Building Scalable and High-Performance Java™ Web Applications Using J2EE™ Technology

Sample Application

Throughout this chapter, we'll discuss EJBs in the context of a simple employer benefits-processing system. The goal is a system that allows members to iteratively choose benefits. In addition, an alternative interface enables enrollments to be processed in batch mode. Our sample application has the following requirements:

• Members can select and deselect benefits.

• The current benefit listing for any member can be obtained.

• Batch enrollment of member benefit elections is possible.

Notice how these features can be neatly mapped into the EJB types I introduced earlier. Iterative member enrollment is the main business task, so it can be handled by a session bean—let's call it BenefitEnroller. Batch enrollment is a business task, ...