and technical requirements. The Portlet Factory models for the sample application are available for download from The Sphere Web site so you can follow along with the step-by-step instructions.
»	Dynamic application placement in IBM WebSphere XD: How it works and how to influence it by Nitin Gaur, IBM Gain the information and insight you need to enhance the effectiveness of the dynamic application placement capability of IBM WebSphere Extended Deployment (XD), which intelligently starts and stops application servers to meet fluctuating demands. This article prepares WebSphere administrators, IT specialists, and IT architects to effectively define, tune, and troubleshoot the policies guiding the XD autonomic controllers that provide resource allocation. See how the controllers interact and explore the extensive options WebSphere XD provides for tuning them.
»	Quickly convert Java code into Web services with Rational Application Developer by Paul T. Calhoun, NetNotes Solutions Unlimited, Inc. Learn to use the wizards and tools of Rational Application Developer (RAD) to rapidly create Web services. Following a hands-on example, create a Web service from a Java class file and deploy it to a test client to see how it works. This article guides you through the options on each wizard screen and explains what you need to do to successfully create the service, automatically generate it, and deploy it to a test client that loads in RAD’s internal browser.
Issue 04 (July and August)
»	Best practices for installing and configuring WebSphere Portlet Factory V6.x by Paul T. Calhoun, NetNotes Solutions Unlimited, Inc. Get set for success with the latest version of IBM WebSphere Portlet Factory, a uniquely valuable tool for rapidly developing JEE applications and portlets. This article provides portlet and Web application developers with best practices for installing and configuring Portlet Factory in an Eclipse environment. Using a proven, straightforward approach, it walks you through the steps required to install and run Portlet Factory and helps you save time by eliminating the review of unnecessary options. Then it shows you how to configure and deploy projects while following best practices.
»	Design and tune large topologies for high performance and stability with IBM WebSphere XD V6.1 by Nitin Gaur, IBM Achieve and maintain high performance and stability in large server-environments managed by IBM WebSphere Extended Deployment (XD). This article helps IT specialists, IT architects, and WebSphere administrators plan for a successful and cost-effective deployment of WebSphere XD. Gain insight into the design challenges related to a virtualized and shared infrastructure and the scalability issues that are particular to very large environments. Learn best practices for achieving scalability that derive from actual deployments, lab tests, and practioners’ experiences.
»	A "minimal but sufficient" approach to WebSphere Portal deployments: Key early decisions by Michael Henderson, PDS Technical Services Follow a streamlined approach to WebSphere Portal deployments that enables you to save money on utilities and tooling, quickly implement an infrastructure for testing and production, ensure proper security, and perform updates to the portal environment while maintaining its integrity. Written for IT department managers and teams, this article is first in a series that reveals the secrets of deploying a portal quickly, correctly, and with little or no added expense. It explains how to take a minimal but sufficient approach in the design phase and provides guidance on making key early decisions that set you up for success in developing and deploying your portal using the tools and resources that come with a license of WebSphere Portal and a simple Windows directory environment.
»	Optimize WebSphere sMash applications with the Dojo Build system and Dojo ShrinkSafe by Roland Barcia and Gang Chen, IBM Improve the performance of your Dojo applications, especially during the initial download of pages, by taking advantage of ShrinkSafe, which is the Dojo Build system’s packing and compression technology. This article provides a step-by-step tutorial that shows developers how to create a Dojo custom profile to be used by the Dojo Build system to produce an optimal distribution. The tutorial uses IBM WebSphere sMash, powered by Project Zero, as the application platform. By following the steps in this exercise, you learn how to create a custom build for WebSphere sMash applications and see how easy it is to optimize the user experience in your applications.
»	How to propagate user identity when using JMS in a WebSphere-based SOA solution by Rajiv Ramachandran, Prolifics Ensure the propagation of user identity to the various components in a service-oriented architecture (SOA) solution when your Web application front end uses the Java Message Service (JMS) protocol to communicate with the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB). This is the second article in a two-part series that shows SOA architects and developers how to get J2EE security, Web Services Security (WS-Security), and Service Component Architecture (SCA) security working together to propagate user identity. It explains identity assertion with trust validation, which is the mechanism for propagating user identity when using JMS, and shows how to configure a login module in WebSphere Application Server. The components of the sample solution are available for download from The Sphere Web site.
»	Get relational with Rational Application Developer by Paul T. Calhoun, NetNotes Solutions Unlimited, Inc. Learn to use Rational Application Developer (RAD) features and capabilities for working with relational database management systems (RDBMSs). RAD contains all of the tools necessary to connect to the most common RDBMSs in production today. Follow step-by-step instructions to create a project, create connections to relational databases, and create and test Structured Query Language (SQL) statements. Store the SQL statements in your projects for execution later in your applications.
Issue 05 (September and October)
»	Jump-start your migration to V7 with IBM WebSphere early programs by Denise Eick Make your migration to the newest release of WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment faster and more efficient by taking advantage of IBM WebSphere early programs. Evaluate new features, discover the tasks your administrators and developers have before them, and adopt strategies for successfully planning, testing, and upgrading before the final software release. Based on lessons learned while participating in IBM early programs, these strategies help you migrate to V7.0 at the optimal time.
