strutsAnnotation

Headline

Web programming in Language:Java with Technology:Struts configuring with annotations

Motivation

This Language:Java web application illustrates the use of the popular Technology:Struts technology in combination with Technology:JSP and a servlet based web server. It introduces the use of Technology:Maven as a good advantage for Language:Java based applications, as well.

Illustration

The Technology:Struts architecture is based on MVC. The view is implemented with Technology:JSP, the controller is based on Language:Java action classes in combination with servlets and the model is provided by a service class and a class for each company, department and employee. The initial Feature:Hierarchical company data is stored in a serialization file (compare Contribution:javaInheritance). We will illustrate the Technology:Struts implementation with an example of showing and cutting a company.

View

The Technology:JSP file for the view of the company offers two textfields and two buttons. One of the textfields shows the name, the other one shows the Feature:Total value. The buttons allow the user to request for further detailed information like a department list. It also allows her to cut all salaries of the company.

...

<s:form action="company">

		...

		<s:iterator value="allCompanies">
			<tr>
				
				<td><s:property value="name"/></td>
				<td><s:property value="total"/></td>
				<td>
					
					<s:url id="cutURL" action="company.cutSalaries">
						<s:param name="id" value="%{id}"/>
					</s:url>
					<s:a href="%{cutURL}">Cut</s:a>
				</td>
				<td>
					
					<s:url id="detailURL" action="company.details">
						<s:param name="id" value="%{id}"/>
					</s:url>
					<s:a href="%{detailURL}">Detail</s:a>
				</td>
			</tr>
		</s:iterator>

		...

The iterator

<s:iterator ... />

"allCompanies"

List<Company> allCompanies;

Controller

The

action="company.cutSalaries"

cutSalaries()

@Action(value = "company.cutSalaries",
			results = { @Result(name = "listAllCompanies", type="redirectAction", location="list-all-companies")})
public String cutSalaries() {
	company =  CompanyService.instance().findCompany(Long.parseLong(RequestUtil.getRequestParameter("id")));
	company.cut();
	return "listAllCompanies"; 
}

The

@Action(value = "company.cutSalaries", ...)

CompanyService.instance()

results

@Action(value = "company.cutSalaries", ...)

Model

All data are instantiated within the Singleton CompanyService.java, which is considered as a major part of the model. The instance contains lists of the company, its departments and its employees. As we have seen in the controller description, the Feature:Cut method of all of these entities is invokeable. In our case, the cut method for the company simply invokes the cut method of the departments:

	public void cut() {
		for (Department d : getDepts())
			d.cut();
	}

The lists within this CompanyService.java are initialized by loading a previously serialized company. We strongly recommend to have a look on Contribution:javaInheritance, to get an overview over the serialization and deserialization process in Language:Java.

Architecture

• The Technology:JSP files for the view are located in this!!src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/content.
• The index.jsp in the this!!src/main/webapp folder represents the initial page, which redirects to the first list-all-companies.jsp. The this!!src/main/webapp folder also contains the Language:CSS files for this application.
• The this!!src/main/resources folder contains two necessary files. The this!!src/main/resources/sampleCompany.ser provides the serialized company data. The this!!src/main/resources/struts.xml Language:XML file defines, that the initial page of this application is the index.jsp.
• The main Language:Java code of the application is located in this!!src/main/java/org/softlang. We have four folders for the different concerns. this!!src/main/java/org/softlang/actions contains the actions described in the illustration section for the controller. The this!!src/main/java/org/softlang/basics folder contains all necessary classes for the deserialized company. The CompanyService.java is located in the this!!src/main/java/org/softlang/services folder. The last folder this!!src/main/java/org/softlang/util contains some helpful Language:Java files for the deserialization.

Usage

Requirements:

• Technology:Maven (Version 2.x) as Technology:Eclipse plugin (http://eclipse.org/m2e/download/) or standalone (http://maven.apache.org/download.html)
• Web server or application server based on the servlet technology (We recommend JBoss application server, but Technology:Apache Tomcat will also be sufficient).

• Click the "File"-button in the menu bar and "Import...".
• Select the "Maven" folder and "Existing Maven Projects".
• Browse to your local "strutsAnnotation" folder and "Finish".

• Run "mvn clean" and "mvn install" in the root directory of the struts 2 implementation or (Eclipse only) right click on your imported project and first click "Run As" -> "Maven clean" and second "Run As" -> "Maven install".
• Copy the target/struts2app.war file to the web-application folder of your Web server (JBoss application server: /server/default/deploy).

• Start your Web server (JBoss application server: /bin/run.bat (Windows) or /bin/run.sh (Unix)).
• Start your Web browser and go to http://localhost:8080/struts2app.

Contributors