Build Page Templates in Struts 2

On the Eclipse, create a Maven project

Click Next button and select Workspace location for project

Click Next button and select maven-archetype-webapp

Click Next button and enter Project Information:

  • GroupId: LearnStrutsFrameworkWithRealApps
  • Artifact Id: LearnStrutsFrameworkWithRealApps
  • Package: com.demo

Click Finish button to finish create Maven project




Select current project, Right click and select Properties menu. In Properties dialog, select Targeted Runtime in left side after select Tomcat server from server list in right side

Click Ok button to finish

Select current project, Right click and select Build Path\Configure Build Path menu Select JRE System Library in Libraries tab:

Click Edit button and select JRE System Library you need use as below:

Click Finish button to finish




Open pom.xml file and add configurations for Struts 2 as below:

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
	xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
	<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
	<groupId>LearnStrutsFrameworkWithRealApps</groupId>
	<artifactId>LearnStrutsFrameworkWithRealApps</artifactId>
	<packaging>war</packaging>
	<version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
	<name>LearnStrutsFrameworkWithRealApps Maven Webapp</name>
	<url>http://maven.apache.org</url>
	<dependencies>

		<dependency>
			<groupId>junit</groupId>
			<artifactId>junit</artifactId>
			<version>3.8.1</version>
			<scope>test</scope>
		</dependency>

		<dependency>
			<groupId>javax.servlet.jsp.jstl</groupId>
			<artifactId>javax.servlet.jsp.jstl-api</artifactId>
			<version>1.2.1</version>
		</dependency>

		<dependency>
			<groupId>taglibs</groupId>
			<artifactId>standard</artifactId>
			<version>1.1.2</version>
		</dependency>

		<dependency>
			<groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
			<artifactId>javax.servlet-api</artifactId>
			<version>3.1.0</version>
			<scope>provided</scope>
		</dependency>

		<!-- Struts 2 Framework -->

		<dependency>
			<groupId>org.apache.struts</groupId>
			<artifactId>struts2-core</artifactId>
			<version>2.5.20</version>
		</dependency>

		<dependency>
			<groupId>org.apache.struts</groupId>
			<artifactId>struts2-convention-plugin</artifactId>
			<version>2.5.20</version>
		</dependency>

		<!-- Tiles -->

		<dependency>
			<groupId>org.apache.struts</groupId>
			<artifactId>struts2-tiles-plugin</artifactId>
			<version>2.5.20</version>
		</dependency>

		<dependency>
			<groupId>org.apache.tiles</groupId>
			<artifactId>tiles-extras</artifactId>
			<version>3.0.8</version>
		</dependency>

	</dependencies>

	<build>
		<finalName>LearnStrutsFrameworkWithRealApps</finalName>
	</build>
</project>




Open web.xml file in src\main\webapp\WEB-INF folder and add configurations for Struts 2 as below:

<web-app xmlns="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee"
	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
	xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee
		 http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_3_1.xsd"
	version="3.1">

	<display-name>Learn Struts 2 Framework with Real Apps</display-name>

	<context-param>
		<param-name>tilesDefinitions</param-name>
		<param-value>
			/WEB-INF/tiles.xml,
			/WEB-INF/tiles_news.xml,
			/WEB-INF/tiles_home.xml,
			/WEB-INF/tiles_about_us.xml
		</param-value>
	</context-param>

	<filter>
		<filter-name>struts2</filter-name>
		<filter-class>org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.filter.StrutsPrepareAndExecuteFilter</filter-class>
		<init-param>
			<param-name>struts.devMode</param-name>
			<param-value>true</param-value>
		</init-param>
		<init-param>
			<param-name>struts.action.extension</param-name>
			<param-value>html</param-value>
		</init-param>
	</filter>

	<filter-mapping>
		<filter-name>struts2</filter-name>
		<url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
		<dispatcher>REQUEST</dispatcher>
		<dispatcher>FORWARD</dispatcher>
		<dispatcher>INCLUDE</dispatcher>
	</filter-mapping>

	<listener>
		 <listener-class>org.apache.tiles.extras.complete.CompleteAutoloadTilesListener</listener-class>
	</listener>

	<welcome-file-list>
		<welcome-file>index.jsp</welcome-file>
	</welcome-file-list>

</web-app>

Create new xml file named struts.xml in src/main/resources folder as below:

<!DOCTYPE struts PUBLIC
"-//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Struts Configuration 2.0//EN"
"http://struts.apache.org/dtds/struts-2.0.dtd">

<struts>

	<constant name="struts.convention.default.parent.package" value="controllers"/>

	<package name="controllers" extends="struts-default">
		<result-types>
			 <result-type name="tiles" class="org.apache.struts2.views.tiles.TilesResult" />
		</result-types>
	</package>

</struts>




Create new package named controllers.action in src/main/java folder. The action class in Struts 2 must be put in a package named action. In this package, create new actions as below:

In controllers.action package, create new java class named HomeAction.java as below:

package controllers.action;

import org.apache.struts2.convention.annotation.Action;
import org.apache.struts2.convention.annotation.Namespace;
import org.apache.struts2.convention.annotation.Result;

import com.opensymphony.xwork2.ActionSupport;

@Namespace("/home")
public class HomeAction extends ActionSupport {

	private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

	@Action(value = "index", results = {
		@Result(name = SUCCESS, location = "home.index", type = "tiles")
	})
	public String index() {
		return SUCCESS;
	}

