STRUTS

Course Description: This three-day course will teach students how to use Java Struts as a framework to develop web applications that follow the Model/View/Controller design pattern. The topics cover the components of Struts that are available from the Jakarta project of the Apache Foundation. The course illustrates what the components provide and use of them.

Audience: Experienced Java Servlet and JSP developers who need to use Struts as a framework for MVC Web Application Development.

Prerequisites: Java Programming, Java Web Programming, or Java2 Enterprise Edition. Java Servlet and JSP programming experience, and a basic understanding of HTML and XML is required.

Course Contents

Struts Overview What is Struts? Model 1 Design Pattern Model 2 / MVC Design Pattern Implementing MVC with a Framework The Struts Framework Basic Struts Components Struts Documentation A Struts-Based Application: Logon Struts in a Simple Web Application Stars Information Application List Stars Flow Display Star Flow ActionServlet: the Controller struts-config.xml ActionForm: Form State The execute Method of StarsListAction The execute Method of StarsDisplayAction Directing Processing Flow with an ActionForward Building a View with Tags Review: Flow through a Typical Struts-Based Application The Controller ActionServlet as a Controller RequestProcessor Developer Responsibilities Mapping Forwards Lifecycle of an ActionForm ActionForm Considerations The reset Method The validate Method Action and the Business Model The execute Method of Action execute() Method Considerations Handling an Error Threading Considerations Some Best Practices for Action More Best Practices for Action The View Forwarding to a View Overview of Struts Tags Struts HTML Tags Form-Related Tags Dealing with URLs Using Error Tags Displaying Messages Struts Bean Tags Struts Logic Tags Some Struts View Best Practices Internationalization I18N and L10N Resource Bundles Java's MessageFormat Class Internationalization in Struts I18N with Struts Tags I18N with JSTL tags I18N within Java Code

Advanced Struts Features Accessing Bean Properties DynaActionForm: A Configurable Form Indexed and Mapped Properties in a Form Using indexed="true" Preventing Duplicate Form Submits Using ForwardAction and IncludeAction DispatchAction LookupDispatchAction Implementing a LookupDispatchAction Handling Errors Error Handling Options with Struts Documenting Errors with ActionMessage JSP Error Pages Declarative Java Exception Handling Logging in Struts Validation Validator Overview Validator Requirements Configuring Validator Rules Struts Validators Configuring the Struts Validators Configuring Form Validation - global and formset Configuring Form Validation - form and field Configuring Form Validation - arg Configuring Form Validation - var Validation with Regular Expressions ValidatorForm verses ValidatorActionForm Implementing a Validator Method Other Validator Implications Page Composition with Tiles Tiles Overview Building a Tiles Template Basic Tiles Example Tiles Definitions Additional Options with Definitions Placing Definitions in a Configuration File Using the <put> Tag Enabling the Tiles Plug-In Using Tiles Appendix - Nested Tags Why Nested Tags? Using Nested Tags Parent and Root Tags