Master of Struts

Master Of Struts 4/29/2009 12:57 PM
STRUTS TUTORIAL
The JSP Struts Tutorial will help new JSP developers understand the benefits of struts
What is Struts?
Struts is a popular open source framework from Apache Software Foundation to bui
Struts offers a set of tag libraries to support the faster development of the different lay
Struts is basically a Controller. It depends on other things for the model and the view
Why do we need Struts?
Although a dynamic web application can be developed using JSP and Servlet technology, t
" Tightly coupled classes - one change affects other classes Business logic resides in both p
multiple places to find the business rules. Also promotes duplicate business rules.
" Data sources are difficult to change as data access methods may be used in the presentat
" Logic to determine what to do next is across the application,no centralized decision.
To solve these problems,we need a mechanism that can separate the presentation layer of a
Model, View and Controller
" Model - data and logic (business logic methods).
" View - output displayed to the user
Controller - takes the input from the user and passes it to the relevant model. The model r
Advantages of Struts
Struts offers many advantages to the application programmer while reducing the developm
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Centralized File-Based Configuration

Rather than hard coding information into java programs,many Struts values are represent
system layout.
Form Beans
In JSP,you can use property=* with jsp:setProperty to automatically populate a JavaBean
extends this capability to Java code and adds in several useful utilities,all of which serve to
.........................................................................Bean Tags.................................................
Apache Struts provides a set of custom JSP tags (bean:write,in particular) that let you easi
................................................................................HTML tags
Apache Struts provides a set of custom JSP tags to create HTML forms that are associated
This bean/form association serves two useful purposes:
It lets you get initial form-field values from Java objects.
It lets you redisplay forms with some or all previously entered values intact.
....................................................................Form Field Validation

Apache Struts has built-in capabilities for checking that form values are in the required for
This validation can be performed on the server (in Java),or both on the server and on the c
Struts 2.0 is currently in beta phase and contains the existing Struts features plus all the fe
1. Eclipse does not come with a bundled Java Development Kit. Download and install JDK
http://java.sun.com/j2se/downloads/index.html
2. Download and install Eclipse 3.2.1 from:
http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/download.php?file=/eclipse/downloads/drops/R-3.2.1-2
pluggins which may be downloaded and installed from there respective repositories. MyEc
4. To deploy the web applications,we need a Servlet container like tomcat or JBoss. Downl
If your Eclipse version is other than 3.2.1,please download an appropriate MyEclipse plug
5. Download the source code used in this tutorial
http://www.arkaaya.com/tutorials/jsp/struts/sourcecode/eclipse-project.zip
..................................................................Registration Case Study
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Let us consider an example - a web based user registration application. Usually every web
information. Select any database of your choice,and create a table USERS with following f
Column Name Data Type Constraints

USER_ID TEXT PRIMARY KEY
FIRST_NAME TEXT NONE
LAST_NAME TEXT NONE
AGE NUMBER NONE
EMAIL TEXT NONE
PASSWORD TEXT NONE
We'll use Microsoft Access database for this purpose. Use the following SQL to create tabl
CREATE TABLE USERS(
user_id text primary key,
first_name text,
last_name text,
age number,
email text,
password text
);
.......................................................Setting up Struts project in Eclipse

We are using MyEclipse as a development environment which is an eclipse plugin. Let's cr
Creating an ODBC Data source
Since Microsoft Access does not have a JDBC driver,we'll connect using the JDBC-ODBC
Create the ODBC DSN as shown below.
Configuring Application Server
We have configured the project for struts. But wait…we are missing something. We still do
...................................Struts Configuration
Now that we have configured our project for struts,let's have a look at the configurations M
.................................................Web.xml
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Web.xml resides in application's WEB-INF directory and contains the essential configurati
Let's see what is in web.xml right now.
<?xml version=1.0 encoding=UTF-8?>

<web-app xmlns=http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee axmlns:xsi=http://www.w3.org/2001/XM
version=2.4 xsi:schemaLocation=http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee qqhttp://java.sun.com/xm
<servlet>
<servlet-name>action</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet</servlet-class>
<init-param>
<param-name>config</param-name>
<param-value>/WEB-INF/struts-config.xml</param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param>
<param-name>debug</param-name>
<param-value>3</param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param>
<param-name>detail</param-name>
<param-value>3</param-value>
</init-param>
<load-on-startup>0</load-on-startup>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
<url-pattern>*.do</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
</web-app>
As we can see,there is one Servlet configured and is mapped with URL pattern *.do. What
This is the simple way how the Struts CONTROLER is plugged into the web appli
The basic reason of defining a servlet mapping for a web application is that whenever som
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..................................Struts-config.xml

