Tutorials : Building a sample Web App with STRUTS:

Building a sample Web App with STRUTS

by Harshal Deo

Prerequisites:

Preparation:

Quick overview:

1. Download the Quick start Zip File from here and extract it to any directory. It should create this directory structure:

StrutsNetBeansSample
	/META-INF   (Some meta info - ignore for now)

/WEB-INF  (Main dir. For our web app - 


the TLD files are struts tag libraries. Also there are 2 config files)

/Lib  (Struts.jar - the struts framework jar file)

/Src (Here we will keep our sources )
Under this we have dir structure com/openstack/struts/testapp
	/Classes (Here we the built classes will be stored)

2. Start NetBeans and mount this directory(In netbeans, right click on filesystems in editor window -choose the 'local directory' option and choose the directory: StrutsNetBeansSample). After you successfully mount the directory the editor window will show the StrutsNetBeansSample directory and underlying WEB-INF/classes directory as two separate entries. If not then mount those directories separately. At this point you can now switch to the 'project' window in NetBeans if you prefer that view - the 'alternate' view.

3. Now let us create our first JSP - a Test Form. A sample JSP is provided under the quickstart directory. Create the TestForm.jsp under the document base (StrutsNetBeansSample) directory. It should look like this:

< %@ page language="java" % >
< %@ taglib uri="/WEB-INF/struts-bean.tld" prefix="bean" %>
< %@ taglib uri="/WEB-INF/struts-html.tld" prefix="html" %>
< %@ taglib uri="/WEB-INF/struts-logic.tld" prefix="logic" %>

< html:html>
< head>
< title>test form < /title>
< /head>
< body bgcolor="white">
< B> This is a template STRUTS APP< /b>
Please enter your name:
< html:form action="/old?u=http%3A%2F%2Fjava.webdeveloper.com%2FTestAction&y=1999">

      < html:text property="ipString" size="50"/>

      < html:submit property="submit" value="Submit"/>
< /html:form>
< /body>
< /html:html>

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Harshal Deo has 10 years of experience working with enterprise systems. He has worked with companies like Citicorp & KPMG and currently works for an enterprise software company Asera. Previously he has worked with a valley startup MHP, as a lead Architect, defining the application architecture of its J2EE based system. He has also published a few articles on technology and related areas.

Harshal is also one of the founders of www.theopenstack.com--an online community, simplifying and promoting the use of open source technologies for enterprise application development.

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