JavaBooks.org is LIVE

After 4 month of fun and interesting development we managed to release JavaBooks.org. In case the name is not self-explanatory, JavaBooks collects and categorizes Java publications (mostly books and magazines). Apart from providing objective info such as title, isbn, description, resources, etc, it offers meta-information in the form of user ratings, comments and reviews.

So, whenever you need info about a Java publication or related (we include html, javascript, css, xml, development methodologies, JVM languages, etc) you're sure to find it here. Of course, we'd more than glad if you shared your opinions and feedback too!

And, to make things even simpler, we even offer you the possibility to purchase some titles. If you have an account, you can access the discount coupons and buy a lot cheaper!

Concluding - visit www.javabooks.org - choose, read, share! Learning is now simple!

Jobmate Portal BETA is LIVE

After a few months of hard work Jobmate BETA is finally live! It's a career / jobs portal dedicated mainly to young people in search for a top career.

The BETA version will allow searching and viewing of videos, articles, laws, trainings and books as well as creating CVs specially designed to promote the owner even if they lack hands on experience. Moreover, users have access to a personal inbox and can send messages to other users they know.

Another important part of Jobmate BETA is the forum, which will host all the interesting discussion that may arise.

Apart from these, Jobmate has an attorney ready to answer all your questions. FOR FREE! Simply create an account and find the answer to all your work related legal problems.

So, access http://jobmate.ro and start creating your CV, search labor laws and watch interesting videos that will surely help you learn extremely useful stuff!

Say NO to Internet Explorer 6!

Every web developers has felt anger, frustration and has gone berserk while hunting down IE6 bugs. Most HTML/CSS and Javascript problems are caused by the most standards non compliant browser of our times - Internet Explorer 6. This is why we decided to support the initiative of the guys from SaveTheDevelopers.org who from some unknown reasons have decided to put an end to their campaign. You can read more about their idea here: http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/25/save-the-developers-stop-using-internet-explorer-6/

What we've done to continue their work is a jQuery (http://jquery.com/) plugin which encourages people to upgrade their browser to IE 7. The plugin is configurable, and easily extendable. Currently, the banner that promotes IE 7 is internationalized in only 2 languages: Romanian and English. If you wish to help us extinct IE6, feel free to send me the translation and I'll add new banners! All input can go here: radu.tanasa [at] lightwaysoftware [dot] com





The plugin is licensed under LGPL 3, so you are free and encouraged to use it in any kind of application, commercial or not.

You can download jQuery noie6 plugin from here: http://lightwaysoftware.com/jquery/jquery.noie6.v0.1.zip

For any suggestions or criticism please do contact me! Hope to see the dawn of the IE6 era soon!

Artistsbay - the first Community Driven Business Application

Artistsbay.org will be an international meeting place for plastic artist & art lover communities across the globe. Its target is to unite, promote and enhance all activity related to art. In order to fulfill this goal, artistsbay.org will offer artwork publishing and promotion, facilitated artwork selling in organized auctions, cultural exchange, knowledge base access and many others. Besides all these, we intend to deliver the first Community Driven Business Application, meaning that you dictate its development directions and features. If you're interested in participating in the rather complex, challenging, but entertaining process of development, feel free to send your suggestions via email at office@artistsbay.org. Moreover, we invite you to subscribe to our newsletter at http://artistsbay.org and keep in touch with Artistsbay's progress. Your vote of confidence can make this come true: a central point of contact between artists and art lovers.

HTTPS on JBoss 4.2.2

Making JBoss run on HTTPS is not such a big deal, but you can end up searching for hours on how it's done. Well, here are the steps you need to follow in order to get SSL up and running with JBoss:

• 
  Generate a keystore with the following command: keytool -genkey -alias server-alias -keyalg RSA -keystore .keystore -validity 90
  
  Next, copy the .keystore file into the jboss conf file. (usually ${JBOSS_HOME}/server/default/conf)
  


• 
  Secondly, you need to go into the deploy folder, and then into jboss-web.deployer. There, you should find server.xml. Open the file and identify the commented part referring to SSL. Remove that completely and replace it with the following:
  <Connector port="443" protocol="HTTP/1.1" SSLEnabled="true"
  maxThreads="150" scheme="https" secure="true"
  clientAuth="false"
  strategy="ms" address="${jboss.bind.address}"
  keystoreFile="${jboss.server.home.dir}/conf/.keystore"
  keystorePass="password"
  truststoreFile="${jboss.server.home.dir}/conf/.keystore"
  truststorePass="password"
  sslProtocol="TLS"/>
  

Normally, when you start jboss, the following URL should be available: https://localhost:443/jmx-console/index.jsp

Lightway Software brand relaunched

On the 11th of January we launched our new website and brand. The design was accepted in CSS Mania due to the great work of a talented team of designers. Many thanks to Adrian Rus and we hope for a long lasting collaboration.

EL ignored

While developing a new application I noticed that the expression languge is not working by any means. I first thought it was a problem with JBoss, but it turned out to be an incompatibility between the servlet container, the JSTL I employed and the declaration in web.xml. I am using JBoss 4.2.2 which has a JSP 2.0 continer thus needing JSTL 1.1 and a Servlet 2.4 declaration in web.xml. So, be very careful how you combine these 3:

1) For a JSP 2.0 container, you should be using JSTL 1.1, and you should have your web application declared as a Servlets 2.4 web app by using the Servlets 2.4 XML Schema.
2) For a JSP 1.x container, you should be using JSTL 1.0, and you should have your web application declared as a Servlets 2.3 web app by using the Servlers 2.3 DOCTYPE.

However, there's a way to cheat, but it's not recommended. You can use <%@ page isELIgnored="false" %> to ensure EL is not ignored.