}

In controllers.action package, create new java class named AboutUsAction.java as below:

package controllers.action;

import org.apache.struts2.convention.annotation.Action;
import org.apache.struts2.convention.annotation.Namespace;
import org.apache.struts2.convention.annotation.Result;

import com.opensymphony.xwork2.ActionSupport;

@Namespace("/aboutus")
public class AboutUsAction extends ActionSupport {

	private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

	@Action(value = "index", results = {
		@Result(name = SUCCESS, location = "aboutus.index", type = "tiles")
	})
	public String index() {
		return SUCCESS;
	}

}




In controllers.action package, create new java class named NewsAction.java as below:

package controllers.action;

import org.apache.struts2.convention.annotation.Action;
import org.apache.struts2.convention.annotation.Namespace;
import org.apache.struts2.convention.annotation.Result;

import com.opensymphony.xwork2.ActionSupport;

@Namespace("/news")
public class NewsAction extends ActionSupport {

	private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

	@Action(value = "index", results = {
		@Result(name = SUCCESS, location = "news.index", type = "tiles")
	})
	public String index() {
		return SUCCESS;
	}

}

Create new folder named views in src\main\webapp\WEB-INF folder. In views folder, create new views as below:

Create new folder named templates. Create new jsp file named mytemplate.jsp as below:

<%@ page language="java" contentType="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
    pageEncoding="ISO-8859-1" isELIgnored="false" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="s" uri="/struts-tags" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="tiles" uri="http://tiles.apache.org/tags-tiles" %>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
<title>
	<tiles:insertAttribute name="title" ignore="true" />
</title>
</head>
<body>

	<s:a namespace="/home" action="index">Home</s:a> |
	<s:a namespace="/aboutus" action="index">About Us</s:a> |
	<s:a namespace="/news" action="index">News</s:a>
	<br><br>
	<tiles:insertAttribute name="content"></tiles:insertAttribute>
	<br><br>
	Copyright PMK Lab

</body>
</html>

Create new folder named home. Create new jsp file named index.jsp as below:

<%@ page language="java" contentType="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
    pageEncoding="ISO-8859-1"%>
<h3>Home Page</h3>




Create new folder named aboutus. Create new jsp file named index.jsp as below:

<%@ page language="java" contentType="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
    pageEncoding="ISO-8859-1"%>
<h3>About Us Page</h3>

Create new folder named news. Create new jsp file named index.jsp as below:

<%@ page language="java" contentType="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
    pageEncoding="ISO-8859-1"%>
<h3>News Page</h3>

In src\main\webapp\WEB-INF folder, create new xml files as below:

In src\main\webapp\WEB-INF folder, create new xml file named tiles.xml as below:

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

<!DOCTYPE tiles-definitions PUBLIC
       "-//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Tiles Configuration 2.0//EN"
       "http://tiles.apache.org/dtds/tiles-config_2_0.dtd">

<tiles-definitions>

	<definition name="mytemplate" template="/WEB-INF/views/templates/mytemplate.jsp">
		<put-attribute name="title" value=""></put-attribute>
		<put-attribute name="content" value=""></put-attribute>
	</definition>

</tiles-definitions>

In src\main\webapp\WEB-INF folder, create new xml file named tiles_home.xml as below:

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

<!DOCTYPE tiles-definitions PUBLIC
       "-//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Tiles Configuration 2.0//EN"
       "http://tiles.apache.org/dtds/tiles-config_2_0.dtd">

<tiles-definitions>

	<definition name="home.index" extends="mytemplate">
		<put-attribute name="title" value="Home Page"></put-attribute>
		<put-attribute name="content" value="/WEB-INF/views/home/index.jsp"></put-attribute>
	</definition>

</tiles-definitions>




In src\main\webapp\WEB-INF folder, create new xml file named tiles_about_us.xml as below:

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

<!DOCTYPE tiles-definitions PUBLIC
       "-//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Tiles Configuration 2.0//EN"
       "http://tiles.apache.org/dtds/tiles-config_2_0.dtd">

<tiles-definitions>

	<definition name="aboutus.index" extends="mytemplate">
		<put-attribute name="title" value="About Us Page"></put-attribute>
		<put-attribute name="content" value="/WEB-INF/views/aboutus/index.jsp"></put-attribute>
	</definition>

</tiles-definitions>

In src\main\webapp\WEB-INF folder, create new xml file named tiles_news.xml as below:

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

<!DOCTYPE tiles-definitions PUBLIC
       "-//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Tiles Configuration 2.0//EN"
       "http://tiles.apache.org/dtds/tiles-config_2_0.dtd">

<tiles-definitions>

	<definition name="news.index" extends="mytemplate">
		<put-attribute name="title" value="News Page"></put-attribute>
		<put-attribute name="content" value="/WEB-INF/views/news/index.jsp"></put-attribute>
	</definition>

</tiles-definitions>




Create new jsp file named index.jsp in src\main\webapp folder as below:

<%@ page language="java" contentType="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" pageEncoding="ISO-8859-1"%>
<jsp:forward page="home/index.html"></jsp:forward>




Select project, right click and select Run on Server menu

Access index method in home action with following url:

http://localhost:8080/LearnStrutsFrameworkWithRealApps/home/index.html

Output

Click About Us link from menu

Output

Click News link from menu

Output