Aimed at the more experienced Java developer who needs to work with enterprise messaging, Java Message Service API Tutorial and Reference delivers starter code and a complete reference to all JMS classes that you will need to know to work effectively with this powerful feature of the J2EE platform. The no-nonsense, just-the-facts approach of this dual tutorial/reference is perhaps its salient feature. It explains the basics of asynchronous messaging and its advantages for robust enterprise-level applications before digging right in to JMS. The authors do a good job at explaining the difference between point-to-point and publish/subscribe models of message delivery. They also give a laundry list of areas to look at to ensure reliability and robustness in JMS systems, including looking at dos and don'ts for acknowledgement, message priority, and durability.
The real focus early in the book is on the simple, but effective, sample code used to illustrate the basic APIs with short, complete examples. Though somewhat demanding, this code will be for the more experienced reader all you need to get going with JMS. There are examples of both point-to-point and publish-subscribe APIs in action. Importantly, because working with JMS can be tricky, the authors don't skimp on the practical details of compiling, deploying, and running each application. Other examples look at JMS used with Enterprise JavaBeans, including the new EJB 2.0 message bean, plus how to use JMS correctly with session and entity beans. (This can also be tricky, and the authors go through the steps of packaging up and deploying bean JAR files, as well.)
More than half of this book is an alphabetical listing of the 46 classes available in JMS. Each class is explained, along with options and tips for using the class where appropriate. There is full coverage of basic message and exception classes and the classes you need to use for basic point-to-point and publish/subscribe processing. Obviously, this material is a must for those who prefer a printed reference instead of online help. With a quick-start tutorial and concise (yet complete) reference to all JMS classes, this title will serve a useful function for the working enterprise Java developer. --Richard Dragan
Topics covered: Introduction to messaging, the Java Message Service (JMS) API architecture, point-to-point and publish/subscribe messaging domains described, essential JMS programming APIs (connections, sessions, message producers and consumers), the structure of messages, simple point-to-point and publish/subscribe examples (including guide to deployment and execution), JMS used with multiple systems (including J2EE and non-J2EE messaging interoperability), JMS reliability mechanisms (acknowledgement, persistence, priority levels, durable subscriptions, local transactions), building J2EE clients used with message, session, and entity beans (including deployment and execution tips), a sample using multiple J2EE servers, reference to all JMS APIs: including topic and message classes, exception classes, queue classes, sessions and connections, and appendix with JMS client examples.