<!DOCTYPE struts-config PUBLIC -//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Struts Configur
http://struts.apache.org/dtds/struts-config_1_2.dtd>
<struts-config>
<data-sources />
<form-beans />
<global-exceptions />
<global-forwards />
<action-mappings />
<message-resources parameter=com.arkaaya.struts.ApplicationResources />
</struts-config>
We don't have anything special in this file configured,but as you can see,we have the basic
............................................Writing the User class
Let's start with our first java class. Remember we have a table "users" in the database. Let
package com.arkaaya.struts.beans;
public class User {

private String userId = ;
private String firstName = ;
private String lastName = ;
private int age = 0;
private String email = ;
private String password = ;
public User(String userId) {
super();
this.userId = userId;
}
public int getAge() {
return age;
}
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public void setAge(int age) {

this.age = age;
}
public String getEmail() {

return email;
}
public void setEmail(String email) {

this.email = email;
}
public String getFirstName() {
return firstName;
}
public void setFirstName(String firstName) {

this.firstName = firstName;
}
public String getLastName() {

return lastName;
}
public void setLastName(String lastName) {

this.lastName = lastName;
}
public String getUserId() {

return userId;
}
public void setUserId(String userId) {

this.userId = userId;
}
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public String getPassword() {

return password;
}
public void setPassword(String password) {

this.password = password;
}
}
...............................................................ResourceManager
As we have already discussed,one of the main concerns of the struts framework is to separ
specified keys. To ease the manipulation of string resources where we are not using the str
package com.arkaaya.struts;
import java.util.ResourceBundle;
public class ResourceManager {
private static ResourceBundle bundle=ResourceBundle.getBundle(com.arkaaya.struts.App
public static String getString(String key){
return bundle.getString(key)
}
}
Writing the Struts Business Component Now let us write our business class that has the ab
........................................UserManager.
package com.arkaaya.struts.db;
public class UserManager {
private static UserManager mgr = null;
private UserManager()
{
}
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public static UserManager getInstance()

{
if(mgr == null)
{
mgr = new UserManager();
}
return mgr;
}
}
Because for one application,there can exist only a single UserManager,we have made the
Connecting to a database
The purpose of the UserManager is to provide an interface between the database and the c
String driverClass = ResourceManager.getString(database.driver);

String dbUrl = ResourceManager.getString(database.url);
String dbUser = ResourceManager.getString(database.user);
String dbPassword = ResourceManager.getString(database.password);
try{
Class.forName(driverClass);
con = DriverManager.getConnection(dbUrl,dbUser,dbPassword);
}catch(Exception exp){
System.err.println(Could not connect to dtabase.n exp.getMessage());
}
Where con is a global variable of type java.sql.Connection. Now that we have connected to
methods,UserManager
package com.arkaaya.struts.db;
import java.sql.ResultSet;
import java.sql.Statement;
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import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.DriverManager;
import java.sql.SQLException;
import java.sql.PreparedStatement;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import com.arkaaya.struts.ResourceManager;
import com.arkaaya.struts.beans.User;
public class UserManager {
private static UserManager mgr = null;
private Connection con = null;
private UserManager()
{
String driverClass = ResourceManager.getString(database.driver);
String dbUrl = ResourceManager.getString(database.url);
String dbUser = ResourceManager.getString(database.user);
String dbPassword = ResourceManager.getString(database.password);
try{
Class.forName(driverClass);
con = DriverManager.getConnection(dbUrl,dbUser,dbPassword);
}catch(Exception exp){
System.err.println(Could not connect to dtabase.n exp.getMessage());
}
}
public void saveUser(User user) throws SQLException
{
if(user == null)
throw new SQLException(ResourceManager.getString(save.user.null));
Connection connection = getConnection();
PreparedStatement pstmt = connection.prepareStatement(insert into
users(user_id,first_name,last_name,age,email) values(?,?,?,?,?));
pstmt.setString(1,user.getUserId());
pstmt.setString(2,user.getFirstName());
pstmt.setString(3,user.getLastName());
pstmt.setInt(4,user.getAge());
pstmt.setString(5,user.getEmail());
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pstmt.executeUpdate();
pstmt.close();
}
public User getUser(String userId) throws SQLException

{
if(userId == null || userId.length() == 0)
throw new SQLException(ResourceManager.getString(retrieve.user.null));
Statement stmt = connection.createStatement();
ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery(select * from users where user_id=' userId &apos
User user = null;
if(rs.next())
{
user = new User(userId);
user.setFirstName(rs.getString(first_name));
user.setLastName(rs.getString(last_name));
user.setAge(rs.getInt(age));
user.setEmail(rs.getString(email));
}
rs.close();
stmt.close();
return user;
}
public List list() throws SQLException

{
Statement stmt = connection.createStatement();
ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery(select * from users);
User user = null;
List list = new ArrayList();
while(rs.next())
{
user = new User(rs.getString(user_id));
user.setFirstName(rs.getString(first_name));
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user.setLastName(rs.getString(last_name));
user.setAge(rs.getInt(age));
user.setEmail(rs.getString(email));
list.add(user);
}
rs.close();
stmt.close();
return list;
}
private Connection getConnection() throws SQLException
{
if(con == null)
throw new SQLException(ResourceManager.getString(database.notConnected));
return con;
}
public static UserManager getInstance()
{
if(mgr == null)
{
mgr = new UserManager();
}
return mgr;
}
public void finalize()

