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Getting Started

OK, Taconite sounds great. Where do I start? Read the tips below to get on the fast track to using Taconite for all your Ajax needs.

Download Taconite

Follow the links on this page to download the Taconite release package. Unzip it to your local drive and peruse the directory contents, most of which are self-explanatory.

Inside the webapps folder is a file named taconite-test.war. This is the JSP based application that we use to test Taconite features during development. taconite-test can be run in any servlet container like Tomcat or Jetty. It's not a pretty application, but it does demonstrate what Taconite can do. Open up the taconite-test.war file in your favorite zip program to view the JSP source code for the application. You can look at the source and see how little JavaScript is required for all the functions to run.

Review the Examples

On this site you'll find several examples of how to use Taconite. Using Taconite is quite simple, and you'll be able to learn it all by reviewing the examples found here.

Start Small

True, Taconite is very easy to use, but like anything else, getting started is always the hardest part. Fortunately Taconite requires basically no installation - no reams of XML configuration files here!

Make life easy on yourself and create a very small "Hello World" type example that uses Taconite. Be sure to use the same runtime environment in which you'll be doing your actual development later. By starting small those pesky "getting started" type problems will be easier to track down and correct.