Friday, October 27, 2006

Struts 2: Info and Resources

Struts has been the most popular web application framework for the past few years. With this popularity have come enhancements and changes due not only to the changing requirements, but also to provide features available in newer frameworks. The new version Struts 2.0 is a combination of the Sturts action framework and Webwork. According to the Struts 2.0.1 release announcement, some key changes are:
  • Improved Design - All Struts 2 classes are based on interfaces. Core interfaces are HTTP independent.
  • Intelligent Defaults - Most configuration elements have a default value that we can set and forget.
  • Enhanced Results - Unlike ActionForwards, Struts 2 Results can actually help prepare the response.
  • Enhanced Tags - Struts 2 tags don't just output data, but provide stylesheet-driven markup, so that we can create consistent pages with less code.
  • First-class AJAX support - The AJAX theme gives interactive applications a significant boost.
  • Stateful Checkboxes - Struts 2 checkboxes do not require special handling for false values.
  • QuickStart - Many changes can be made on the fly without restarting a web container.
  • Easy-to-test Actions - Struts 2 Actions are HTTP independent and can be tested without resorting to mock objects.
  • Easy-to-customize controller - Struts 1 lets us customize the request processor per module, Struts 2 lets us customize the request handling per action, if desired.
  • Easy-to-tweak tags - Struts 2 tag markup can be altered by changing an underlying stylesheet. Individual tag markup can be changed by editing a FreeMarker template. No need to grok the taglib API! Both JSP and FreeMarker tags are fully supported.
  • Easy cancel handling - The Struts 2 Cancel button can go directly to a different action.
  • Easy Spring integration - Struts 2 Actions are Spring-aware. Just add Spring beans!
  • Easy plugins - Struts 2 extensions can be added by dropping in a JAR. No manual configuration required!
  • POJO forms - No more ActionForms! We can use any JavaBean we like or put properties directly on our Action classes. No need to use all String properties!
  • POJO Actions - Any class can be used as an Action class. We don't even have to implement an interface!
The following are a few resources to get started with writing Struts 2.0 applications
Posted by at
Labels:

1 comment:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • Deploy Java Web Application on Heroku with Heroku CLI
    This post will describe how to create and deploy a Java Web Application war to Heroku using Heroku CLI. You will need a basic understanding ...
  • Jenkins Offline Install on Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server
    In this post we will see how to do an offline install Jenkins and required plugins on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 7.3. This is...
  • Struts 2: Validation
    Update: A new post for validation in struts with annotation is available at: Struts 2 Validation: Annotations . Struts 2.0 relies on a val...
  • Implementing Strategy Pattern in Java
    The previous post described the Strategy pattern in brief. I listed out where and why the strategy pattern may be used. This post describes...
  • Using Quartz Scheduler in a cluster
    In a previous post, I described how to use Quartz scheduler for scheduling . In this post, I describe the configuration changes required for...
  • Java 9 : Private interface methods
    Java 8 introduced default and static methods, the previous post gives a few examples of Java 8 default and static methods . Java 9 builds on...
  • TAM Configuration
    Tivoli Access Manager Configuration Steps for using AznAPI: 1.) Configure AMRTE 2.) Configure AMJRTE (This will install the necessary librar...
  • The State Pattern
    A class that switches between a set of states, and behaves differently based on the current state it is in, is a good candidate for the stat...
  • Google Web Toolkit Open sourced
    Google has opensourced it's Google Web Toolkit . The project is now fully opensource under the Apache 2.0 license . The new 1.3 RC has...
  • Integrating Struts 2.0 with Spring
    In the past, I posted an example on how to use Displaytag with Struts and Spring, using Spring JDBC for data access( 1 , 2 ). In this post,...