»	Strategic development for "minimal but sufficient" Portal deployments by Michael Henderson, PDS Technical Services Master the fine art of deploying a portal on a limited budget and with limited personnel. Discover the key development choices that play into a "minimal but sufficient" approach to portal deployments and gain insights that help you choose the best options for your environment and business requirements. Decide when a manual method is the right choice and when you should use a scripted method to create the portal navigational structure, apply security to resources, and assign custom unique names to portal artifacts. Downloadable sample deployment scripts help you to jump-start your own deployments.
»	Move content into WebSphere Portal quickly and easily: A scripted solution for bulk imports by Damian Langsweirdt, Ascendant Technology Combine out-of-the-box features with custom coding techniques to save significant development time and money when moving existing content into your portal. This article demonstrates a solution for automating the process of importing existing content into Lotus Web Content Management, which is the content management component of WebSphere Portal. Learn to set up and code the solution using a modifiable script that you can download.
»	Bridging the content gap to WebSphere Portal: Deliver the right content to the right people at the right time by Tony Higham, IBM Know your options for moving content from an external system or third-party content management system into WebSphere Portal. Delve deep into the content delivery challenge and make sense of the available tools and their capabilities. This article describes viable technical solutions that have been successfully deployed by customers in production environments.
»	Improve the stability of complex WebSphere systems with these powerful tools by Ying Ding and Andrew Siwko Gain insight into your application server systems so you can prevent the issues that threaten system stability. Find out how to significantly improve stability in a large WebSphere system by creatively using monitoring, tracking, and deep-dive tools during critical WebSphere engineering lifecycles. Identify the interdependencies among the systems, applications, and components, as well as the cascading impact of changes to any of those elements. Establish wider and deeper monitoring of Java Virtual Machine (JVM) instances, transactions, and traffic load and pattern changes. Plus, discover how to perform production-guided testing for better stress testing of your system.
»	Best practices for developing applications with WebSphere Portlet Factory V6.x by Paul T. Calhoun, NetNotes Solutions, Unlimited, Inc. Jump-start your mastery of WebSphere Portlet Factory as a development tool for portlets and Web applications. Following best practices, see how to assemble Portlet Factory builders (pre-built components) into a model that generates the code required for a specific functionality. Test and deploy your model as a Web application; then modify the model to test and deploy it as a portlet.
»	Include relational data in your Rational Application Developer applications by Paul T. Calhoun, NetNotes Solutions, Unlimited, Inc. Use Rational Application Developer to automatically generate code that returns data dynamically from a relational database management system (RDBMS). Following step-by-step instructions, see how Rational Application Developer lets you focus on your solution while relieving you of the need to write the code that interacts with the RDBMS. The sample solution’s servlet is available for download.
Issue 06 (November and December)
»	Simplify data access in WebSphere Application Server applications with EJB 3.0 and the Java Persistence API by David Cook, Ascendant Technology, LLC Find out how to use the Java Persistence API (JPA) as your data access framework for enterprise applications — it’s fast, portable, and easy to work with, and Rational Application Developer (RAD) V7.5 provides tools that make JPA development even easier. This article shows enterprise developers and architects working with WebSphere Application Server V7.0 how to access application data using JPA and the Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) 3.0 specification. As you follow step-by-step directions to create a sample application’s artifacts, you’ll learn how to use RAD’s JPA tools and work with the JPA’s most significant features, such as entity inheritance and relationship meta-data mapping. The sample application is available for download from The Sphere Web site.
»	Stage and deploy a "minimal but sufficient" WebSphere Portal project by Michael Henderson, PDS Technical Services You can meet your business and technical portal requirements even on a limited budget and with few resources. Find out how to implement a "minimal but sufficient" staging process for moving your code from the development environment to the testing environment and from there to the production environment. Acquire practices and techniques that will save you headaches along the way when deploying and updating portlets, updating pages shared by multiple development teams, and more.
»	Combine WCM syndication data with server statistics in Excel charts: A low-cost solution for monitoring performance by Meredith Spitalnik, Ascendant Technology, LLC Learn Excel charting techniques that enable you to visualize any kind of recurring events against server resource utilization statistics. Following detailed instructions and a sample solution that charts the syndication events in an IBM Lotus Web Content Management (WCM) system, you’ll see how to combine the WCM log data with server statistics in order to discover, confirm, or rule out possible sources of performance problems. You can use this charting solution in either a performance-testing or production environment.
»	Get started building rich Internet applications (RIAs) with WebSphere Portlet Factory by Abhishek Singh and Usman Memon, IBM Improve the appearance and usability of your company’s Web UIs with rich Internet applications (RIAs). RIAs provide browser users with the familiar functions and features of desktop applications — drag and drop, in-line editing, dynamic validation, and more. This article introduces IT managers, enterprise architects, and developers to the RIA capabilities of IBM WebSphere Portlet Factory. You’ll learn about the available RIA builders and how you can use them to ease UI development, improve the functionality of browser-based applications, and maximize user satisfaction.
»	Create JavaServer Faces pages using Rational Application Developer by Paul T. Calhoun, NetNotes Solutions, Unlimited, Inc. You can dynamically present relational data via a Web browser without having to write a lot of code. Following clear step-by-step instructions, discover how to use Rational Application Developer (RAD) to build a JavaServer Faces (JSF) page that provides access to a relational database management system (RDBMS) and a second JSF page that displays the data dynamically. RAD generates all but one line of the necessary code for you.
Volume 05 (2009)