Rating: 
Summary: some interesting topics covered...
Review: but overall fails to deliver. I bought this book alongwith Core JSF. The latter turned out to be much better for getting into JSF. This book has some coverage on creating views in code or using html/xml etc, but otherwise it lacks any depth in other topics.
One annoying thing is there are no subsections in this book...the only way to tell which section you are in is by deciphering the font SIZE (its the same font, same style)!!
Rating: 
Summary: Developers deserve better
Review: I feel being cheated. This book does not adequately address the relevant topics to make it meaningful. It covers only a very few topics and devoted almost half of the book to the online documentation.
Rating: 
Summary: Perfect introduction to JSF
Review: I highly recommend this book for anyone using or desiring to use JSF in their development. From my personal experience, working on a JSF project, this book helped me get through which otherwise was proving very frustrating and would not have been possible without this book. Most important, the language of the book helped me really understand the basics. It firmed my foundations in JSF, on which I could build strong infrastructure. A perfect place to start if you are intereted in JSF. All included examples in the book are a good starting point for building your own application blocks and components. It clears the mist that builds when you go bumping around forums and helps you understand the technology in its true sense. A definite recommended read. Book content and examples are in line with JSF release 1.1 specification. Thank you Hans, a terrific resource.
(...)
Rating:
Summary: A great introduction
Review: I thought the book was well written. I thought some of the code examples were good. I did find the book a challenge. Knowledge of JSP and SERVLETS will help you get through this book. I struggled with some of book's code. This book is great for a beginner. I would reccomend this book to anyone who wants to get a deep understand of JAVASERVER FACES.
Rating:
Summary: Great book by a respected authority
Review: If you want to learn JavaServer Faces, this is the book to choose. As an active member of three important JCP expert groups (JSF, JSP, and JSTL), Hans can share insights into JSF and its use that few other authors can. Notably, Hans is also the author of three editions of the popular O'Reilly book, JavaServer Pages. Like his other books, this book contains clear explanations and best practices based on his experience. Unlike many other JSF books, this book includes accurate, up-to-date information since it was intentionally published AFTER the JSF 1.0 final specification was released. Hans clearly explains the JSF UI framework, how events are handled, authentication, navigation, how to work with tabular data, how to use JSF with Struts, internationalization, and input validation. I particularly like how Hans clearly explains the relationship between the JSF custom tag libraries and the JSF Java API. Hans' book also explains how to extend existing JSF components and build your own custom components. On various mailing lists, Hans regularly answers questions for those who are stumbling on learning JSP, JSTL, and now JSF. Hans' passion to teach is evident in his efforts to clearly explain important concepts and how they can be applied using best practices. Over the past few years, Hans has helped me immeasurably in learning JSP, JSTL, and now JSF. If you can't find an answer in his book, you can post your questions online and Hans is likely to answer. Buy this book - you can't go wrong.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Introduction to JavaServer Faces
Review: In this book, Hans has provided us with a good starting point to using JSF, including the Servlet and JSP systems on which it is built. This is of particular value to those of us coming from an ASP.Net background who so often are given a book that looks at just one small piece of the J2EE picture, leaving us to feverishly google for answers to questions regarding underlying java technologies. What you should bear in mind with this book is that it is all-inclusive: a lot of the book's documentation can be readily found online--as long as you know where to look (and, believe me, coming from a Microsoft background it takes a while to know where to look--eg. "sourceforge, what?"). Including all documentation for JSF gives the benefit of not having to look for it yourself. Remember also that JSF is a very new technology and not all of the details have been fleshed out about it (generating custom errors for validation is sorely lacking). As such, I would imagine it to be hard to write a book full of those "watch out" tips when the framework hasn't been widely deployed on various environments and in divergent situations. Hans' book reflects this by appearing to some to be overly general. I really appreciated the chapter showing how to plug in custom renderer code into JSF, it shows that Hans recognizes the shortcomings of JSF and points the way to fixing them. Overall, if you are a top-notch Java web app builder familiar with Struts or Tapestry, okay, you would get just as much benefit downloading the spec and reading it. If, however, you are a relative newcomer to java-based web apps--or just someone who wants to have it all in front of you--, especially if you're coming from the Microsoft world, I would recommend this for you. A final note: I'm an average guy who picked up this book. I have no affiliations with Hans and yet, when I sent emails asking him questions on hang ups I found using JSF, he responded to me with detailed information about my issue. Not only that but Hans has been very vocal in pushing to make JSF better by publishing articles (...) and trying to get the Tapestry folks to help.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Introduction to JavaServer Faces
Review: In this book, Hans has provided us with a good starting point to using JSF, including the Servlet and JSP systems on which it is built. This is of particular value to those of us coming from an ASP.Net background who so often are given a book that looks at just one small piece of the J2EE picture, leaving us to feverishly google for answers to questions regarding underlying java technologies. What you should bear in mind with this book is that it is all-inclusive: a lot of the book's documentation can be readily found online--as long as you know where to look (and, believe me, coming from a Microsoft background it takes a while to know where to look--eg. "sourceforge, what?"). Including all documentation for JSF gives the benefit of not having to look for it yourself. Remember also that JSF is a very new technology and not all of the details have been fleshed out about it (generating custom errors for validation is sorely lacking). As such, I would imagine it to be hard to write a book full of those "watch out" tips when the framework hasn't been widely deployed on various environments and in divergent situations. Hans' book reflects this by appearing to some to be overly general. I really appreciated the chapter showing how to plug in custom renderer code into JSF, it shows that Hans recognizes the shortcomings of JSF and points the way to fixing them. Overall, if you are a top-notch Java web app builder familiar with Struts or Tapestry, okay, you would get just as much benefit downloading the spec and reading it. If, however, you are a relative newcomer to java-based web apps--or just someone who wants to have it all in front of you--, especially if you're coming from the Microsoft world, I would recommend this for you. A final note: I'm an average guy who picked up this book. I have no affiliations with Hans and yet, when I sent emails asking him questions on hang ups I found using JSF, he responded to me with detailed information about my issue. Not only that but Hans has been very vocal in pushing to make JSF better by publishing articles (...) and trying to get the Tapestry folks to help.
Rating:
Summary: Not much there
Review: Is Orielly losing it? Half the pages are just a reprint of the free online docs, and the first 250 pages could be better too. Check out the Sun Micro book (Geary) instead.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent introduction to JSF
Review: The book is
- PRACTICAL - the example application has everything you use in data-processing web-app (CRUD, table with paging + filter + sorting, multiform processing, rule-based data-processing)
- STRAIGHTFORWARD - from HTTP+Servlet+JSP introduction to JSF; no chapters with manager's rumours ;-)
- EASY ENGLISH - if english is not your mother-language you will like it. Its easy to read; simple straight sentences without garbage words !!!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent introduction (and more) to JavaServer Faces
Review: This book provides an excellent introduction to JavaServer Faces. Hans was (and still is) one of the leading contributors to the JSF specification. If you've never seen or learned a thing about this new technology, this book will certainly get you started on the right path, with good examples of the "right" way to build pages in JSF. I would recommend (and have recommended) this book to those approaching this technology for the first time. But even for those who have already been introduced to JSF, this book still offers a lot. Chapters on developing custom Renderers, custom Components, and even custom presentation layers (ViewHandlers in JSF-speak) are excellent, as are sections on integrating with Struts, debugging, internationalization, etc. In short, highly recommended.
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