Developing JavaBeans Using VisualAge for Java

Rapid application development environments, like VisualAge for Java, are meant for people who don't particularly enjoy the primitive virtues of writing all code by hand. As such, documentation for these environments must be suitable for readers who just want to accomplish tasks and don't want to spend forever learning a language. Developing JavaBeans Using VisualAge for Java does a good job of explaining Bean-building to this crowd, though the depth of its coverage (in Bean terms) is limited by the capabilities of VisualAge for Java.

Nilsson and Jakab begin by introducing VisualAge for Java, helping the reader install it, and offering a tour of its interface. They then show how to create a "Hello World" applet before explaining the process of converting it to a Bean. After that, the authors show the reader how to create more-complicated Beans, including an adding machine (both visible and invisible). In later chapters, they show how to debug and improve the adding machine. New VisualAge users will appreciate the chapter about creating .java, .class, and .jar files.

In short, this book explains the mechanics of programming JavaBeans with the tools available in the VisualAge for Java toolkit. If that's what you need to do, you'll be able to use the guidance that's found in these pages.