Design patterns for JEE application

Question

We are starting a new JEE project and am looking for suggestions regarding design patterns to expose the backend interfaces.

It would be preferable if the backend logic can run seamlessly on Tomcat, other JEE5 containers. We are currently veering towards JEE5, EJB3, JPA and the preferred deployment platform is JBoss 5 AS. We would expect the backend engine to expose the following interfaces (e.g. EJB3 local / remote, SOAP, REST) for the business logic. Any pointers regarding suitable design patterns which can be used as for as code layout and package structure is concerned, which will enable us to package and deploy them on the above mentioned containers.

Answer 1

These are some books that cover the topic:

• Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture
• Core J2EE Patterns: Best Practices and Design Strategies

Answer 2

Core J2EE Patterns book has started to be a bit dated. It seems like you are focus on standards. If so - I would consider looking at Seam as an architecture foundation and use the patterns that Seam describes. This is a framework which is focused on standards, but also gives you rapid development since you don't have to repeat yourself so often (JPA domain classes, data transfer objects, view object?) and Seam also gives you conventions over configuration.

The architecture type of description of Seam is a bit lacking, but you'll find some of JBoss site and on Seam framework documentation site.