{
try{
con.close();
}catch(Exception exp){}
}
}
We have used several properties in this class. Add these properties in the ApplicationResou
#database connection properties
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database.driver = sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver
database.url = jdbc:odbc:users
database.user =
database.password =
#User operations messages
save.user.null = User is null
retrieve.user.null = User is null
user.notFound = User not found
database.notConnected = Not connected to a database
Now we have all the business functions available,we are ready to move to the formal devel
Creating the Action Class
The basic component of a struts based application is the Action class. Let us create the act
Adding ActionForward
The forward element in struts-config.xml describes an ActionForward that is to be made a

Local forwards can be nested within an <action> element and only available to an Action
<action
path=/login
type=com.arkaaya.struts.action.LoginAction
validate=false>
<forward name=success path=/manageusers.jsp />
<forward name=failure path=/index.jsp />
</action>
Note the two forwards success and the failure. The path attribute in each forward tag is the
String user = request.getParameter(userId);

String password = request.getParameter(password);
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if(user!=null && password!=null && user.equals(admin) && password.equals(admin))

return mapping.findForward(success);
return mapping.findForward(failure);
Now create index.jsp so that we have a form to submit values to this form. Add the followin
<form action=/login.do method=post>

<table border=0>
<tr>
<td>Login:</td>
<td><input type=text name=userId /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Password:</td>
<td><input type=text name=password /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan=2 align=center><input type=submit value=Login/></td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
We are almost ready to run the project. But let's create a file manageusers.jsp so that if we
Deploy the Struts Application

Now its time to test the magic of our first struts application. First step towards this is to de
Adding the Form bean
In our LoginAction,we retrieved the form values using the conventional methods in HttpSe
public class User extends ActionForm

Also we need to add a no-argument constructor to the User class to enable the struts frame
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public User(){
super();
}
Configuring Form Bean in struts-config.xml
Adding a form bean is a two step process. First of all we need to declare the form bean in
<form-bean name=loginForm type=com.arkaaya.struts.beans.User />

Now we will associate this form bean with the LoginAction. Update the action tag in action
like this.
<action
name=loginForm
path=/login
scope=request
validate=false>
</action>
Now update the LoginAction to retrieve form values from form bean instead of request obj
available in the request object s well. Execute method should look like this now.
public ActionForward execute(ActionMapping mapping,ActionForm form,HttpServletRequ
request,HttpServletResponse response)
{
User userForm = (User)form;
String user = userForm.getUserId();
String password = userForm.getPassword();
if(user!=null && password!=null && user.equals(admin) && password.equals(admin))
}
Again deploy and run the project. You should get the same behavior as you got earlier.
Using Struts Tag Libraries
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The Struts framework provides a set of built-in Tag libraries that allow you to build the vie
The Bean Tags
The Tags within the Bean Library are used for creating and accessing JavaBeans and a few
The HTML Tags
The Tags within the Struts HTML Tag Library are used to create input forms for your appl
The Logic Tags
The Logic Tag Library contains tags that are helpful with iterating through collections,con
view (the index.jsp) to use the struts tag libraries to manipulate the ActionForm values,and
public ActionForward execute(ActionMapping mapping,ActionForm form,

HttpServletRequest request,HttpServletResponse response) {
User userForm = (User)form;
String user = userForm.getUserId();
String password = userForm.getPassword();
if(user.equals(admin) && password.equals(admin))
ActionMessages errors = new ActionMessages();
ActionMessage error = new ActionMessage(login.failed);
errors.add(error,error);
saveErrors(request,errors);
}
Note that we have created a new ActionMessage with a key "login.failed". This key must ex
login.failed = The supplied user name / password does not match
And the index.jsp becomes:
<%@ page language=java pageEncoding=ISO-8859-1%>
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<%@taglib prefix=html uri=/WEB-INF/struts-html.tld %>

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC -//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN>
<html>
<head>
<title>Welcome to the registration case study</title>

</head>
<body>
<html:errors/>
<html:form action=/login>
<table border=0>
<tr>
<td>Login:</td>
<td><html:text property=userId /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Password:</td>
<td><html:text property=password /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan=2 align=center><html:submit value=Login/></td>
</tr>
</table>
</html:form>
</body>
</html>
As you can see,we have declared a tag library 'struts-html.tld'. This is the Html tag library
Now re-deploy the application and see yourself the difference. Did you notice the field valu
error message is displayed. This is particularly important when submitting huge forms. An
Listing all Users - Struts Iterator Looping
Let us write a simple action and a view that displays the user list on our manageusers.jsp.
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public class ManageUsersAction extends Action {

