Java Struts Course

This 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.

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

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.

Topics covered on the 3 day Java Struts course

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