Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is an open source Java development framework for building Ajax-enabled web applications. Instead of the hodgepodge of technologies that developers typically use for Ajax–JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and XMLHttpRequest–GWT lets developers implement rich client applications with pure Java, using familiar idioms from the AWT, Swing, and SWT. GWT goes beyond most Ajax frameworks by making it easy to build desktop-like applications that run in the ubiquitous browser, where the richness of the user interface is limited only by the developer’s imagination.

This book focuses on the more advanced aspects of GWT that you need to implement real-world applications with rich user interfaces but without the heavy lifting of JavaScript and other Ajax-related technologies. Each solution in this practical, hands-on book is more than a recipe. The sample programs are carefully explained in detail to help you quickly master advanced GWT techniques, such as implementing drag-and-drop, integrating JavaScript libraries, and using advanced event handling methodologies.

Solutions covered include

•   Building custom GWT widgets, including both high-level composites and low-level components

•   Implementing a viewport class that includes iPhone-style automated scrolling

•   Integrating web services with GWT applications

•   Incorporating the Script.aculo.us JavaScript framework into GWT applications

•   Combining Hibernate and GWT to implement database-backed web applications

•   Extending the GWT PopupPanel class to implement a draggable and resizable window

•   Creating a drag-and-drop module, complete with drag sources and drop targets

•   Deploying GWT applications to an external server

•   Dynamically resizing flex tables

•   Using GWT widgets in legacy applications developed with other frameworks, such as Struts and JavaServer Faces

Complete Sample Code Available at www.coolandusefulgwt.com

All of the code used in this book has been tested, both in hosted and web modes, and in an external version of Tomcat (version 5.5.17), under Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. For Windows and Linux, we used 1.4.60, and for the Mac we used 1.4.61.  NOTE: There are three separate versions of the code. Please download the correct JAR file for the operating system you are using.

Foreword xiii

Preface xvi

Acknowledgments xviii

About the Authors xix

Solution 1: GWT Fundamentals and Beyond 1

Solution 2: JavaScript Integration 53

Solution 3: Custom Widget Implementation 71

Solution 4: Viewports and Maps 103

Solution 5: Access to Online Web Services 133

Solution 6: Drag and Drop 167

Solution 7: Simple Windows 199

Solution 8: Flex Tables 237

Solution 9: File Uploads 283

Solution 10: Hibernate Integration 303

Solution 11: Deployment to an External Server 325

Solution 12: GWT and Legacy Code 343

Index 371

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Federico Kereki quickly reviews the basics and then introduces intermediate and advanced GWT skills, covering issues ranging from organizing projects to compiling and deploying final code. Throughout, he focuses on best-practice methodologies and design patterns. For example, you’ll learn how to use the MVP (model-view-presenter) pattern to improve application design and support automated testing for agile development.

Kereki illuminates each concept with realistic code examples that help developers jump-start their projects and get great results more quickly. Working with the latest versions of open source tools such as Eclipse, Subversion, Apache, Tomcat, and MySQL, he demonstrates exactly how GWT fits into real Web development environments. Coverage includes

• Using the Google Plugin for Eclipse and the GWT Shell Script
• Detecting and working with browsers—and solving the problems they cause
• Building better user interfaces with the MVP pattern
• Using APIs for visualization, mapping, weather data, and more
• Internationalizing and localizing GWT code
• Securing GWT applications with cryptography, hashing, and encryption
• Testing with JUnit, Emma, GWTTestCase, Selenium, and Mock Objects
• Deploying client-only and client-plus-server GWT applications

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Beginning GWT by Bram Smeets introduces one of today’s most popular open source lightweight Java-based Ajax Web Frameworks, the Google Web Toolkit (GWT) from the ground-up.

Written by an industry expert who has delivered many Web applications for his clients and a Spring expert, Bram takes a no-nonsense, down to earth approach to GWT and guides the reader though the development of a Web application front end using GWT from the ground up.

This will be one of the first tutorials on GWT.

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The Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is a key member of Google’s popular array of software development solutions, and is easily the most popular Ajax framework solution for Java developers. Fully compatible with the most popular Java frameworks, Grails and Spring among them, GWT is quickly going to become an indispensable part of Java-minded developers’ knowledge base.

Accelerated Google Web Toolkit offers a fast paced yet thorough introduction to GWT, offering serious developers not only key insights into the framework’s capabilities, but also into how readers can most effectively incorporate GWT into their daily development routine.

See the following resources for more information on the Google Web Toolkit:

GWT project website:

http://code.google.com/webtoolkit/

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“Ryan clearly understands the GWT value proposition and how GWT integrates into a diverse web technology stack–and not just in a theoretical way. With the popularity of gpokr.com and kdice.com, Ryan can speak with the authority of concrete success.”

–Bruce Johnson, creator of Google Web Toolkit

“This book distinguishes itself from other books on GWT in that it walks through the entire process of building several nontrivial GWT applications, not the toy applications that most books present.”

–R. Mark Volkmann, Object Computing, Inc.

“Google Web Toolkit Applications is an excellent resource for any GWT developer. Solutions to challenges commonly encountered in GWT are presented through the design and development of actual applications. The applications developed throughout the text demonstrate best practices from simple UI design all the way to custom code generation, and are presented with little pretext about the amount of Java knowledge a given developer may have. Advanced concepts are not withheld but are presented in a way that will be understood by both novice and seasoned developers alike. Good application development practices and proper Model View Controller design is reinforced throughout the book, nearly guaranteeing that the reader will come away a better programmer. “

–Jason Essington, Senior Web/Java Engineer, Green River Computing

“Dewsbury’s Google Web Toolkit Applications is a book for both experts and beginner programmers who want to discover this open source Java software development framework, as well as write Ajax applications. A very detailed book!”

–Massimo Nardone, Advisory IT Security Architect

Accelerate and Simplify Ajax Development with Google Web Toolkit

Get the edge you need to deliver exceptional user experiences with Google Web Toolkit Applications, a guidebook that provides web developers with core information and instructions for creating rich web applications. Whether you’re a developer who needs to build a high-performance front end for Java, PHP, or Ruby applications, or to integrate with external web services, this resource from expert Google Web Toolkit (GWT) developer Ryan Dewsbury delivers the in-depth coverage you’ll need.

In this valuable book, insider Ryan Dewsbury provides instructions for using the robust tool set and gets you on your way to creating first-class web applications by providing a comprehensive overview of GWT technology. In addition, he shares his “in-the-trenches” insights on

• Building elegant and responsive user interfaces with Cascading Style Sheets and GWT’s Widgets and Panels

• Creating seamless user experiences through asynchronous communication with HTTP, REST, JSON/JSONP, and RPC Interoperating with web standards–such as XML, RSS, and Atom–and web services–such as Google Maps, Amazon Books, Yahoo! Search, Flickr, and Blogger

• Overcoming browser security restrictions, such as HTTP’s two-connection limit and the Same-Origin policy

• Accelerating development, using software engineering, code generation, internationalization, application patterns, and Java tools

• Deploying for optimal performance with resource compression and caching

• Building five non-trivial applications: a gadget application with a rich drag-and-drop interface, a multi-search application that makes requests to many search engines, a blog editor application for managing entries across multiple blogs, a web-based instant messenger, and a database manager for a traditional web page

This practical guide to GWT introduces you to the technology; provides techniques, tips, and examples; and puts you on the road to delivering top-notch user experiences for your web applications.

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