public ActionForward execute(ActionMapping mapping,ActionForm form,
HttpServletRequest request,HttpServletResponse response) {
//Get a list of users and save to the request
try{
List list = UserManager.getInstance().list();
request.setAttribute(list,list);
}catch(SQLException sqle)
{
ActionMessage error = new ActionMessage(error.generic,sqle.getMessage());
}
}
}
Add the following line in ApplicationResources.properties file.
error.generic = An error prevented the operation. Error detail is:<br>{0}
Add the following code in manageusers.jsp
<%@taglib uri=/WEB-INF/struts-html.tld prefix=html %>
<%@taglib uri=/WEB-INF/struts-logic.tld prefix=logic %>
<%@taglib uri=/WEB-INF/struts-bean.tld prefix=bean %>
<html>
<head>
<title>Listing all users</title>
</head>
<body>
<center><h3>User List</h3></center>
<html:errors/>
<logic:present name=list>
<table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center width=70% style=border-col
<tr bgcolor=#98AFCC>
<th>User ID</th>
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<th>First Name</th>
<th>Last Name</th>
<th>Email</th>
</tr>
<%boolean even = false; %>
<logic:iterate id=user name=list>
<% even = !even; %>
<tr bgcolor=<%=even?#B7D3F5:#D6E0F5 %>>
<td>
<bean:write name=user property=userId />
</td>
<td>
<bean:write name=user property=firstName />
</td>
<td>
<bean:write name=user property=lastName />
</td>
<td>
<bean:write name=user property=email />
</td>
</tr>
</logic:iterate>
<tr>
<td colspan=6 align=center>
<a href=adduser.jsp>Add New User</a>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</logic:present>
</body>
</html>
Note that in this jsp,we have not performed any loop and still we are iterating over the list.
<action-mappings >
<action
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name=loginForm
path=/login
scope=request
validate=false>
<forward name=success path=/manageusers.do />
</action>
<action path=/manageusers type=com.arkaaya.struts.action.ManageUsersAction >
</action>
</action-mappings>
On redeploying and running the application,you should be able to see a list of users on su
The variable even is used to indicate if the current row is even or odd to change the row ba
Add User Action - New Struts Action Class

Now it's time to add a new user to the database. Let's write an action first that can save a u
User user = (User) form;

try{
UserManager.getInstance().saveUser(user);
}catch(SQLException sqle)
{
ActionMessage error = new ActionMessage(error.generic,sqle.getMessage());
}
Configure this action in the struts-config.xml as given below.
<action
attribute=loginForm
name=loginForm
path=/adduser
scope=request
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type=com.arkaaya.struts.action.AddUserAction
validate=false >
</action>
Note that we have associated the same form bean that we did when writing the LoginAction
Add User View
Now it is the time to write a view component for our AddUserAction. Create a jsp page 'ad

<%@ taglib uri=/WEB-INF/Struts-html.tld prefix=html %>
<html:html lang=true>
<head>
<html:base />
<title>Add new user</title>
</head>
<body>
<center><h3>Add New User</h3></center>
<CENTER><html:errors/></CENTER>
<html:form action=/adduser method=post>
<table border=0 align=center>
<tr>
<td>User ID:</td>
<td><html:text property=userId /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>First Name:</td>
<td><html:text property=firstName /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Last Name:</td>
<td><html:text property=lastName /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
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<td>Age:</td>
<td><html:text property=age /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Email:</td>
<td><html:text property=email /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan=2 align=center><html:submit /></td>
</tr>
</table>
</html:form>
</body>
</html:html>
Run the application,login as admin/admin and click on Add New User link at the bottom of
Validating Struts Form Bean
Try to create a user with invalid values. For example an invalid email address that does no
We have two options to do this.
1. Perform the validation in action class and return to failure if the validation fails.
2. Perform validation in form bean.
The first option is not feasible because one form bean may be used in many actions. So we
return ActionErrors instance with appropriate ActionError object if the validation fails,or
Let's add the validation to our User class.

public ActionErrors validate(
ActionMapping mapping,HttpServletRequest request ) {
ActionErrors errors = new ActionErrors();
if( getUserId().length()<1 ) {
errors.add(name,new ActionMessage(null.check,User ID));
}
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if(getEmail().length()>0)
{{
//Yes! user entered email address. validate it
if(!getEmail().matches(^[a-zA-Z][\w\.-]*[a-zA-Z0-9]@[a-zA-Z0-9][\w\.-]*[a-zA-Z0-9]\.[a
errors.add(name,new ActionMessage(email.invalid));
}
}
return errors;
}
Also we need to enable the validate="true" and provide an input attribute in the action con
<action
attribute=loginForm
name=loginForm
path=/adduser
scope=request
validate=true
input=/adduser.jsp
type=com.arkaaya.struts.action.AddUserAction>
</action>
Also we have used two error messages if the validation fails. Add these two keys in the App
null.check = {0} cannot be null or empty

