Howdy!
Don't feel bad... everybody loves the SCWCD book.
We don't go into as much detail because we assume that you might already be using a server, but if you look on page xxiv in the intro, it talks about downloading J2EE 1.3. And in my opinion, setting up J2EE can be much easier than Tomcat
The short version:
1) Go to java.sun.com and download J2EE 1.3.1 (get the latest version for your platform)
2) Run it's installer -- it will create a j2eeskd1.3.1 directory with all the right stuff in it (your directory name might be a little different)
3) Set FOUR environment variables;
* PATH must include the /bin directory in side the J2EE top-level directory
* CLASSPATH must include the /lib/j2ee.jar inside the J2EE top-level directory
* J2EE_HOME must point to the top-level J2EE directory
* JAVA_HOME must point to where your jdk is.
EXAMPLE: this is for the linux distribution, running under OSX... my .tcshrc file looks like this:
setenv PATH ${PATH}:/Users/kathy/J2EEStuff/j2sdkee1.3.1/bin
setenv JAVA_HOME /usr
setenv J2EE_HOME /Users/kathy/J2EEStuff/j2sdkee1.3.1
setenv CLASSPATH .:${J2EE_HOME}/lib/j2ee.jar
As you can see, the J2EE directory is in a directory I named "J2EEStuff", which is in my home directory.
Since the RI comes with deployment tools, once you've done this install and set the four environment variables, you can do the walk-through in chapter 1.
If you do NOT have a server that you're familar with, then I REALLY REALLY recommend starting with the J2EE R.I. instead of anything else, just for starting out. It is the simplest to set up and configure.
Be sure to write back with any specific problems you have!
cheers,
Kathy
