Wicket in Action

A comprehensive guide for Java developers building Wicket-based web applications

About the book

September 5th, 2008 by dashorst

There are dozens of Java frameworks out there, but most of them require you to learn special coding techniques and new, often rigid, patterns of development. Wicket is different. As a component-based web application framework, Wicket lets you build maintainable enterprise-grade web applications using the power of plain old Java objects (POJOs), HTML, Ajax, Spring, Hibernate, and Maven. Wicket automatically manages state at the component level, which means no more awkward HTTPSession objects. Its elegant programming model enables you to write rich web applications quickly.

Wicket in Action is an authoritative, comprehensive guide for Java developers building Wicket-based web applications. This book starts with an introduction to Wicket’s structure and components, and moves quickly into examples of Wicket at work. Written by two of the project’s earliest and most authoritative experts, this book shows you both the “how-to” and the “why” of Wicket. As you move through the book, you’ll learn to use and customize Wicket components, how to interact with other technologies like Spring and Hibernate, and how to build rich, Ajax-driven features into your applications.

Table of contents

Part I: Introducing Wicket

1 What is Wicket (free download)
2 The architecture of Wicket
3 Building a cheesy Wicket application

Part II: Ingredients for your Wicket application

4 Understanding models
5 Working with components: lables, links and repeaters
6 Processing user input using form
7 Composing your pages

Part III: Going beyond Wicket basics

8 Developing reusable components (free download)
9 Images, scripts, pdf’s: working with resources
10 Rich components and Ajax

Part IV: Preparing for the real world

11 Securing your application
12 Conquer the world with l10n and i18n
13 Multi-tiered architecture
14 Putting your application in production

Bonus

15 Setting up a Wicket project (free download)

About the authors

Martijn Dashorst is a software engineer with over 10 years of experience in software development. He has been actively involved in the Wicket project since it was open-sourced, and has presented Wicket as a speaker at numerous conferences, including JavaOne and JavaPolis.

Eelco Hillenius is an experienced software developer who has been part of Wicket’s core team almost from the start. He works for Teachscape where he is helping to build the next e-learning platform. A Dutch native, he currently lives in Seattle.

Book details

Title Wicket in Action
Authors Martijn Dashorst, Eelco Hillenius
Version covered Apache Wicket 1.3
Official site http://wicketinaction.com
Publisher’s site http://manning.com/dashorst
Hardcopy format Paperback
Size ~400 pages
Published by Manning Publications
Date July 15, 2008
Language English
ISBN-10 1-932394-98-2
ISBN-13 978-1-932394-98-6

With this book, Wicket will become the greatest territory the Dutch have settled since Manhattan.

Nathan Hamblen
Senior Software Engineer, Teachscape Inc.

This is the complete and authoritative guide to Wicket, written and reviewed by the core members of the Apache Wicket team. If there's anything you want to know about Wicket, you are sure to find it in this book.

Jonathan Locke
Founder and Architect of Apache Wicket, Foreword Wicket in Action

Without question, Wicket in Action... is the be-all and end-all when it comes to Wicket.

Geertjan Wielenga, Wicket Netbeans Plugin Author

The tutorial and conversational tone of the writing makes the book very approachable.

Nick Heudecker
System Mobile

Loved the sample application—it tied everything together.

Phil Hanna
Senior Software Developer, SAS Institute

The essential guide for learning and using Wicket.

Erik van Oosten
Lead programmer and Project Manager, JTeam

Finally, the Web Framework of web frameworks, Apache Wicket, now has a bible of its own.

Per Ejeklint
Senior Software Architect, Heimore group

Wicket is an innovative evolution of the MVC programming with simple roots, but without a primer such as this, it can be more challenging than it needs to be.

Brian Topping
Founder, Bill2 Inc.

Wicket In Action glues the areas of web development with Apache Wicket together and gives a great overview of Apache Wicket...it will make a great compendium.

Nino Martinez Wael
Java Specialist, Jayway Denmark