email.invalid = Email address does not pass the validation rules
Now run the application and try to create a user with empty User ID or invalid email addr
Let's review what you have learnt
After reading this tutorial you should have a good idea of how to write a Struts based web
we don't have a sophisticated IDE. After completing this tutorial,with just a few required li
What next?
Check out our related tutorials on VisualBuilder.com:
Struts Tutorial Part 2
Struts Tutorial Part 3
JSP Tutorial
Page 22 of 87
Hibernate Tutorial
Java Web Component Tutorial
JSP Design Tutorial
Java Tutorial
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Introduction
This tutorial will help you to learn many features available with the struts framework. You
The tutorial helps you to understand the Validation framework and its usefulness. You will
DispatchAction
The major component in the Struts based application is the Action class. Action class only
<action path=/dispatchActionExample
type=com.arkaaya.DispatchActionExample
parameter=method
name=inputForm
input=/index.jsp />
Note:-The above mapping will check the method parameter and call the method with the na
Add the following keys in the messageresources.properties file under WEB-INF/classes
error.unspecified= Unspecified Called.
error.add= Add Called.
error.delete= delete Called.
error.view= View Called.
Example For DispatchAction
(1) Struts-config.xml file
<?xml version=1.0 encoding=ISO-8859-1 ?>
<struts-config>

<!DOCTYPE form-validation PUBLIC -//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Commons V
1.3.0//EN http://jakarta.apache.org/commons/dtds/validator_1_3_0.dtd>

<form-validation>
<global>
<validator name=required
classname=org.apache.struts.validator.FieldChecks
method=validateRequired
methodParams=java.lang.Object,
org.apache.commons.validator.ValidatorAction,
org.apache.commons.validator.Field,
org.apache.struts.action.ActionMessages,
org.apache.commons.validator.Validator,
javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest
msg=errors.required/>
<validator name=requiredif
method=validateRequiredIf
msg=errors.required/>
<validator name=validwhen
msg=errors.required
classname=org.apache.struts.validator.validwhen.ValidWhen
method=validateValidWhen
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javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest/>
<validator name=minlength
method=validateMinLength
depends=
msg=errors.minlength
jsFunction=org.apache.commons.validator.javascript.validateMinLength/>
<validator name=maxlength
method=validateMaxLength
depends=
msg=errors.maxlength
jsFunction=org.apache.commons.validator.javascript.validateMaxLength/>
<validator name=mask
method=validateMask
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depends=
msg=errors.invalid/>
<validator name=byte
method=validateByte
depends=
msg=errors.byte
jsFunctionName=ByteValidations/>
<validator name=short
method=validateShort
depends=
msg=errors.short
jsFunctionName=ShortValidations/>
<validator name=integer
method=validateInteger
depends=
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msg=errors.integer
jsFunctionName=IntegerValidations/>
<validator name=long
method=validateLong
depends=
msg=errors.long/>
<validator name=float
method=validateFloat
depends=
msg=errors.float
jsFunctionName=FloatValidations/>
<validator name=double
method=validateDouble
depends=
msg=errors.double/>
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<validator name=byteLocale
method=validateByteLocale
depends=
msg=errors.byte/>
<validator name=shortLocale
method=validateShortLocale
depends=
msg=errors.short/>
<validator name=integerLocale
method=validateIntegerLocale
depends=
msg=errors.integer/>
<validator name=longLocale
method=validateLongLocale
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depends=
msg=errors.long/>
<validator name=floatLocale
method=validateFloatLocale
depends=
msg=errors.float/>
<validator name=doubleLocale
method=validateDoubleLocale
depends=
msg=errors.double/>
<validator name=date
method=validateDate
Page 42 of 87
depends=
msg=errors.date
jsFunctionName=DateValidations/>
<validator name=intRange
method=validateIntRange
depends=integer
msg=errors.range/>
<validator name=longRange
method=validateLongRange
depends=long
msg=errors.range/>
<validator name=floatRange
method=validateFloatRange
Page 43 of 87
depends=float
msg=errors.range/>
<validator name=doubleRange
method=validateDoubleRange
depends=double
msg=errors.range/>
<validator name=creditCard
method=validateCreditCard
depends=
msg=errors.creditcard/>
<validator name=email
method=validateEmail
depends=
Page 44 of 87
msg=errors.email/>
<validator name=url
method=validateUrl
depends=
msg=errors.url/>

