ElementTree for Java

At last when I needed a small and easy to use XML parser (which DOM and JAXP aren't) I ported the famous Python's ElementTree API for XML parsing in a few hours. This work is far from complete but the parsing part is working. (to be done: writing, Xpath-like- and tree- traversing)

Download: elementtree.tar.gz

This work is based on XmlPull API. You will need (download separately) xmlpull_1_1_3*.jar and a parser implementation; I recommend XPP (the "min" variant is both small and fast).

Configuration items for Java/J2EE tools I collected over time

Links from a training session

I have had a general J2EE survey which gave me some coverage on J2EE standards. However I'm still missing extended descriptions on timers, web services and JSF.

I am currently learning JavaEE 5.

I have already practiced [more or less] persistence (JPA), EJB (stateless session, message driven), servlets, JMS.
Now I'm rather interested in architectural aspects, relating to

  • transactions,
  • clustering,
  • EJBs in general,
  • timers,
  • JCA ("connectors"),
  • web-services,
  • servlet finer details (such as filters, listeners),
  • JSP and JSF.

I would like to see how some kind of Ajax + REST + MVC framework could be built around standardized technologies of the Java world.

Also, I would like to investigate whether EasyBeans is a suitable platform for production applications in the industry.
Until now it looks promising: embedded in Tomcat it starts in 3-4 seconds with Java6, compared to JBoss 30-50s startup it's much more comfortable for development.
However as always in Java world, documentation is quite poor, especially when time comes for configuration: I don't know yet how to...

  • configure logging so that it follows other packages' logging format (especially Tomcat)
  • plug a database connection which is not HSQL
  • persist JMS messages in that database
  • configure (JMS, JNDI, JPA, etc) for clustering
  • get a decent [JMX] administration console (installing Jonas and it's Flex app isn't an option)

Some people around me said Sun's tutorial is a good way to get full coverage of this standard.

So I have started to read it.
Here is where I stopped reading: J2e5tutostate.txt
Here are some notes I took along: J2e5summary.txt

2009-07-21
Having found missing information about demonstration of many specification details, I have temporarily stopped reading this document.

At work I have searched for lightweight MVC + template web toolkits, without success. Since recent work in Python I know a template engine can be small enough for my requirements, and I now have good grasp on MVC designs, so I started to write this desired lightweight toolkit:
Here is the current state of sources: butterflyweb-src.zip

UPDATE! I have stopped this small development after discovering an existing framework with acceptable performance/weight ratio: Stripes. I was pointed to this during a training session and have since used it in a prototype with success.