<validator name=includeJavaScriptUtilities
classname=
method=
methodParams=
depends=
msg=
Creating custom Valdator rules
Using validation framework in our application not only provide the basic routines for the v
user flexibility to create their own specific validator rules for the application. This is the po
this saves a lot more development and validation time during the application development.
set of changes which should be performed while creating the custom validator rules for the
Steps to create the Validator rules :-
1. Create a class and add the static method for the validation.
2. Add the entry in the validator-rules.xml file.
3. Associate the rule with the form field.
4. Add the property in the MessageResources.properties for the error message.
Example
Note:- The example is merged with the Extending the Validation Rules with the inherited S
the marks field which can only take values from 1 to 100. The below is the validation class
package com.arkaaya.validator;
import java.io.Serializable;
Page 45 of 87
import org.apache.commons.validator.Field;
import org.apache.commons.validator.Validator;
import org.apache.commons.validator.ValidatorAction;
import org.apache.commons.validator.util.ValidatorUtils;
import org.apache.struts.validator.Resources;
/**
* This class is a custom validator which when apply to the framework checks The
* field should contain only alphabets
*
*/
public class CustomValidator implements Serializable {
public static boolean checkForRange(Object bean, ValidatorAction va, Field field, ActionM
validator,
HttpServletRequest request) {
boolean result = false;
String value = evaluateBean(bean, field);
try {
if (Integer.parseInt(value) > 0 && Integer.parseInt(value) < 100) {
result = true;
}
} catch (Exception e) {
}
if (!result) {
errors.add(field.getKey(), Resources.getActionMessage(validator, request, va, field));
}
return result;
}
private static String evaluateBean(Object bean, Field field) {
String value = null;
if (bean instanceof String) {
value = (String) bean;
} else {
value = ValidatorUtils.getValueAsString(bean, field.getProperty());
Page 46 of 87
}
return value;
}
}
Extending the Validator Rules with the inherited SubForm Classes.-2
Example Continued....
(4) ActionForm Classes
InputForm.java
String name;
String email;
String phone;
return email;
}
this.email = email;
}
return name;
}
this.name = name;
}
return phone;
}
this.phone = phone;
}
}
RegistrationForm.java
public class RegistrationForm extends InputForm {
Page 47 of 87
private String Address;

private String marks;
public String getMarks() {
return marks;
}
public void setMarks(String marks) {
this.marks = marks;
}
public String getAddress() {
return Address;
}
public void setAddress(String address) {
this.Address = address;
}
}
(5) Action Classes
ValidateAction.java
public class ValidateAction extends Action {
}
}
RegisterAction.java
Page 48 of 87
public class RegisterAction extends Action {
}
}
(6) Output
Internationalization in struts application Few years back, the sites are only developed usin
time. This can be achieved by having the multi language text in key/value pair. And at runt
The following classes are used to implement Internationalization to any site.
Locale - The fundamental Java class that supports internationalization is Locale . Each Lo
ResourceBundle - The java.util.ResourceBundle class provides the fundamental tools for su
PropertyResourceBundle - One of the standard implementations of Resource Bundle allow
MessageFormat - The java.text.MessageFormat class allows you to replace portions of a m
MessageResources - The framework class org.apache.struts.util.MessageResources lets yo
The below example will show the use of Internationalization in Struts.

Note :- The example only displays the text coming from the different properties files. The p
program.
(1)MessageResources.properties
This is the default properties file. If the locale specific file is not present then struts calls th
welcome.text=default Welcome Text
(2) MessageResources_en.properties
welcome.text=English Welcome Text
(3) MessageResources_fr.properties
welcome.text=French Welcome Text
(4) MessageResources_de.properties
welcome.text=German Welcome Text
Exception Handling in Struts
Page 49 of 87
Struts 1.3 provides a small, but effective exception-handling framework for the application
available for the exception handling in struts.
Declarative:- In this approach the exceptions are defined in the struts-config file and in ca
occurs the control is automatically passed to the appropriate error page. The <exception>
exception in the struts-config.xml file. The following are the attributes of the <exception>
1.Key:- The key defines the key present in MessageResources.properties file to describe the
2. Type:- The class of the exception occurred.
3. Path:- The page where the control is to be followed in case exception occurred.
Handler:- The exception handler which will be called before passing the control to the file
4.With Any Action mapping:- In this approach the action class is identified which may thro
For example:-
<action path=/exception
type=com.arkaaya.ExampleAction
parameter=method
input=/index.jsp >
<exception key=error.system type=java.lang.RuntimeException path=/index.jsp />
</action>
"
Defining the Exceptions Globally for the struts-config.xml :- If the application control is to
<global-exceptions>
<exception key=error.system type=java.lang.RuntimeException path=/index.jsp />
</global-exceptions>
"
1.
Programmatic: - In this approach the exceptions are caught using normal java language tr
instead of showing the exception some meaningful messages are displayed. In this approac
also maintained by the programs. The main drawback of the approach is the developer has
the flow of the application.
2.
Creating Custom Exception Handlers in Struts-1

The struts not only introduced the exception handling mechanism and pass the flow to the a
it also gives the flexibility to the programmers to create their own Exception Handlers. The
org.apache.struts.action.ExceptionHandler class for creating the custom exception handler
Page 50 of 87
Handlers should extend the ExceptionHandler class and override the execute() method.
The below example will demonstrate custom ExceptionHandler for the user program.
Note:- The below example will transfer the control to the index.jsp after calling the excepti
struts-config.xml we are adding the global exception for RuntimeException. You can add a
example to some actions only. The code for adding it as follows :-
<exception key=error.system type=java.lang.RuntimeException
handler=com.arkaaya.handler.CustomExceptionHandler path=/index.jsp />
Example For ExceptionHandler :-
(1) Creating the Exception Handler Class
package com.arkaaya.handler;
import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import org.apache.struts.action.ExceptionHandler;
import org.apache.struts.config.ExceptionConfig;
public class CustomExceptionHandler extends ExceptionHandler {
public ActionForward execute(Exception exception, ExceptionConfig config, ActionMappin
formInstance,
HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException {
74/
try {
// TODO CustomeCode
System.out.println(Exception Handler for the specific error);
}catch (Exception e) {
}
return (super.execute(exception, config, mapping, formInstance, request, response));
}
}
Page 51 of 87
<struts-config>


<catalog name=struts>
<define name=lookup className=org.apache.commons.chain.generic.LookupCommand/>

<command className=org.apache.struts.chain.commands.ExceptionCatcher catalogNam
Page 78 of 87
exceptionCommand=servlet-exception/>
<lookup catalogName=struts name=process-action optional=false/>
<lookup catalogName=struts name=process-view optional=false/>
</chain>


<lookup catalogName=struts name=servlet-standard-preprocess optional=true/>

<command className=org.apache.struts.chain.commands.servlet.SelectLocale/>

<command className=org.apache.struts.chain.commands.servlet.SetOriginalURI/>
Page 79 of 87


<command className=org.apache.struts.chain.commands.servlet.RequestNoCache/>

<command className=org.apache.struts.chain.commands.servlet.SetContentType/>

<command className=org.apache.struts.chain.commands.RemoveCachedMessages/>

<command className=org.apache.struts.chain.commands.servlet.SelectAction/>

<command className=org.apache.struts.chain.commands.servlet.AuthorizeAction/>

<command className=org.apache.struts.chain.commands.CreateActionForm/>

<command className=org.apache.struts.chain.commands.servlet.PopulateActionForm/>

<command className=org.apache.struts.chain.commands.servlet.ValidateActionForm/>

<command className=org.apache.struts.chain.commands.servlet.SelectInput/>

<command className=org.apache.struts.chain.commands.SelectInclude/>

<command className=org.apache.struts.chain.commands.servlet.PerformInclude/>

<command className=org.apache.struts.chain.commands.servlet.CreateAction/>

<command className=org.apache.struts.chain.commands.servlet.ExecuteAction/>
</chain>

<chain name=process-view>

Page 80 of 87
<command className=org.apache.struts.chain.commands.servlet.PerformForward/>
</chain>


<command className=org.apache.struts.chain.commands.servlet.ExceptionHandler/>

<command className=org.apache.struts.chain.commands.servlet.PerformForward/>
</chain>
</catalog>
Adding New Command Objects in Struts CoR Pattern
The Struts new CoR(Chain of Responsibility) structure gives us more flexibility to add our
request processing and also with less effort. All the user needs is to extend
org.apache.struts.chain.commands.ActionCommandBase class and override the execute()
The below example will demonstrate how do we insert our own command objects in the exi
changing the actual flow and the ComposeableRequestProcessor will call the file implicitly
deletion of the commands only the chain-config.xml file is changed and the Struts automati
(1) Struts-config.xml
<struts-config>

<command className=com.arkaaya.command.CustomCommand/>
SECURITY IN STRUTS
Page 82 of 87
Implementation For Container Managed Implementation For Application Managed

Authentication and Authorization are specified in
web.xml.
"
It uses multiple authentication schemes, such as
Password Authentication Form-based
Authentication Client side Digital Certificates etc..
"
" Redirects are handled automatically.
User data can be provided by a variety of stores xml
file or flat files. In tomcat the Data is provided in
TOMCAT_HOME/conf/tomcat-users.xml
"
Extending RequestProcessor (in previous
versions)or AuthorizeAction (After 1.3).
"
" Cookies
" Using Servlet Filters.
" Using SSLEXT with Struts to enable HTTPS.
The following is the Example to implement the Container Specific Security in Tomcat.
(1) tomcat-user.xml File
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<tomcat-users>
<role rolename=tomcat/>
<role rolename=role1/>
<role rolename=admin/>
<user username=tomcat password=tomcat roles=tomcat/>
<user username=both password=tomcat roles=tomcat,role1/>
<user username=role1 password=tomcat roles=role1/>
<user username=visualbuilder password=test roles=admin/>
</tomcat-users>
(2) Web.xml file
<web-app version=2.4 xmlns=http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee xmlns:xsi=http://www.w3.o
xsi:schemaLocation=http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee/web-a
Page 83 of 87
<servlet>
<init-param>
</init-param>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
</servlet-mapping>
<welcome-file-list>
<welcome-file>index.jsp</welcome-file>
</welcome-file-list>
<security-constraint>
<web-resource-collection>
<web-resource-name>application</web-resource-name>
<url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</web-resource-collection>
<auth-constraint>
<role-name>admin</role-name>
</auth-constraint>
</security-constraint>
<login-config>
<auth-method>BASIC</auth-method>
<realm-name>securityapp</realm-name>
</login-config>
<security-role>
<description>Testing the Application Security</description>
<role-name>admin</role-name>
</security-role>
</web-app>
Output:-
The following screen appears when you try to run the application. It will ask for username
Page 84 of 87
enter visualbuilder as username and test as password then only it will display the pages of
Example for the Application Managed Security-1

The same way we extends the default behaviour of the Struts application, we can validate t
some resources in the application. We have to just mention the role for the resource in the
following example will demonstrate the Application managed security. If the user enters th
submit will be called otherwise the exception page is displayed on the screen.
(1) Struts-config.xml File
<struts-config>
<!-- ================================================ For
<form-beans>
</form-beans>
<!-- ========================================= Global Exceptio
<!-- =========================================== Global Forw
<!-- =========================================== Action Map
<action-mappings>
<action path=/submit
scope=request validate=false
name=inputForm input=/index.jsp
roles=admin/>
</action-mappings>
<!-- =========================================== Controller M
processorClass=org.apache.struts.chain.ComposableRequestProcessor />
<!-- ======================================== Message Resourc
</struts-config>
(2) chain-config.xml File
Page 85 of 87
Example for the Application Managed Security-2

(3) CustomCommand.java File
Note:- If any security check application is to be created in the struts 1.3 or higher then
org.apache.struts.chain.commands.AbstractAuthorizeAction is to be extended but in case o
RequestProceesor's method processRoles() is to be overridden to check the security setting
package com.arkaaya.command;
import org.apache.struts.chain.commands.AbstractAuthorizeAction;
import org.apache.struts.chain.contexts.ActionContext;
import org.apache.struts.chain.contexts.ServletActionContext;
import org.apache.struts.config.ActionConfig;
import org.apache.struts.util.MessageResources;
public class CustomCommand extends AbstractAuthorizeAction {
// ------------------------------------------------------- Protected Methods
protected boolean isAuthorized(ActionContext context, String[] roles, ActionConfig mappi
// Identify the HTTP request object
ServletActionContext servletActionContext = (ServletActionContext) context;
HttpServletRequest request = servletActionContext.getRequest();
// Check the current user against the list of required roles
if(request.getParameter(user) != null && request.getParameter(user).equals(admin) ){
return (true);
}
// Default to unauthorized
return (false);
}
protected String getErrorMessage(ActionContext context, ActionConfig actionConfig) {
ServletActionContext servletActionContext = (ServletActionContext) context;
// Retrieve internal message resources
ActionServlet servlet = servletActionContext.getActionServlet();
MessageResources resources = servlet.getInternal();
return resources.getMessage(notAuthorized, actionConfig.getPath());
}
Page 86 of 87
*********************I THOUGHT IT WILL USE full 2 U***********************

************************ *******THANK U*******************************
@R.vibhudi
@Email rajesh.vibhudi@gmail.com
Page 87 of 87

Master of Struts

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Master Of Struts 4/29/2009 12:57 PM

Why do we need Struts?

" Model - data and logic (business logic methods).

" View - output displayed to the user

Centralized File-Based Configuration

....................................................................Form Field Validation

..................................................................Registration Case Study

Column Name Data Type Constraints

.......................................................Setting up Struts project in Eclipse

Create the ODBC DSN as shown below.

Configuring Application Server

Let's see what is in web.xml right now.

<?xml version=1.0 encoding=UTF-8?>

<?xml version=1.0 encoding=UTF-8?>

............................................Writing the User class

public class User {

public void setAge(int age) {

public String getEmail() {

public void setEmail(String email) {

public void setFirstName(String firstName) {

public String getLastName() {

public void setLastName(String lastName) {

public String getUserId() {

public void setUserId(String userId) {

public String getPassword() {

public void setPassword(String password) {

public static UserManager getInstance()

String driverClass = ResourceManager.getString(database.driver);

public User getUser(String userId) throws SQLException

public List list() throws SQLException

public void finalize()

#database connection properties

Creating the Action Class

The forward element in struts-config.xml describes an ActionForward that is to be made a

String user = request.getParameter(userId);

if(user!=null && password!=null && user.equals(admin) && password.equals(admin))

<form action=/login.do method=post>

Deploy the Struts Application

Adding the Form bean

public class User extends ActionForm

Configuring Form Bean in struts-config.xml

<form-bean name=loginForm type=com.arkaaya.struts.beans.User />

Using Struts Tag Libraries

The Bean Tags

The HTML Tags

The Logic Tags

public ActionForward execute(ActionMapping mapping,ActionForm form,

And the index.jsp becomes:

<%@ page language=java pageEncoding=ISO-8859-1%>

<%@taglib prefix=html uri=/WEB-INF/struts-html.tld %>

Listing all Users - Struts Iterator Looping

public class ManageUsersAction extends Action {

Add User Action - New Struts Action Class

User user = (User) form;

Add User View

<%@ page language=java pageEncoding=ISO-8859-1%>

Validating Struts Form Bean

We have two options to do this.

Let's add the validation to our User class.

null.check = {0} cannot be null or empty

ActionMessages message = new ActionMessages();

<%@ taglib uri=http://struts.apache.org/tags-html prefix=html %>

" No session associated with this request

*I THOUGHT IT WILL USE full 2 U***